To Oxfolds Beck, the gurgling little chalkstream that used to be heaving with fish but where pollution has taken a heavy toll. There are some fish still, some large, but not many. Ever the optimist I cling to the hope that there might be a three pounder with my name on it. I decided to […]
Had a few hours on the Pickering Beck yesterday, starting off with French Leader and ending up with emerger. The emerger produced nothing. The two beaded nymphs I had on were these: Had a bit of success in this pool: the water towards the top of the pic is a deepish pool where a number […]
A pretty straightforward plan today. Head up to the topmost beat of the Seven at Spaunton Moor, wang on a couple of heavy nymphs on a French leader and hoik out 20 fish. Or maybe 30. Conditions were nigh on perfect. The water is still on the low side, but the overnight rain seemed to […]
What a dismal July day. Drizzle, easterly wind and the temperature hovering around 13C. Crap. Anyhow, plan A was to have a go on the very top beat of the Seven at Spaunton Moor. But when I got there at 10.30am the water was running like a steam train and the colour of hot chocolate […]
Up to Thornton Beck, just this side of the North York Moors. It’s a small, sinuous, jungly stream packed with feisty little wild browns but they don’t come easily. In the past I’ve tended to have a go with dries, but to be honest the fish here don’t rise that freely so today I decided […]
Two ambitions today: to try out my new wading boots and to catch a big brown. Wading boots are overpriced in my view, so last time I wanted some I made my own, following instructions I found on Henry Gilbey’s blog. I bought a pair of cheap Dunlop workboots and fitted them with tungsten carbide […]
Fly fishing for wild brown trout can be a funny old game and things rarely go exactly to plan. The water’s not right, the wind is in your face, the fish aren’t cooperating, your casting is all to pot, you lose your glasses, fall in the river, etc, etc. For such an apparently sedate pastime […]
To the fast water of the Seven up at Spaunton Moor. The day was cool-ish with little sun but also little wind and the river looked in very good nick: I had a brief internal debate about whether to go for the standard set-up of 7.5ft 3 weight and dry fly, or chance it with […]
Where the hell did the summer go? As I motored up to Pickering the gauge on the car said it was 9C! Oh well, you take what you’re given I suppose. Anyway, first stop was to do the invert sampling on the Duchy stretch – aborted last time because a herd of cattle, including a […]
To the lower beat of the Seven on a hot, bright day, with the water low and clear. Mayfly were coming off sporadically and the odd fish was rising. I knew it would be tough and I wasn’t wrong. I chopped and changed the fly, but reckon that the fish could see the leader easily […]