GreyMamba

Thinking Allowed … (under construction)

Thinking Allowed … (under construction)

Angling may be said to be so like the mathematics that it can never be fully learned.

Izaac Walton

Probably as a sign of retreating middle-age, age - it certainly feels as if I've long since approached and passed it - I’ve decided to taken up fly fishing again after something like 45 years. I did a half day casting course last year (or was it the year before … can’t remember - another sign of decrepitude) and mucked around a bit, practising on grassy patches since then. Last year, I plucked up the courage to do some actual, genuine, watery fish-hunting. I’ve also got together enough kit to start fly tying – with my increasingly presbyopic eyesight that should be a laugh!

There are some really good day ticket schemes available these days that allow you to fish some really interesting (read small, overgrown and probably difficult) wild streams and rivers - I don’t really want to fish still waters. You buy a book of tickets which gives you access to the water. You pitch up, fill in the required number of tickets, post them in a small box that is positioned at the location and go fish! At the end of the day you fill in a catch return and post that to. The tickets are £2.50 to £3.00 each and a day’s fishing will set you back between two and five tickets.

I've also now joined a couple of clubs: The Rossett and Gresford Flyfishers' Club and the Ceiriog Fly Fishers.

So, this is a section to chat about my learning adventures. Something about kit and something about days out fishing. A sort of diary with tips and tricks.

Fly Fishing | GreyMamba
Click here for a summary of catches
DateRiverFishFly(s)Comments
24/04/2017Beck's BrookGrayling, 8"Hendrick Spider #12Fished as a duo with some sort of Klinkhammer. First fish for 45 years. First Grayling. First on fly.
13/05/2017Monnow7 Trout, 8-12"Universal Dry #16, Pale Watery #16Great day on this Wye tributary.
20/06/2017AlynTrout, 8"White bead-head nymph #16Strangely silvey fish with ill defined spots
27/06/2017AlynGrayling, 8" and 13" ~1lbFlash back nymph #12One lovely 1lb grayling and another not quite as big, both on sunken nymph. First from a deepish bool and the second cast over a rising fish.
03/07/2017Alyn2 Trout, 8" and 10"Pearly Grifiths Gnat #14, brown/white Wulff #16Bigger trout caught on self-tied pearly griffiths gnat cast to rising fish on far bank below trees and the smaller one a brown/white Wulf fished in a fast riffle.

Fishing the Alyn Video

As I think I've mentioned before, the Alyn is a beautiful little river, south of Chester, just over the Welsh border. It's a gnarly hell at times with overhanging trees, pebbly wading and the odd, deep, muddy pool which you can sink into up to your armpits (which is a delight). But it's full of feisty Welsh trout and doughty, silvery grayling. On a good day it is absolutely wonderful. This is a video I made, using a Garmin Virb camera on a chest mount in 2017 on just such a day.

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