April05

Habitat Improvement such as opening up the burns and smaller tributaries protecting the banks and small in-river improvements are the way forward and money is the only thing that will achieve this.

So next time an Association puts its prices up, try and think long term.

Think of your children and your grandchildren and theirs!

Mind you I would not want any money to be used for jollies off to a Stillwater for a few locals.

That is Not On!

Well I then went back to St Boswells to get a supplementary ticket to fish the Mertoun Beats.

You need this so as they can regulate the numbers but they only cost Thirty Pence each.

I had a good walk down to somewhere near the bottom as this is all new territory for me.

I normally fish Kelso.

Anyway I found a good pool and waited for the hatch which I was assured would happen at 1 o'clock .

12.45 and I could wait no longer so I went in at the head of the stream with the Duo and had a couple of small fish straight away on the dry.

13.30 and I am panicking. No Hatch. No Fish.

Dashing upstream to another great looking pool but there is nothing rising.

The Gulls are working upstream but I decide to give this bit a quick run through with the nymphs. Two good fish. Yes and Yes again.

Upstream again and a few fish rising.

I find myself in the river in a right awkward spot.

On the outside of a bend.

Fastish current,

Bouldery wading.

A small spindly tree right on the backcast.

Up they come. Fish rising everywhere.

It's gone 2 o'clock now and I am scared to try and find a better place as the hatch won't last much longer.

I'll just cover that big fish that's the closest.

First cast is up the tree!

*******!!!

A new leader and fly later and a side cast and I get him.

About 20 ounces. A real beauty and full of condition.

Look at these rises…….

That's a good one. I will cover that.

Up the tree again!!!!!!!!!

The March Browns are coming thick and fast now with Olives mixed in and the fish are gorging. I can hardly tie a knot. Ha Ha

Mind you it did not seem funny at the time.

I moved up a few yards to give myself more room and nearly stumbled twice.

Well I got a few more before it petered out.

Gordon Bennett but was I rusty today.

Mind you I was never very shiny in the first place!

I fished on to about 16.30 and caught a few small Trout and Grayling in some flat water and, all in all, a great start to the season.

Sunday the 3rd and Monday the 4th

Two days on the Wharfe at Bolton Abbey.

Not a bad way to continue the start of the Trout Season.

The first day I fished around Cat Craggs and Cavendish. This was ok until the crowds started building up and when some Japanese Tourists started to take videos and stills I decided to go up into Strid Wood for a bit of relative peace.

Fishing to an audience can be a bit daunting but it can make you fish well knowing you are being scrutinised.

I must also confess to the odd smirk when you catch a fish in front of a crowd.

Trivial and pathetic I know but hey we are all human..........

I ended the day on eight fish. About half on Nymphs and half on Dries

Next day I had a bit of advice from a chap who knows the water really well.

What a difference!

I ended the day with 15 Trout and 1 Grayling.

About two thirds were caught on Nymphs and six or so on Dries.

A really memorable days fishing and with a lot less crowds being a Monday.

Sunday the 10th

Back at Bolton Abbey and meeting up with my great friend Tony Curtis.

Tony had agreed to have a day on the river with me and to show me some of the nuances of fishing the Duo and Trio.

It was great to see him and Maggie again for the first time since last September. We talk on the phone most weeks but a day on the River together is a real pleasure.

After tackling up in the car park Tony took me through his tackle with particular attention to his leader set up and to his flies. We then got into the river where he showed me his favoured techniques. All very illuminating and hopefully another string to my bow.

We fished all day with a combination of Nymphs and Dries and ended up with a very satisfying day of 14 fish each. Mostly Trout but with a sprinkling of Grayling.

I was particularly chuffed to keep my end up with one of the best all round

Flyfishermen in the country.

Mind you Tony was probably just chuntering along in second gear while I was flat out......!

Thursday the 14th

I decide to go up the Whiteadder today.

This is a small to medium sized tributary of the Tweed which joins the main river only about a mile from the sea.

For those of you who know it I started at Cawderstanes which is about two miles upstream from the confluence.

I fished the nymphs through the morning and was pleasantly rewarded with about half a dozen nice fish around the ten to 14 inch mark.

I had been working my way upstream and at around one o clock I sat down in front of Clarabad Farm to tie up a new cast. I barely got he old on off when a great rise started in front of me. Up the bank went the nymph rod and out came the Dry Fly rod.

What a rise of fish. some were stock fish from the previous month some were wild and there were some Parr/Smolts mixed in with them. Never mind the river was boiling!

I started catching with a size 16 CDC Olive but I was not getting every fish that I covered by any means.

I changed down to a size 18 and my catch rate probably doubled.

Was it the size of Fly or was it that as the rise went on and time passed the fish just became less selective?

Who knows?

After a while when i had caught quite a few. i decide to walk down the bank to have a word with an elderly angler and hopefully get him in to those fish which were still rising.

It was obvious that he was a novice and he freely admitted this.

After shortening his leader (15 feet of level 3lb. Brown Maxima!) I tied on one of my own flies and gave him some more.

With a few words of advice and encouragement he actually hooked a fish.

As the rise was dying out in front of where we were now I advised him to put on a wet fly and go and fish the pool I had just left.

I watched this pool in front of me for about 15 minutes but nothing came up.

Around four o'clock I decided to ford the river and make my way back to my vehicle and home.

Three quarters of the way across I heard a fish rise behind me........ and another.

17.20 Hours. (On the Mobile to Margaret)

"Would you like a lift home from the Shop Darling?"

"That would be lovely darling"

17.30 Hours (At the Shop)

"YOU HAVE STILL GOT YOUR WADERS ON!"

"I guess that means the dinner is not prepared!!!!"

17.31

The Doghouse........................

It was worth it. I lost count of the number of fish I put back.

Sunday the 17th

Back at Bolton Abbey but only after confirming with the River keeper Mark Whitehead that it would be fishable.

It was biggish but clearing off quite nicely and with two nice Trout returned after only half an hour I was pleased with the decision to come.

An hour or so later i was not so sure!

Then a lovely trout took the Duo nymph.

About a 1.25 Lb fish. Great!

Suddenly there are fish rising, so out with the dry fly rod and start covering them.

Not Easy.......

I got one but I had made about a dozen casts.

Thinking back to the Whiteadder I went down a size and caught a few more.

The Keeper Mark then came along tackled up.

After a blether I left him to fish further down while I continued my search upstream.

I picked away for an odd fish here and there.

Two came from the inside of Kingfisher Bend where the extra flow must have pushed the fish in towards the quieter water.

The day was mainly gone and i thought I would go back and see if Mark was still around.

He had caught nine fish.

On a size 12 Klinkhammer!

So much for my 18's..............................

Ah well you live and learn.

Sometimes it is bigger....... sometimes it is smaller.

There is a rude joke in there somewhere but I am not going down that particular route.

No Sir....

Ha Ha.

Thursday the 21st to Sunday the 24th.

River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey.

Practicing for and Competing in the Yorkshire River Eliminator.

I met up with Stuart Minnikin on the Friday and we arranged for a meal out together.

Stuart was a member of last years England Rivers team which I guided for a weekend on the River Tummel when they were preparing for last years International.

Since then we have fished for grayling together quite a few times and have become good friends.

Mind you on Sunday he was to be one of the enemy! ha ha ha

Stuart is also a qualified Flyfishing Instructor and guides on the all the Yorkshire Rivers.

I have a link to his site on my Links Page if you are interested.

On the Saturday another on of my friends came across for a day.

Jeremy Lucas is another top flight angler and I believe one of only two people to have been top rod in both a River and Stillwater International.

We had a great day with Jeremy catching 11 fish and myself taking it easy for about six.

Cough Cough!

Sunday came and I was drawn with Dave Mee who had been English National Champion on the Wharfe only two seasons ago.

Stuart Crofts who is another former National Champion and one of the foremost Angler/Entomologists in the country was also taking part.

There was also some other good local talent including Nick Halstead of Trout Fisherman fame.

A stiff test!

Game Fair Flyfishing Berwick on Tweed. River Wharfe at Cavendish The day dawned sunny and fairly windy but the water was still cold.

It proved to be a day about making the correct angling decisions as much as practical angling ability.

I was lucky I got drawn out of the hat first and so had control of where to fish in the morning.

I won't bog you down with the details but the result was as follows

1st Dave Mee

2nd Yours Truly

3rd Nick Halstead

Roll on the National Final and thanks to all my friends who helped me.

Nice one JT

Wednesday the 27th

Coldingham Loch.

I arranged to meet my good friend Mark Howard for a day out together as we have not fished in the same boat since about this time last year.

It was a toss up whether to go to Sweethope or to Coldingham.

As we had heard no reports about either we settled on Coldingham as, if it went pear shaped there was considerably less traveling time involved.

It turned out to be a reasonably pleasant day, light winds, good cloud cover, not too cold with the odd very heavy shower.

I have fished Coldingham Loch countless times but I have to say this is the first time I have had the whole Loch for just one boat to fish.

No one was even on the bank.

We never saw another angler from before nine o'clock until after five thirty.

We never had to put the anchor down or even a drogue out.

We had the whole place to ourselves.

By one o'clock we had four fish to the boat taken on size 18 Dries.

The fish were either very fussy or we were just useless!

Mark fishes for the Hardy Greys Ospreys Team and was in the England Team in 2001.

We had been advised that Swing Gate Bay had not been fishing well but as we had tried the rest of the Loch there was nothing to lose.

So a change of venue and a switch to Fast Sinking Lines and Blobs and we were in business.

Almost all the fish were over three pounds with a few at four and five and I would say that in my humble opinion this is far too big.

Mark and I fished a catch and release ticket for £17.

However I believe the price of a four fish ticket is approximately £26 and it would have been easy to each take a basket of 14 pounds weight and at £2 per pound this would amount to £28!

????????????...........................

It does not seem to make economic sense to me but then I have never run a fishery so what do I know?

I may be completely wrong but it seems to me that if someone takes their limit then someone else has to blank to pay for it and allow the fishery to make some money.

To me the essence of modern commercial Loch Style fishing is to catch a reasonable amount of fish around the 1.5 Lb. mark on six weight rods.

It would also seem to me that all Anglers would prefer to go home with a few smaller fish rather than no bigger ones.

I personally would wish for a relaxed day with either Floating or Intermediate Lines and small Nymphs and Traditional Wet Flies.

If the fish were smaller there would be more of them and they would be more spread out throughout the Loch and the Water Column.

Coldingham used to be great at this time of year for Buzzer fishing but we tried this and did not have a pull.

A theory I have is the people who like Big Fish have Big Mouths to go with it.

They then spout off to the Fishery Owners about stocking bigger fish without thinking through the consequences which in economic reality means less fish.

The opposite side of this theory is that the people who like a more traditional size of fish and a more relaxed type of fishing with a few pound and a half fish to take home say nothing.

They then just vote with their feet and quietly go elsewhere. (The Silent Majority?)

Is this why we had the place to ourselves?

Well its just a theory.

What would I know?

Margaret & Robbie Bell
Game Fair
12 Marygate
Berwick upon Tweed
Northumberland
TD15 1BN

Telephone: 01289 305119

E.Mail: robbie@gamefair-flyfishing.net

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