May Fishing.

Tuesday the 3rd.

Today found me out on Grafham water with Iain Barr.

We were team mates for the International on Brenig last year but we did not get the chance to fish together during any of the practice days.

So I made some arrangements and here we were practicing for the Bob Church Classic the following day.

Grafham was in a funny mood. The wind had changed round 180 degrees and from being very warm at the weekend it had gone cold and there had been a massive thunderstorm the day before. Why does this affect the fishing?

Well a tough but interesting day ensued with Iain getting four fish and myself only the one. We both lost a few fish though and a few more were seen so we had a bit of an idea as to what we would be doing the next day.

Wednesday the 4th

Classic Day.

The wind was pretty strong and most of the talk was of heading for the far shore to get some shelter.

I was drawn with Julian Hubbard.

Julian has fished for England five times and is a member of the successful ACA team.

I have fished with Julian before on Rutland and I was certain he would do his best to put us both over fish.

Well it was not the greatest day for either of us. It was windy cold and generally uncomfortable.

Julian was unlucky to blank and I managed a couple of good fish and lost another.

I was fortunate enough to be staying with my good friend Tony Curtis and he again put in another really solid performance. Tony has been in the top ten in this event something like five times out of the last six. i have sung his praise many time before but he is one of the most consistent anglers in the country on both Rivers and Stillwaters.

Indeed he was playing enough fish to have won it but he had a fair number drop off after de barbing for the catch and release session.

Hard luck mate!

The result is listed below and a special well done to Graham Pearson.

1st - Graham Pearson- 13 Fish
2nd - Simon Kidd - 11 fish
3rd - Michael Dixon - 10 fish
4th - Tony Curtis - 10 fish
5th - Mark Haycock
6th - Basil Shiels
7th - Aled Dixon
8th - Vince Brooks
9th - Baz Reece
10th-Anthony Bevan
11th-Nathan Midgely
12th-Dave Shipman
13th-Angus Shepherd
14th-Sandy Forgan
15th-John Buchanan
16th-Iain Barr
17th-Jason Heath
18th- Craig Barr
19th-Gareth Jones
20th-Steve Jones

With about four hours to go he only had one fish and a change to buzzers saw him boat a further 12 to win it at the line.

Nice to see a major comp won on other than blobs, boobies and fast sinkers.

I have nothing against these methods it's just nice to see a more delicate form of fishing win the day on occasion.

Wed and Thursday 11th and 12th

I fished the Lexus European Open on Stocks and Managed to qualify for the final.

This is a bit embarrassing as I did so by catching a large "trout"

The beast weighed in at 14lb. 9 oz.

It had been stocked six weeks earlier and so was quite fit.

This combined with a strong wind and limited "sea room" with a real danger of the boat beaching did make for an interesting ten or fifteen minutes.

Well enough said as regular readers will know my feelings on large trout.

Aquapigs.................................

Wed 18th

I fished the Ellem Club Competition on the River Whiteadder today.

This is the oldest fishing competition in the world and dates back to 1829!

I managed to catch around a dozen or so fish and kept six of the stockies.

This was enough to put me in to second place and win the Trotter Medal .

There was one other six fish limit and this was slightly heavier than mine.

The winning basket was caught by Dennis Morgan.

A number of other anglers caught four fish with a few threes and twos.

I was quite pleased with my performance.

I was the only one fishing the fly as all the rest were using worm.

All my fish came to a Marc Pettijean style dry fly on a slightly long shank size 18.

A great days fishing with a good hatch of Large Dark Olives and Yellow May Duns

The clubs Annual Presentation Dinner followed that evening with a splendid meal, fine wines and an entertaining talk from Scottish Internationalist Ronnie Glass.

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

Telephone: 01289 305119

E.Mail: robbie@gamefair-flyfishing.net