river deep mountain high

Went to my favourite river yesterday, just to get it in before the season ended. On arrival it was much higher than i expected but still crystal clear. The flats at the bottom of the beat were even moving and  had the odd riser as there was a hatch , not huge but a few flies trickling down , enough to bring up a fish or two here and there which is a rarity, atleast most times ive fished it. I caught my first fish in the flats,on a CDC and elk, the flats are not a place i normally spend anytime in usually finding the better quality fish in shallower faster water but conditions dictated.

on the flats

So i heading further up the river i met my usual haunts ,some of it was fishable , some was not crossing the river was dodgy in places but the further up the river i got the easier it got as the river shrunk as tributary after tributary was lost. pools that are normally ankle deep were up to my waste , it's a challenge finding the fish in these conditions, but  they are there , and once in my stride i was doing ok. i ended the day with around 20 fish a couple just under 1.5lb , and a good few pounders.

Two bigger fish incidents, one where a trout rose in a calm side stream  area at my fly but never stuck (NZ style problem),  and  another where the nymph seemed to snag when i hooked up and i got broke, oh there was one other strange incident , i hooked a wee 3/4lb brown and a bigger brownie seemed to follow it even have a go at it, I'm suspecting it was it's male suitor for spawning though which is just round the corner now. My wading boots gave up on me the sole (not just the felt sole but the rubber/foam stuff)   came away , i knew it was only a matter of time , i will invest in a decent pair very shortly.

uv candy

Based on the surf candy type fly tried a few with uv gel, one with saltwater in mind.

 

And this one for trout , looks a bit like a minnow.

Pike flies with uv gel

At last my long awaited parcels arrived from hong kong , a uv torch with 21 led's, and some uv gel, the stuff women use for nail art it's called uv top coat. A doddle to use, much better than epoxy!

A few flies ive whipped up.

The dogs tail is getting shorter!

Pike fly rod complete

Well thats it finished, i'm fairly happy with it,far from perfect, but at the same time not to bad. I'm glad it's finished ive got sooo much fly tying to do!

What are cavaliers good for?

Get the pies out!

Collies are great sheep dogs, alsations Police dogs, St Bernards, and Northumberlands incase you get lost up the hills they bring some brandy, springers and cockers are good retreivers,labradors eat poo!  But what about Cavaliers??????????? Some say they used to flush birds out the undergrowth, i have my doubts, but ive found a use for them..... Arctic fox substitute!! Infact possibly even better!!

This is the tail  perfect almost the same texture as arctic fox but really long, actually it gets a lot longer than this it was trimmed a few weeks ago.!

 
Well it's been trimmed a bit more! It has been  incorporated in favourite pike fly (tail and beard) with a few additions , still needs a weed guard and uv gel applied.

New ground!

I'm fed up with the recent weather pattern wet, dry, but not dry enough for long enough to let the river levels drop, on top of that there s been showers through the night or very localised , localised in the wrong places!
So it was back to the Chernobyll burn. the water had fair clarity but it was heavy, i only took a couple of fish on peeping caddis ,before i decided to explore a bit further upstream  .

On the peeper

I'd fished the lower stretches before it's not that productive but does have the odd fine burn trout. the futher up i went though i was quickly fishing new ground , some of the water was lovely, the troots got a little bit more numerous too, i used a big size 10  dirty polly, a stimulator and a size 10 klink , although no monsters i know there's good fish to be had. It was fun fishing inbetween  the swathes of weed.

Near disaster!

I applied the decal, lastnight , this morning i looked at it didnt look as id hoped so gave it a rub with some rubbing alcohol (maybe i shouldnt have but i cant help it!) ripped off the decal  and then the sourrounding epoxy went cloudy it was still a bit tacky. was dieing to give it a cast  so went up the canal , it casts beautifully , although not a fishing trip as such it broke it's duck with a tiny jack pike. When i got back home, i scrubbed the blank clean , removing the remaining epoxy and the thread whips. This afternoon  ive redone them, instead of a decal ive used a paint pen, not as precise but gives that custom feel. Its currently drying on the turner.Hopefully it will be ok ?

Back on target