Twiss Family Wilson

On my hols to the Yorkshire dales. Not a fishing holiday as such , though i did manage to steal a few hours most days.We arrived in the Dales  On Saturday when we arrived we just got our bearings walking along the Village of Ingleton which we were staying in which sit by the river Doe and Twiss  and at Ingleton Viaduct where they join they become the River Greta. these are not rivers you find in every Dales fishing guide , like the Ure , Wharfe , etc, this chain of rivers are known for other reasons probably most for there waterfalls. I got my permit on Sunday , £25 for the week and got my rod licence on Monday a further £10. I did though fish on the Sunday lincenseless. But before that i did a wee trip with my son to White scar caves , very interesting and gives you a idea of the local geology, which is mainly carboniferous limestone over a layer of slate, good news for the fly fisher.

The rivers were still fining down from a recent thunderstorm , but they were fishable , the water carrying a peat stain, i couldn't wait and fished the stretch of the river Doe, in which the cottage overlooks, catching some fine brightly coloured trout up to the pound , i was surprised to see such fine fish  from a wee river.

My favourite pool

I returned for tea, then at 9pm grabbed the wee 6ft6" rod and sampled the Twiss, i took a fish , on a klink,

then a few more on a huge G&h sedge , then headed over to my new favourite pool on the Doe , where i hooked this  fatty. And that was my first day fishing on my hols.


The next day we did the waterfalls walk a great way to see the rivers. First we walked along the Twiss viewing some of its many falls.

Pecca falls

The most impressive and famous of all is Thornton force.

The next few are on the Doe, the top one is Beezley falls, where in the photo below you also just see the Triple spout in the foreground.

Beezley falls (and Triple Spout)

After the walk i managed a few hours on the Greta.

River Greta

Walked downstream and managed a few fish on a mixture of nymphs and size 12  klinks.

I lost one weighty fish at a salmon ladder which snapped me(5lb trippet) , i didn't see him though and it could have been the way i struck?

  Next day saw us visit Hawes, a colder day, but still dry, on the way i couldn't help but notice the difference in character of the upper Doe above Beezley falls  . Here the river was less rocky meandering through a meadow in a valley between the scars.

So it was here i sampled that evening. 

The trout were numerous , feisty but the biggest perhaps only made 3/4lb , but gone were the salmon parr of the lower water. A great place to spend a few hours.
On Wednesday i went to Blackpool for a treat for my son and after a day on the Pepsi Max, i decided for a few casts on the Twiss and Doe, fishing wasn't great, in fact i started on the Twiss and after a few wee fish decided to head for the Doe,( the midges were terrible on the Twiss ) , but it wasnt much better in the low water, the best fish being a 3/4lber in the dying light on a g and h sedge).

On Thursday i took the dog for a walk down the Greta and in the distance i spied a nice looking pool, so later i decided to start from there. I'd decided to fine down too 7x and try smaller patterns today so put on a size 14 olive klink  . Taking a few wee browns (and salmon parr) from the pool below the pool i planned to start at i now found myself on the pool, made a cast into the bubble line a fish took and lifted in to him and he swam upstream then to the other bank, this was a hefty fish  i felt things were going well  , then for no apparent reason the line went limp, no curly tail , i reckon the fish bit through the line. A big sigh followed!

The Pool

 I then continued and hooked another good fish , at 1 1/4lb , a small consolation. But all of a sudden the boundaries had moved , this water had some good fish, maybe something to do with the limestone?

I lost another fish , not big but that's when i decided too beef up on the tippet. So back with the 5x and it wasn't a minute too soon as i approached a smashing looking pool and first cast a nice trout took the klink , leaping around the pool, and luckily i brought this one to the net, a shade over 2lb, beautifully marked!   

 
This was my fish of the trip. i was delighted, but was still left wondering what I'd lost in "That pool".

Ingleborough (peak) from the Greta.

"Zebre" trout

The next day i could not help myself but try and replicate the previous, but landing them . A few nicely coloured trout including this almost  "Zebre" trout, but the big trout proved elusive. That concluded all the fishing on my Holiday to the Dales, on the whole i was most impressed by the Dales not just it's fishing but it's beauty , and it's people, i never saw another angler all the time i was there.

searching for mojo!

My trout radar, has become a bit tired recently, thats why ive been doing a bit alternative species fishing.Not good considering i have some excellent fishing opportunities next week in the Yorkshire Dales. I needed to try and get a appetite for it again.

So it was to my local water, in the most inacessible parts (for the time of night, ie not much folk want to be stuck in a ravine  at 11pm at night) , i just needed to escape from the threats of neddery , i just wanted a trouble free fishing day, soltitude was   priority tonight.

Well i got my wish i didnt see anyone else all night. I started  with a size 12 Dirty Polly, hooked a fish but he threw the hook, so i headed upstream and to be honest i wasnt doing that well, putting down a fair number of fish. I did though get into my stride eventually when i sized down  to a 14, the fishing became remarkably  easy-ish . Fishing other waters that often demand bigger flies can throw you off.

The nymph though didnt get a look in. The wooly bugger in the otherhand was , the highlight (or lowlight) of the night   was almost pulled off with a wooly bugger when a big  fish followed it to my feet, i reckon between 3-4lb and my hunch is a brownie rather than a seatrout. Next time!!!

1 1/4 lb

As the darkness began to creep in i upped my fly size to a 12 , that worked for a while and when it got dark proper a size 10 did the job. A good nights sport plenty trout , in spanking condition and a lot of fight about them. Ive got my va va voom back!

Dry-fly Action at Dusk

Roach in the sun

2nd,3rd

The dog needed walking the sun was high in the sky, so i grabbed a few hours. Roach a plenty were in there shoals, the nymph scored well.

 

I really enjoy fishing for them , i think there a worthy quarry for the fly fisher.

My New Addiction!

Sun was out today, had to satisfy my new addiction. Some wee size 18 kamasan B410 arrived in the mail, so I tied up some tiny nymphs. They did work but not on the big fish, i don't think the slow descent attracts them like the size 14 turkey biot nymph. So ive decided this is going to be my go to fly despite the lack of hook-ups with smaller fish, in anycase i'm not really interested in catching the wee roach, if i wanted to do that i'd just fish with a waggler float and some bait. For me this is becoming a selective method, a way to get the better fish, and how satisfying it is when all go's to plan!

On the Cut

As luck would have it i had the afternoon to myself. So i decided to go and See if the roach were up for it. It was a overcast day with occasional light showers and occasionally the sun would come out. The sun  is useful for spotting the shoals, the cloudier it gets the deeper the shoals seem to go.

Theres plenty perch amongst the shoals they behave exactly like the roach until the nymph is presented and on the retrieve they have a go.

Jack pike

I had plenty roach most took on the descent of the nymph missed a big one, in fact when a decent roach shoal came into view it was exciting these roach seem to take a nymph fairly confidently, i did manage to get a substantial roach plus a few good quality ones and a few wee ones. It's a very selective and effective way of fishing , cant wait to get up there again. Some pics:

wee fellae

fin perfect (looking at the anal fin looks like it has a bit of bream in it)

specimen roach

A wee handful

The Crystal River

Saturday25th

Today me and Brian fished one of my favourite rivers, it's a river with two different characters , a typical lowland river in it's lower reaches and in it's upper reaches very rugged ,and boulder strewn . Described by some as one of the most challenging trout rivers waters in Scotland. I don't think it's the case at all , nothing a long leaders and long casting , does not sort out , the fish are spooky but they are in reasonably good numbers . We fished the usual NZ set-up a big size 10 klink and a wire nymph did the trick , in a few shallow runs we fished the klink on it's own and in the faster runs we fished stimulator's, the takes to the dries on occasions were explosive!. We had around 30 fish in all 8-9of them over the pound mark a couple going 1 1/4lb, but the big fellaes proved elusive , one thing about the fish we caught though is they fight well above there weight , probably  some of the hardest fighting fish Ive ever caught ! It had been a grand day in great scenery.    Must return before the seasons out!

Crystal!

1 1/4lb

flower power

fat trout

rocky section

A change of Coarse

I walked the dog along the canal today, where i spotted a few shoals of roach here and there ,a  few perch amongst them and the usual jack pike in the margins. Was thinking about going for the pike but decided it would be a nice change to target the roach.  So at 2:30pm i grabbed the gear and had a go. I tried the dries, first  a shuttlecock buzzer i briefly hooked into one, but they quickly sussed it out. so tried a few various dries , including a size 14 black klink but they weren't fooled, so into the fly box and i selected a small size 16 brown turkey biot nymph with a black(actually called gunmetal) 2.4mm bead. With instant results.

Shoals that seemed to be sleeping suddenly woke up there was a good mix of sizes with a few big ones amongst them. The important thing was seeing the fish take the fly so Polaroids were essential , this would be either by seeing a flash of the flank or one in the shoal shooting forward out of suit with the rest of the shoal. I'm convinced the plop of the fly was a trigger as was the decent as i further experimented hanging the fly off a large klink , the minute the decent stopped the fish lost interest  the , klink you might think would be good for showing takes but if i was looking at the klink i would have missed fish it never moved though a few fish did show interest to the klink , they did not take it properly a bit like mullet mouthing bread, a better presentation was a single nymph, takes were within seconds of it hitting the water.

A few fish. I reckon fly fishing is a good way of getting the better roach . Or atleast it was the case today. 

A good one!