.......Elinor - 30.04.11

A Complete Fisher social event that I gatecrashed just for half a day. It was good to catch up with those guys who I managed to speak to. But you always feel at these functions that there is an element of clickyness even though it was an improvement on the last one I attended here. Very bright sunny day, temperature 23.0C, with a moderate north easterly (11mph) blowing it was most comfortable to fish off the dam and with a point fly and a dropper on which I managed to catch one. Elinor is a fifty acre lake with an average depth of ten feet.

You can make out the cars and tents along the hedge in the background which was the CF village for a few days. Had another diagonally opposite again on a buzzer a bit later on. The boys seemed to all be catching and if there was anyone struggling effective help was being offered. Damsels, buzzers, sedge and crunchers seemed to be the order of the day. Wes turned up in the afternoon but had an awful journey - don't know how long he stayed for. As well as the bank and boats for hire float tubing is allowed.

Here is Rich (whistle killer) just about to set the lake on fire with his float tube a strenuous task in a wind but effective in catching fish.

This was a funny sight........

A father and son team both wading in their socks and long trousers to the right of me! Son is putting his shoes on over his wet socks. Not seen it before but the son assured me that it was OK and that all that was happening was they were getting wet. Asked them where they were from and was advise somewhere in the Fens - I guess that was the confirmation I was looking for.

.......Patriotic Mayfly

.......River Wye at Bourne End

Went to find the Buckinghamshire River Wye  this morning as has been a topic of conversation among the St Albans and Harpenden Fly Fishers for a while and there is a meeting this week of that group in a couple of days time.
A beautiful chalkstream that runs for about nine miles from the Chilterns (Edward Dashwood's estate), underground through High Wycombe to Bourne End and then the Thames above Cookham Lock. Believe that it became polluted in 1996 with cyanide!
Found the recreation Park and the six hundred yard stretch but the water was running fast and heavy bank growth restricted casting. A much better stretch is the one between Wooburn and Bourne End where Fi and I spotted lots of trout and still no No Fishing signs.

Caught the blue flash of a kingfisher - a lovely sight. But a bit more research before jumping into this river is required I reckon.

.......Fishing the Ver - 19/20.04.11

The picture on the left is where my Grandfather Bert tickled trout in the River Ver and Fi and I saw rising fish at the weekend. But having stayed there for an hour early evening I reckon that I put a fish down after two rises and that was that! Left the car at the Chequers Car Park and walked back there over the field against a backdrop of a beautiful sunset.

The following day today I met up with Wes who drove over and we went and fished at Redbournbury. I let Wes have the stream exclusively as I felt it was home territory it would have been a bit mean.

Wes caught three brownies and was absolutely delighted as I sat back so to speak. He caught his on a small black tungsten nymph - the fish were being spooked by the goldhead nymphs apparently. So I waited for the evening to arrive and took Sebastian down to ***** where we waited for nearly an hour for the sun to go down and the last 4x4 to go through thr Ford and that sort of thing! No wind and a sultry 18.0C. His third cast hit the mark so to speak and a wild brownie took the Murray Bluebottle (a swap fly I had previously tied on a #18 hook) confidently. I was very proud of his accurate cast to the fish and proud that he had managed the task well and enjoyed it.

And that is exactly a year ago to the day that I last caught a wild brownie from the Ver on the same stretch of river - uncanny!

.......River Windrush - 13.04.11

    Met up with Andy Grey a fellow forumite and a member of the Cotswold Fly Fishers Club (CFF). Haven't fished with Andy for a couple of years or so now so it was good to meet up. Temperatures fell today hitting a maximum of 12.0C with a slight SSW 9although it was blowing well along the River Windrush and some rain just we were leaving. Rendezvous was just past the Maytime Pub in Asthall and we managed to meet up at around 09.30am.

Asthall is not very invigorating place but it did hit the headlines in 2007. In the summer of 2007 a hoard of 110 gold angel and half-angel coins were found during building work at Asthall. The coins were minted at dates from 1470 to 1526, most of them in the brief second reign of Henry V1 (1470-71) or the reign of Richard 111 (1483-85). The hoard is believed to have been buried in the latter half of the reign of Henry V111 (1509-47). The village sits beside the River Windrush where we had arranged to meet.

The Windrush forms part of the catchment of the River Thames and rises in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds North East of Taddington and flows for about forty miles from west to east through Windrush to meet the River Thames at Newbridge. The river is host to fish, including trout, grayling, perch, dace and other coarse fish. It held good populations of native crayfish until at least the 1980s. River waters were used in cloth and woollen blanket making in Witney from mid 17th century.



^{Met up with a cock pheasant just behind the village. They are stupid birds but do provide wonderful feathers.}

^{The bridge at Asthall................}

Having parked up Andy arrived and we donned our waders and walked into the field. Andy wanted to do a bit of a casting tutorial with me, he is studying for the GAIC certificate. I had explained that I was a bit of a hopeless case but after a few minutes he said he had noticed I wasn't holding the rod handle firmly enough and soon the back cast the wrist was being 'brocken' and hence a not tight enough loop was being formed for the forward cast. Otherwise he said there wasn't too much wrong. I think he was being polite! Across the sheep field walked.

Having walked downstream of the bridge for about half a mile we came to a small weir sitting by a dilapidated farm in the throws of some renovation. The wind with a cool tinge was whistling down the river. On went the olive Goldheads that Andy had suggested I tye in lieu of the trip.

Having had a couple of takes above the weir and lost a fish I manged to hook up with a wild Cotswold Trout. Nothing to shout home bout in size but it would win first prize in most beauty competitions.

Andy caught a couple of stockies - I had given up by this time as my waders had leaked and were full of water.

We stopped for a bite to eat - Andy had brought steak pasties from a butchers shop and we ate them whilst I dried out. Then we drove into Widford and parked up to venture into another part of the Windrush with again lovely scenery and a little more manicured than earlier.

This bit of the river played host to some large weir pools and we fished the one next to the stock pond. A tight cast was needed and Andy manged to hit a few and I lost one and enticed one for a short period.

Time for a glass of lemonade and a drive back to the Swan Inn at Swinbrook - gastro pub.

.......Rib Valley Ware - 06.04.11

Fishing with Wes again at Ware. Good to see the lad. We seem to get along OK even bearing in mid the age gap. The silly sod paid for a ticket for me as he obviously noted my dob from one of the forums! We met at around ten o'clock and proceeded to fish the lake which was very calm and flat and bearing in mind the temperature had risen to 24C by lunchtime it was hardly surprising. There was some cloud and a light ripple away from the margins.

I managed to hook one at the top end (that is to the right of the rod tip) but it slipped the hook at the net. The fish took a white lure with dumbell eyes which I found in the trees. Wes topped up his box of flies with six buzzers found on different trees - mind you he can reach them!

Wes lost his 'beaney' (pic of his new hat prior to fly finds today!) but a small price to pay for the buzzer patterns he collected perhaps.
A bizarre sign has appeared since we last went to Ware fishery - perhaps to deter some discarding their first fish within the grounds.

Finally a picture of the River Rib running along side the Fishery. Wes who is a gem at spotting fish which may have something to do with his height spied six chub before I had even noticed one!

.......A Selection of Flies on the Chalk

G/H Mayfly Nymphs.........

G/H Olive GRHE nymphs.........

Yellow CDC OWLS..........

Rhen Gerrig's Fly (Welsh Jobbie)..........