Wolfscote dale and root canal

Bone had switched his day off so Friday it was. We decided to return to Wolfscote dale as this was our first ever river venue and the day I decided we were wasting our time until I sought advice.


I have had a bit of experience since then. Fishing days with John Tyzack, Glen Pointon, Mick Martin, John Colemans, Dave Wood and a couple of chats with Richard Ward have all helped me understand how to catch fish.

I have to say I was not at all looking forward to the day ahead. Yesterday I had root canal treatment without anaesthetic as the dentist said the tooth was dead. Luckily she was right but I have never experienced 15minutes of hard core drilling without hitting the ceiling.

Today I was in agony. If I had known the pain to come I think I would have gone for the extraction option.

I was feeling miserable, it was raining, I was dreading the bill for repairs to my son’s car (in the garage for 3 weeks) and can honestly say if Bone had called it off I would have been most grateful!

Anyway, bang on 9 I could here the sweet roar of Bone’s none turbo escort van complete with 1 air bag but plenty of discarded fag packets to cushion a blow coming down my street. No diesel in Bone’s so we went in mine.

We popped into the newsagents to pick up Bone’s trout magazine.

I glanced at a page full of crazy flies and told Bone what I thought of them.

Bone sensed my mood wasn’t too good and we drove towards Hartington in a strange silence.

We tackled up in the drizzle without the usual buzz even though we new we’d have the whole stretch to ourselves due to the weather. We hung our fobs in the checking station and had a look at the previous anglers’ returns. Ones and twos but reports of a 1 1/4lb grayling a few days ago.

Bone selected a pool and missed a couple of takes almost immediately.

I began to cast half heartedly towards a likely look in spot and I perked up as my new rod and reel felt really good. I have already blogged the Flextec and even I can feel the quality.

I soon missed a rise, lost one and decided to wander down to the lower limit. A gale was blowing up the gorge which further irritated my tooth. I had a chat with a professional photographer on a landscape shoot who turned out to be a keen fly fisher himself. I was just hoping he wasn’t watching me but as I walked upstream, having a cast here and there, checking for folk on my back cast he was always in view complete with tripod, camera pointing in my direction!

I spotted the first natural rise I had seen all morning. Looking at the aspect of various trees and plants I decided I could just about manage the cast. I was pleased with my false casting and judging the range and distance let it go. A gust of wind caught it and my fly landed about 10 foot behind where I had seen the rise. Splash! A daft trout took me sedge. So I hadn’t blanked after all.

A lovely little browny complete with LTD

I wandered up to Bone who had also nabbed one. We sat watching a few rises on a pool and I managed a small grayling. Watched Bone miss a couple too.

Interestingly, I had three takes to a foam beetle which I failed to hook. I figured the wind would have blown all sorts into the river and in the absence of a hatch I thought it worth a go.

Although I didn’t catch many, I now think a lot more about my fishing and how to approach different pools. I would say the conditions were very difficult today. A low and clear river, no real insect life, few rises and a blustery upstream wind to contend with made the fishing a challenge and without my new found confidence I know I would have had a blank.

We decided to call it a day and called in the Manifold Inn for a pint of excellent Titanic bitter.

My tooth felt much better.

The Lion Tamer's real history

Thought it was time I came clean. Have you really got half an hour to spare?


My story begins back in 1999. The crossroads of my life.
Bankrupt, although no fault of my own, I had split with my wives, a mistress and several girlfriends. I also had two wonderful children who, I finally thought, deserved so much more.
Penniless, I decided there must be more to this pathetic existence.
Wandering through Leek in Staffordshire, visiting the local wine shop for a hopeful tasting (no joy there then) I called in to one of the Town's fine charity shops and found an epic publication by Rapala Napala: ‘The Threads of Fortune’.
In it, ‘Napala’, who was apparently a ‘Zhou Zinga High Priest’, explains that life is all about balance.
Balance was something I didn’t do.
Even when walking over flat ground I would fall over very easily; although fit, I was as physically stable as Bambi on Ice
But... I was enthralled with his teachings.
Not only had he explained in a logical way the traditional beliefs of the Chinese ‘Yin and Yang’ philosophy of life and food but also how this could be adapted to all faiths and creels.

I decided that I must learn more.

I joined a local thought club; ‘The Thinkers’ who met up once a week at the local WMCA. However, after being forced to chew nutmeg I ended up with many ailments and sore areas.  I became very disillusioned with this group as I think they had an alternative agenda that I was not 100% happy with.
So, bag packed, no GPS, no map, no idea of the language difficulties I might face, I cashed in my ‘air miles’ and booked a one way ticket to the home of the  'Zinga’ people of Dingi, North of Katmandu..

I did not intend to stay long but after all, where better a place to start my adventure? This was where ‘Napala’ had recently opened a balti style restaurant, financed by the royalties from his latest book; ‘The wonders of curry’. I thought this to be the ideal starting point on my quest for eternal happiness.

I never did meet Rapala Napala but did enjoy the local hospitality, as one would expect from a tribe of courteous Tibetan nomads.I was not sure they liked me at first. Indeed, I would often awake  from a sublime, green tea and other substances induced sleep only to find a note informing me that the restaurant had moved 30 kilometres through the unforgiving and forboding  tundra over night.

Eventually accepted by the elders, I spent the next two years in their friendly company, learning the language, hunting, fishing, riding, martial arts (pink belt) and generally becoming comfortable with their ‘ways’.
It was interesting that they used a strange device to make tea. A kerri kettle they called it, and they only used wringta tea bags.

The time came when I was expected to take a wife. Now this might sound fairly simple to a westerner but no man can take a wife in the Tibetan tradition without the means to support her and the potential family; I had to learn a trade.
I spotted a sign. 'Fry tyers wranted! Only the best wranked in the world appry'

Well although not suitably qualified, I could knock up a half decent straggle nymph so decided to apply.

'Ca U Ty LTD sedge? was all I heard, as I was continually whipped with 7'6 bamboo#4
Not having a clue what this meant, I left, leaving my unfinished tups indispensible variant, later copied by some clever bloke from Bakewell. At least the local goats were happy.

I looked further afield. This was going to be tough. I did a stint on the old drums but aparently I sent out filthy messages while doing a paradiddle.

I was not a very good horseman either; neither could I cook the exquisite, fragrant dishes of the area. I needed something else.

The ‘Zhou Zing’ are masters of Medicinal Art. For hundreds of years, indeed since the Ch’in  u  Dynasty, they have carved beautifully crafted artifacts in jade, bronze, ivory and lacquered wood to promote wellbeing and bodily harmony.

Being a fairly competent artist myself, I decided this was the area I was most capable of mastering.

To begin with I was taught to grade raw materials as to their suitability for carving.

This was an incredibly complex grounding to my further development. One soon begins to appreciate the grain structure of not only the finest jade but also various stones and pebbles tortuously gathered from the foothills of the magnificent Himalayas.
It was here I first met 'Bonehead', a relic of the 70's Roots rock reggae craze. He was just  tiling the floor of a  mountaineering tent at base camp 3. After grouting, and while listening to some crackly am station on his recently found wind up radio, he showed me how to tickle minnows out of the clear, bubbling, icy cool streams that flowed from the mountains above. Eventually, and after promising to meet up back in the UK, I bid him a fond farewell  after having two fingers amputated due to frost bite.

However to his credit, Bonehead did point out that it is the alignment of the grain, colour, shade and shape that influences the suitability of not only beauty but also the therapeutic value of these basic rare earth minerals. Yeah, I thought!

Another two years passed, many, many skills were learned and eventually I was allowed to whittle away on off cuts until finally I was given a place on the ‘MASTER BENCH’, an honour indeed. At break my female Tibetan partner and I would often pop a vice on to the bench when no one was looking and try and break the 'Law' and do a couple of double badgers there and then. We never broke the Law but suitably impressed I have since bought the cheaper Snowbee version. (sorry, this is a fly tyers attempt at a joke)

Life seemed good and satisfying. Could it get any better? Maybe a stroke of luck? Would I be allowed the pick of the Shaman's daughters?

One day, while excavating a new vein of ‘Fujian Agate’ from behind on the outskirts of Kuntung, my pick became stuck between two layers of the dark coloured igneous schist I was exploring. I could not understand it; was my pick wedged or trapped? No! It was in fact held fast by an incredible magnetic force emanating from the vast, then unknown strata I had struck.
It soon became apparent as to the good fortune I had brought to the village.

My primitive pick had hit pure ‘Hematite’or Heamatite (up to you ), a variety of iron ore, so magnetic; it has  the capability of changing the molecular structure of cobalt! I think I read that somewhere in the Observer's book of Cobalt.

The mother lode was so huge and perfectly aligned; I knew we had the basis of a range of products that could benefit mankind for the foreseeable future.Would I be able to import to the UK avoiding VAT? Only one man knew the answer. He knows who he is. Even with the threat of death I would never name him. He does however, have a tree named after him in Bakewell; 'The Sedge Tree', because of the amount of flies he plants there on his back cast.

My Tibetan hosts awarded me the title: ‘Ching Yuo’ (the man of change and fortune) and I was now a fully fledged ‘Shaman High Priest’, my qualification inscribed on tortoise shell and blessed for eternity by the monks of Loyang.

My new stature also gave me the power to influence the positive benefits of any jewellery constructed from heamatite, by act of willing and prayer.

The rest is history.

Here is the sales talk. Go away now if you want to save your hard earned cash!


So welcome traveller, your path has led you to my online refuge and my fabled magnetic jewellery; I am the glorious Mystic Tony. Here you will find many treasures of mother earth and the ancient powers they hold within.

Myths and legends help us make sense of the world. My jewellery designs harness the teachings of mystical myths and legends passed down by monks, druids and shamans through the ages.

My premium stainless steel range contains only the strongest, tested neodymium magnets in every link, as used by renowned therapists throughout the world. By utilizing the natural energy of magnetism, jewellery with unique geometric arrangements and designs can have scientifically proven healing properties.

The gemstones and representations I use in my jewellery are not only spectacular fashion pieces but they are Talismans that draw mythical energy from legends and mysticism to energize your desires and elevate your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being.

Please feel free to explore my jewellery and let healing, guidance and beauty energize your soul and bring you to life!

Sorry, website down at the moment but...

Listen...I've got a shed load left at 20p each. Will do 6 for a quid. Make great stocking fillers come Xmas RRP £16.99 each!

A bargain reel

Reels

The new Flextec Aerotec (couldn’t be anything else could it) 3/4 #

Got one, only because it looked nicer than the excellent larger Caimores that are very similar and not available.

Now I can start to speak from experience. With a modern rod you can not really look into the engineering. Sure, you can look at the quality of the fittings, spec etc. But you have to take it out for a test drive or two. A reel is a bit different.

In coarse fishing, I used most modern reels. The Shimanos were without a doubt the best and I foolishly sold them in favour for some high tec reels that had obviously never been field tested but had nine million bearings in them and gold plated bail arms. The worst design but the best engineered and looking reels I have ever owned. Make this a lesson folks.

Now I’m going to make a very controversial comment about fly reels. In all the years I have been fishing I have only had two fixed spool reels break. One was an Intrepid and the other was an original Cardinal 66. But they were relatively complex compared to a fly reel which is based on a simple centre pin after all. Surely fly reels can’t let you down.

Well! Either stick to cheap sub £20 models that will never let you down or be very careful.

In the last year I have had so much trouble with top aluminium jobs, not one but two that I have finally got rid. Daft faults to do with the reel removal mechanism. But lost me fish on the reservoirs all the same.

About 8 months ago I bought two Caimore aluminium reels to replace the rubbishy expensive ones. I have to say they are faultless. I then bought a small version, once again; faultless.

I also had problems with a medium priced reel from a well known manufacturer. No it did not go wrong but once again poor design let it down. Line trap this time.
I was with someone recently who was using a faulty top of the range reel and the clutch had gone. Fancy that, you have worn out the clutch on a reel! Oh bliss!  Sadly, this again was a manufacturing error.

So, I needed a new reel as a backup to my 3/4Caimore. Actually not a back up. I had 4# line on the Caimore and had just had my little 6 footer off Steve Parton for the Manifold that I needed a 3 weight for. I had no intention of using the line trap model anymore.
I was going to buy another Caimore or spare spool but my model had been discontinued.
I then came across the Flextec Aerotec which seemed to have the same spec but with spare spool.
Bought it off EBay for £51 including postage. Very twee, very well made just like the Caimore but smaller. Great clutch if you use one, and I do! Showed it to an engineer friend who was amazed at the quality. Had to use mono for backing as this is a little reel but what the heck.

On went a 4# on one spool and a3# on the other. Clutch had a great work out at Bakewell and it is quiet too.

Brilliant reel for the price.

A review

I'm far from qualified to do a tackle review but I think I am totally within my rights to publish my thoughts on products I have purchased and used.


So here goes: The Flextec Streamtec 9ft #4, four piece rod rated at fast/medium.

I was told to buy a nine foot rod by my new found friends. I have a Steve Parton 8ft 6 which I have been using everywhere. It casts ok, it is well made and is built on British carbon in England.

I needed a back up, so a 9 foot it was.
The rod I was recommended to buy was a Grey’s streamflex but this was well out of my price range. So I had a look around.

The Airflo streamtec and Flextec streamtec caught my eye. Both 4 piece, like the Grey’s.

Now the Airflo sells for a realistic £100. The only trouble with that is that in 12 months you know it will be about £70 when they sell it off, as the ‘new’ model has arrived. Just like football tops I suppose. But definitely one to consider as it had a ‘best in test’ in a leading magazine they advertise a lot in…mmm.

The Flextec is imported by Tacklediscounts, a company I had used in the past with total satisfaction. But I had never bought a rod or even a reel off them.

The problem these guys have is that they eBay the rods and reels at a greatly reduced RRP. This instantly gets you suspicious. RRP means nothing. On the other hand the RRP was the same as the price for a Grey’s and I suppose it has to be; to make it look the equal. Also, if you buy one at a much reduced price on eBay you can brag to certain gullible mates how you saved so much money. So maybe their strategy worked on me. You also get a lifetime guarantee which is worthless really at these prices. But fair do’s others do the same. Might as well buy another when it is out of its normal guarantee.

I was also impressed with the eBay feedback and also the spec of the rod including its low weight. I was not looking forward to holographic logos however.

I worked the net and found conflicting reports including someone who said the rods were made in the same factory as a very famous make. I suppose most of them are these days. Like makes of beans really. You wouldn’t move for bean factories if they were all processed in different places! So after weighing it up I thought I’d get one.

Buying is a piece of cake if you are canny with eBay. Decide what you are willing to pay, look at what previous folk have bought them for, put in your bid and wait. With a re-occurring product, you’ll get one eventually. And I did.

So for £69 including postage I was the proud owner of a bag of you know what or a genuine bargain.

Next day delivery saw me opening my parcel. It was like Xmas. Only the shape gave away the clue to what might be inside.

The rod tube blew me away with its quality. At least £25 worth. Now that’s called first impressions. On the downside, I thought that I had now bought a £45 rod. Take the VAT, carriage and profit off, I then thought I may have bought a £20 rod. Oh bugger! But it looked good, very good.

I took it yesterday to the Wye and I have to say I was knocked out! It suits me perfectly. I used a new Flextec reel and a line I had knocking about but never used before.

The Flextec Streamtec seems rather marvellous value to me. It is less than 3oz, it did not snap, felt great to cast with and had a feel at the top end, can’t describe it, which helped to put my flies down very gently. It is beautifully finished (no holographics on this model) and it also subdued some really nice fish which is surely the proof in the Bakewell pudding. The large rainbow in my previous post (estimated at 5/6lb) was caught with a length of stroft 0.14 leader (gut) which I had forgot to upgrade for the town stretch, so that says something

The new rod had a very testing first outing. If I had paid £200 and it had a top brand on it I would have been more than pleased.

Biggest problem is that this is not now destined to be my back up rod. But on the plus side the hand built Steve Parton job deserves a rest.

Where’s me cheque. Tackle Discounts?

Wye Wye Wye delightful

My third visit to the Wye.
Jon picked  Bone and me up and off we set, full of expectation, excitement and anticipation of the day ahead. I also wanted to find out if my new Flextec 9' #4 streamtec (back up rod) was a rip off at £61.50  (ebay) or real value for money. (a review to follow).
We arrived at the Peacock just after 12:00 and instead of the customary cup of tea, Bone persuaded us to partake in the Carling. I don't normally do this prior to fishing but what the heck, it might make the casting sweeter. Glen was going to join us later in the day.
We began on the lower stretch, which was running a little low and gin clear. We sorted flies and decided on the sexy sedge patterns I had tied up in the week. There were a couple of rises in the pool I was fishing but nothing doing on the sedge. A change to a Griffiths... and immediately had a small grayling.
 Jon also had a grayling and a chat with a nice gentleman who also informed Jon that the fish could see his gut. Jon took the advice and is now on a diet. A couple of rainbows later we decide to move north above Bakewell.
We had the shock of our lives when we parked up. The river was up; well up, running fast and chocolate brown with alll sorts floating down. I was really confused! Had we taken the wrong turning? Had we gone through a time warp and ended up on the River Churnet 30 years ago? No! There could be only one reason for this and I thought:  "Must have been a heavy storm up Buxton way and wow! It must have been a right deluge". Boscastle sprung to mind.
I rang Glen, he rang Jan,
Jon, Bone and me walked downstream. The river was totally unfishable.
We then decided to drive in to town and grab a bite to eat and maybe call it a day, we were so dissapointed , to say the least.
However, we cheered up a bit as the town stretch looked as though it could be fishable later, maybe when the crowds had gone. We had delicious fish and chips and watched the trout being fed by the tourists and these fish did not look remotely bothered by the extra flow and colour. This is a very slow stretch and would be less effected anyway, except maybe for fly life.
We could not fish at this point in time as there were too many people about and the rest of the river was a bit of a torrent. So we went for a pint

Bone and Jon enjoying a 'Farmers Blond'. We couldn't think of a better way to wait for the river to fine down.

I then got a call from Jan to say that a guy with a lake upstream had decided to release some water. Obviously this was not the fault of the Haddon Estate but Jan still offered us a free days fishing in compensation. He also said that the flow in the river would drop and it could  be very fishable later on in the evening and we could stay. This, in my opinion is top notch customer service!
So we made our pints last!
As the tourists began to melt away we got tackled up.

Glen joined us, Richard Ward popped by for a chat and both Jan and Warren paid us a visit.

How glad we were that we stayed! Jan was spot on! Electric fishing once again. I even got a round of applause from a few onlookers after landing a huge rainbow that gave a super account of itself.
We had many, many good fish!

A rather large Wild River Rainbow on my own sedge.  CommOOO! and the 'cheap' Flextec worked perfectly.

Please take a large net with a decent handle if you fish here. Forget the river scoop, just not suitable. Make sure the fish recover before they finally go. I am also buying an unhooking mat.

What a day! Again, super fishing, great company and being looked after so well was a real bonus!

D Day

Had a great day with Trugg on the Dee.

It is not Derbyshire I know, but Trugg and me first met only a couple of weeks ago, on the Wye. We got on well and decided to have a day together.

Billy no mates on the Dee

It is quite amazing that you can go and buy a cheap day ticket on this water!
It is quite obvious that it is not over fished, well not officially. The lovely lady who sold us the tickets was amazed she had another customer that day and thought there was a match on!  We had a crafty look at the stubbs. 16 tickets sold in the whole of July!
 Cracking day, great sport. Over 50 fish between us mostly on the dries. What a setting! and all for a tenner. I am slowly getting better and now  have far more confidence thanks to my new found Derbyshire and Staffordshire fishing mates. Trugg never once rollocked me for my casting and reckons I'm getting there, although he did throw in a couple of remarks when I missed one after the other.

Had a great lesson off him. I told him I was getting takes at the end of my cast just as the fly decided to sink.
On went a red tag and he showed me the high something... Oh I remember sticking technique which got me a fish on nearly every cast.
Wading still an issue with me but Trugg is a complete nutter and just goes for it.
Great meal at a pub. Trugg had a lettuce sandwich (just in case his better half reads this) I can't remember the name of the pub but Trugg knows it. So PM him. The locals were helpful too. "Match your fly to the colour of the rock," was one that that both Trugg and I found interesting.  After discussing the merits of this local advice we both decided to ignore it but keep it in mind. Worth knowing the pub though if you are planning a day out there.
We fished the stretch with all sorts and had plenty of fish. I was a bit cheesed off because I missed several really big fish to my modified LTD sedge. Honestly, I could not understand how I didn't hook them. I blamed the sedge as although it was a great attractor it was  maybe  not a good hooker. I shoud have stuck to Glen's original! Took it off, put on a JT olive dubbed with rubber. (have to catch over 100 before I can claim it as mine!) and had a very nice grayling on the first cast. Only small trout after though.

Trugg made the tea earlier on with the Kelly and I have to say they were the best tasting cuppas I've had.
 He carried the water and milk. I carried the Ringtons tea bags. We discussed flies, rods and various bits and he showed me his and I showed him mine.
The Glen Pointon LTD sedge definitely works. 20 odd trout! Mine is based on the great Rocher LTD but I am a lazy bugger and so modified it so that it was quick to tie. Thank you Glen!

The biggest problem was that at the end, Trugg and me were well knackered and I had to give him a piggy back up a 100 yard almost vertical bank.
Joking apart, You know how good a fishing day is:;it is when you never shut up on the way home. It was a 1 1/2 hour drive back and all we did was chat about everything from fishing, fly tying to deadly snakes at Dovedale... and I'm not talking about certain anglers. I would never dare!

Cheers Trugg,

Let you know how we get on at the Wye Sunday. Going to blank soon!

How we are getting on

I think it is time to reflect.
 I began this blog way back in the year. I was clueless. I am so glad that I had a lesson of JT (priceless) and a couple of sublime days with Sir Rocher and his mates. My skills have improved, my fly tying has improved. It was an honour that the experienced lads were cadging my flies last week on the Wye (only because they had run out).  I always had a good idea where fish would be and watercraft stuff but fishing the fly is totally different than bait fishing.
I have even started to look at entomology in detail. God, I love this sport!
From my earlier experiences of approaching a river with not a clue and sort of just hoping. , I now expect to catch. I would still not expect to catch as many as the good folk who I have fished with, their talents are far more advanced than mine but I now have that tad of knowledge that can only grow.in the future.
I have had personal bests. I have met great people and  had the most wonderful time.
Watch out the Wye!  Bone, Jon and me are coming Sunday!