Deliverance

Recently RR on his blog, ‘The dry fly expert’ advised on the benefits of stealth and wearing clothes that would not spook the fish. ‘Jeep socks’ read this and immediately went out and bought the ideal motor to fit in with this philosophy. We decided to give it a try…

I was picked up by Jon.
Bone was already in the cab of the new ‘van’. I nearly sat on his knee as his camouflage was so effective.
What a motor! All the ‘MOD’ cons including Morris Marina heater, Morris 1000 window winders and quarter lights, Allegro door handles and a number six fag butt in the ash tray.

The Lion Tamers

It is no wonder I catch, I am the one who is the most difficult to see!

After chucking the gear in the back and forgetting my wellies in the excitement, stopping at our favourite newsagents for water, a few photos and  debarbing pliers from the ‘Tool Box’ in Werrington, we set off.

(The pliers are excellent value at £2. Go and see Paul at the branch in Leek).

The 'Deliverance' with its 3litre Perkins diesel, coupled to permanent 4 wheel drive roared its way through the clouds and rain up the hills towards Errwood Reservoir; our newly found gem just north of Buxton. I got our excellent value tickets from Woody at his wine shop yesterday.

Arriving at the reservoir the weather was nothing short of shite. Now I don’t normally swear on my blog but this was shite. A horizontal wind with lashings of rain and bloody cold to boot.

Being hard, turning up in the ‘Deliverance’, in full camo and coming from Stoke we went for it!

It was hard, very hard. In the 4 hours we were there, I, the lucky one was the only one to catch. I am King of the Reservoirs after all! I fluked one on a sunk daddy, lost a nice brown on a lure near the net and missed one on a Shipman’s. The casting wasn’t too difficult but it was so uncomfortable and cold. So three takes between us in four hours!

We retired to the pub.

We were joined by  Deano, he's on the Wye tomorrow!

On the way back, we had to turn right at Werrington. Guess who flashed us through?

Lord Rocher!!! He did not know it was us but I watched him laugh his head off as he suddenly recognised the mighty Lion Tamers in the cab!

A great laugh and a great day, apart from the fishing…

Jeep Socks ran me over on Bonehead's insistance because I was the only one with the skill to catch!

Bl..dy windy on Errwood

SOW

No not the river Sow but Stoke on Wye plus Trugg and a super day on the river Wye.

Keeping it short again.

We met up and filled the Peacock. Some had tea, some had coffee; we had a pint!

Discussed tactics, Trugg had already emptied the river with his morning session so things looked good.

We split up. Not a bad idea considering there were nine of us.
The Lion Tamers headed for the fisherman's car park and aren't we glad we did.
The river was low which surprised me given the rain we had had recently but today the weather was superb and within a few minutes Bone landed his first fish of the day, a nice little brownie that fell for a sedge.

I wandered upstream and managed a few grayling and rainbows plus a little brownie all to a sedge. I must admit going through my fly box to try and see what they were taking. It was definately not sedges but that was what won in the end. Some pools I got a take every cast, some none! Once again shed loads of missed takes but what fun. Sneaking around with your head down, tangled and caught in the undergrowth.

Saw a grass snake! Also kingfishers darting up and down. Bet they are on the second nesting.

Wandered back to Bone. He too had a great afternoon with some great sport on his home tied invention.  I can not describe it but when he showed it to me it looked as though it would do the business.

Jonny 'jeep socks' netting a nice, very nice grayling.

It's great to catch on your own flies and we don't buy shop bought anymore.

Jonny 'jeep socks' had done well too with the 'longes't fish of the day.
Went for some snapping and a pint in town and met up with the rest of the 'posse'.
The final part is the icing on the cake for me. Nine guys; catching and helping each other out.
Dean managed the best fish of the night. A brownie estimated at 5lb.
Anyway I have joined.
Is it worth it? Well you could do the maths based on the day ticket price but I don't look at it like that.
I cannot compare the Wye with other top rivers in this country as I have not fished them. But looking at the beats of the Test and Itchen at £300 for a day, targeting stockies...well no contest really.

Sod the jeep socks... that's a pretty good grayling

Somewhere over the rainbows

Completely un-retouched. As Brian and me were walking back to the car we saw the biggest rainbow of the day. Is that guy standing next to a pot of gold?

Anyway a short blog for once. Woody got in touch as he wanted to try his newly purchased Dawson's olives in a posh box from Farlows. Check his blog. The venue was Errwood Reservior...Brian was coming too.

From our chat it was plainly obvious that Woody was on a mission. Just as Glen Pointon targets an individual fish and won't rest until he catches it, Woody had targetted a shoal. So we had to go.

Met Brian for the first time at Woody's shop to purchase tickets. Brian produced a foam block full of the most exquisitely tied flies and gave them to Woody. I had a really close look. What a tyer! What an inspiration for me. "Got to do better!" I told myself.

After a half hour drive through the usual low cloud base, we discussed all things trouty while tackling up.

I decided on a big daddy as that is what worked well last time. We could see a few rises, even though the car park was 200 yards from the waters edge. Brian agreed and followed suit. Woody tied on the Dawson's!

Within minutes I had a take. Missed! Then an almighty take. Missed. Checked my fly but the hook looked ok.

Then landed one, then another, missed a load, got broke off, three came off. 

 "As soon as I saw you, I thought you had a lucky face," Brian commented. If only he knew me better!

I then had another before Brian, after missing a fair few himself, hooked into one that gave him a right run around.

It went dead. We noticed some fish supping and some small empty buzzer cases so I put on a Shipmans and 1st cast it was hit like a train. I thought I had cracked it. Indeed, I had another come off on the next cast. Brian then hooked into another and almost immediately I was in again. We were both playing fish side by side. It was like Trugg, Dave and me the other week on the Wye. Dave (Woody) was by this time spitting feathers and threatening to go to the Wye that minute. Woody had changed to the daddy a while back and was fishing exactly the same but had not had a take. This happens on a still water. Bonehead and me know this feeling so well; The guy fishing next to you or in the same boat gets all the action while you scratch your head in disbelief.

I gave him a Shipman's to put on a dropper and wham! He landed a  nice fish that took his daddy! So much for my advice!

Dave packed up and left Brian and me to try different tactics until after about another hour, and with no further joy, we too went home. Interestingly we tried buzzers under a yellow indicator and both had our indicators walloped! What's all that about?

We all caught but it was clear to a man that our first love is the rivers.

One recommendation: Use a line tray if you've got one. It is rather gritty/muddy when the reservior is as low as this. It is millstone grit and will knacker everything it gets into. Sealed bearing reels only.

A great few hours fishing. It is super value. Roll on Sunday. Stoke-on-Wye! (plus Trugg).

Fishing on the moon!

 Notice we have all taken a leaf out of Bone's book and brought seats with us. Check out the old dry stone wall in front of Brian! That's Woody in the background on the hemp and casters

Mayfield and the Manifold

Bone managed to get a day off. We decided we would have a couple of hours on the Dove. Checked  in and looked at the result Trugg's exploits the previous evening. WOW!
It was not the best of weather and we had a good soaking. Bone was winding me up again about my fear of wading and angry bulls. He is supposed to be my mate. "He's looking at you!" he kept saying.

Nothing much rising but I was up to my usual trick of late, by missing takes which were hard to come by. Went through my fly box as there was one particular fish that was rising occasionally but did not want to know. I spent far too much time on this fish. I now have a score to settle with him.

I did manage a very nice grayling and better still up to my nuts in water! I'm getting there!

We nipped up to Hulme End, only because I wanted to try out my new 6' rod.

After a quick pint in the Manifold Inn we wandered down to the river only to be confronted with a red coloured mess. The rain had soon got to this piece of water. My dark side said to me, "you need worms."

Not expecting to catch anything in the conditions, I said to Bone, "I'll just have a couple of casts to try out my baby rod." I put on a #14 ltd so it would be visible and to my total disbelief it was nailed by a tidy grayling first cast!

Second cast I hooked a nice trout which soon came off and then had this little baby. Oh well, baby rod, baby fish!

Size 14  ltd

Bone had a baby trout on his grown up rod.

We'd had enough by this point but did enjoy ourselves.
Things look good for the Manifold with the juveniles showing.

Mayfield

Appart from being hassled by some angry cattle. We had a great day! Never trust a mother with child! They've got massive horns and the field is also full of adders dangerous spiders and nettles

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Commo's Highland Dram

Woody got in touch earlier in the week asking if I fancied a day out on Errwood reservoir which is in the upper Goyt valley just outside Buxton. I couldn’t make the Wye on Thursday because of the dreaded dentists. So we arranged to meet up today to try the place out.


It is £15 for the day and you are allowed to take 3 fish inclusive of the price. You can practise catch and release when you like but if you kill three fish you have to stop fishing. This seems excellent value when compared to many other stillwaters. Tickets are available from Woody’s wine shop in Leek. A fine selection of top quality wines, and all sorts of whisky are offered at this fine establishment. He also has a bogof on white lightning at the moment if you are quick!

I had tied up some Ltd sedges for Woody as his stocks were seriously depleted and he fancied giving them a go on the reservoir. I was also looking forward to the bottle of rare vatted malt scotch he had ready for me in appreciation for the Avatar and the sedges.

We met up at his shop. Bone and I had arrived in style. His escort van was so full of grout and tile cement, I was wondering how it would cope with the hills we were about to traverse.

I think Woody realised this and offered to take us in his van but we weren’t sure as to what time we would be leaving so didn’t want to restrict Woody to our timetable.

We did eventually manage to get there. I was shouting encouragement to the over worked escort diesel as it screamed up the hill towards the Winking Man in second gear. Bone wanted to take a run at it  but with Sunday drivers in front we had to go all the way up at 10mph. I think Woody, following behind must have wondered what was going on when Bone held back to accelarate down hill before hitting the climb to Ramshaw Rocks as to gain as much momentem as possible.

We tackled up, Dave presented me with my own personalised whisky, complete with glass, I presented him with the Ltds and we discussed tactics.

It does not get better than this! My very own personalised whisky.

Commo's Highland Dram. Number 1 of 1. Top Bloke.

To be honest we didn’t really have a clue. When you fish somewhere for the first time you usually have to experiment. So sensibly we went for different options. The weather was overcast with only a slight breeze. The reservoir was low.

I decided on a nymph underneath a suspender.

Bone went straight for the suspender only.

Dave (Woody) went for a team of three wets.

As we left the brothel we decided to fish.

THERE WAS NO WAY WE WERE USING LURES BECAUSE DAVE SAID SO!

We wandered down the ‘bank’; I say ‘bank’ because it would normally be the reservoir bed. It got very muddy at the water’s edge and wellies are a must. We soon understood why wading was not allowed. No not your usual H+S but the drop offs are bloody lethal. It can drop 80' in one step. A very sensible rule by the club. The water was clear with a moorland peaty tinge.

After about an hour of no action, the odd rise here and there, Dave and me witnessed a fish take a feather way out in the middle of the lake. I said that I thought a big terrestrial might tempt one, so on went a daddy.

I nailed one only a few minutes later. Yes! No blank for me today.

I lost another shortly later and missed a few. Top tactics, I thought.

Woody showing off his long rod while cursing my flies.

It went dead. I thought they might be circling so after a change to a suspender with no success I tied on a big black daddy. Even a Stevie Wonder rainbow would see this! This was snaffled and I landed another. Dave then landed his first on a cdc and then consulted ‘the oracle’ (Glen by phone) and was told to try an F fly. He had a take almost immediately but missed it.

One of the club committee lads joined us for a chat as I was just into my third. I put it back as I wanted to fish on for a while. Bone said, ‘you would have knocked that if the bailiff wasn’t looking.’ I’ll get him back.

Dave was taking advice off the committee bloke and put on a horrible looking lure he had cadged off him. Can you believe it?

He even borrowed a rod off me to punch it out, and 16 foot of my fluorocarbon for his leader. (Ha Ha). Has this man got any of his own tackle! He even moaned at me that the leader would not sink, the rod was not suited to his line and that my flies were crap. He even used my mud even though he only had to look down!

Well something must have worked because his lure got hit and he soon had a nice rainbow in the net. I was so impressed with his skill at catching a trout on a pike lure.

Woody 'selling out' and stripping lures. Can he really be trusted on The Hadden Estate?

We wanted Bone to catch. For some reason, and it is down to luck on a place like this, Bone hadn’t had a take. On went one of my suspenders, in black. In the sludge it took me ages to get them off! I don’t know why he chose this but after missing a beauty he soon broke his duck and hooked his first of these hard fighting fish, which I landed for him.

The evidence of many a 'Commo Shuffle'

It was nearly time to go home and although I had caught three, I had put one back and so needed another to complete my limit. A take missed while shouting abuse at Woody for using lures and how I was proud to have taken mine off the top, cheesed me off... A couple of minutes later I didn’t miss and I had to stop fishing. My three in an identical Morrison’s bag as Woody’s.

Bone borrowed my rod as it still had the deadly Commo daddy attached and he proceeded to land two in the next half hour. I had to sit and watch.

Bone casually playing a rainbow. "Don't bother getting up, Bone. I'll land it."

 We eventually called it a day with the freezer awaiting our catches.

We had the usual pee take and other great banter.

So:

If you want to fish a Stillwater in superb scenery, with the chance of a really good fish, they run to high double figures, at a very fair price, get on up there!

Thanks Woody and Bone for a great day.
River for us next time though!

Where's your keepnet? Bonehead!

PS Have gutted my fish. Nothing in one, a cased caddis in another and  crushed kitchen foil in the other. That one would have never have digested that, surely?

So much for 'matching the hatch'.

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.