Bentley Brook

I have been asked to post this again. Sorry if you have read it before!

I joined LADFFA last year. The Best club in England! They said. Isaac Walton himself fished the streams.


The Forums said, ‘Try Bentley brook on the estate’.

I decided to try out Bentilee brook.

Now look, without getting angry, I know where ‘Bentilee brook’ is! I was brought up on the said council estate and it is about time LADFFA sorted its maps out. They even spelled it wrong.

I programmed my very good value RAC Sat Nav from Halfords and guess what? It wanted to send me all the way to Ashbourne! The RAC are going to get a curt letter off me too!

Any how. I only went to Bentilee brook (on the ‘Estate’) the once and was shocked to see how small it was! Mind you it is a casters dream. I managed to reach the far bank on more than one occasion, I can tell you!

I did, however, feel a little intimidated by the amount of dubious comings and goings from residents of the nearby houses. Trust me to pick a day when the local teenage girls were out in force on a fancy pushchair walk. A bit of a nuisance but it is nice to see them baby minding for their parents; who says family values are a thing of the past? Having said that, it was no worse than Dovedale.



Having waded up through the culvert to the drain area; I was in my element, I have to say it is easy wading, avoiding the attentions of the local dogs (take a wading stick and some meat), I only managed one small stickleback and that was foul hooked; (for the technical I was fishing the ‘quadro’. I hit the stickleback with my point fly; a home tied striped nymph (‘size 2 Waddington with half gold tungsten bead, medium olive dubbing, badger hackle and a grey minkie tail). I also had three droppers. Illegal I know, but I did manage to swop the whole rig for a very strange hand rolled cigarette and rabbit pelt from a young guy who was admiring the alloys on my car.

I asked his name: ‘Shy Ted’ was his reply and he was well shy, trying to hide his face in on of those hooded things you can get from any fly fishing shop these days. A great leveller, fishing, I thought. He must have been some expert on the brook though, judging by the amount of caked up fish slime down his top and his piercing ruby red eyes, which I imagine was the result of concentrating on his flies drifting between discarded cider bottles. (We really do need a work party there soon).

He did give me a piece of advice. “We use Jeyes Fluid. That get’s ‘em all on the Dove!” I have heard of the “Yanks” spraying their flies with WD40 but I shall certainly give the old Jeyes a try on my next outing.

It is no wonder people on the forums say Bentilee Brook is difficult!

My lasting memory is quite positive, however. The sight of the huge water voles scuttling around my feet was a delight. What large tails they have.

Imagine my surprise when I met the same guy at Dovedale selling dust caps just a week later. I bought some spares and after the some pressure, I lent him my new hand made 7” #3 rod for him to try. He has promised to give me a review. He also showed me his box of ‘live red flies’ how I would love to be able to tie those!

Luckily for me when I arrived back at the car park I noticed that my dust caps must have rattled loose over the cattle grids so managed to replace them. I owe him one! Would have cost me a fortune at a dealership.



It is a shame that those poor young kids at Dovedale have to live in caves and things and have to wander up and down a path all day with not even a shirt to their name. They should take a leaf out of that ‘Shy Ted’s’ book and get a house on The Bentilee Estate; they even give you money to live there if you haven't got a job. I presume that is where all the LADFFA subscriptions go!

I am eagerly awaiting the review of the rod he borrowed.

1953 Invoice

I found this in an old book given to me by a dear friend at Xmas. She bought it in a second hand shop. The book is a fascinating read: Fly-Tying: Principles & Practise by Major Sir Gerald Burrard, Bt., D.S.O., (Retired)
The guy who owned the book ordered the following.
Mail order was so different.
I note the Polar Bear and Condor quills.
What would he have tied from this lot?
Can someone help with the address as although the handwriting is beautiful, I can't make it out.?

"I think they can see your gut, Sir!"

Warmer weather please

No posts for a long while. Bone and me did venture out prior to Xmas but the results were not worth blogging.
However, I am getting excited about the forthcoming season.
I am the only one out of the three of us to have joined The Peacock club. This will be mainly mid week during the school hols. So Billy No mates but too good to miss for me.
We have just found some excellent waters for the weekends!
More to come!!!!

Hoar frost

Well I thought my next post was to show the results of my new camera. However, yesterday I had a unique photo opportunity outside my classroom. I was armed with my little Pentax W60.

I think you should have a camera with you always! It does not have to be all singing and dancing or expensive. The subject is much more important.

New camera

 


I have been teaching for 10 years now. Prior to that I had worked in the photographic industry (apart from a short stint with a medical supplies company) since leaving Uni.
Having worked for a major importer of high quality photographic equipment, working in a lab and running my own retail/photo processing business, I think I am more qualified than most to add the following to my blog:

My new camera.

I've used and owned them all: Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Olympus etc. 35mm, medium format, even a Sinar studio camera with full lighting set up.
With the introduction of digital cameras, I decided about 8 years ago, to invest in a compact digital. A 3.1 mp Ricoh. The results were a big let down. To be honest it was no worse than others on the market at the time. I was just cheesed off by the 'hype' over this new technology which, in those early days, I thought would never approach the quality I could get from a conventional 35mm camera.

Things moved on, and 5 years ago I bought a digital slr; a Nikon. I was quite pleased with the results through an average inkjet printer, but couldn't get on with it. It was bulky. However, I was sold on digital. It was obvious to me that this was the way to go; things had progressed so much in so short a period of time.
I then bought a Canon 350 dslr. This was a truly outstanding camera; easy to use, light and just seemed to give me the results that the Nikon didn't.

I then decided that I wanted something smaller. So the slr went and I bought a Canon G9.
What a great camera. I bought a new printer; a Canon Pixma, and was very happy with the results.
1 problem: The camera was neither here nor there. It was too big to be a compact and had no interchangable lens facility. So I sold it.
I was now getting into my fishing, so I decided that I really needed two cameras: A dslr (digital single lens reflex) for my general pictures and a compact for fishing.
I bought a Pentax W60 compact. Brilliant! I have had this for 12 months and it does what it says on the tin. Trouble is, that's all it does and I still needed a dslr.

I had not been in a hurry to buy a dslr and to be honest, the Pentax has been a good little workhorse but last week something happened that made me think it was time to buy my new dslr,

I wasn't going to do it but my daughter, who is at University, studying biology, convinced me she needed a dslr for her 'research'. So the 'ex' and her partner and me have got her a Canon 500d with a 17-55 and 55-250 zoom lenses for Xmas. Spoiled! If you are reading this and know her please don't tell!

It was while looking for this kit, I came across the Olympus E620 dslr. Now my daughter knew what she wanted, but I now knew what I wanted!

To cut a long story short, I ordered a kit (body, 14-42 and 40-150 lenses) This is a 4/3 camera....I don't understand either but you can essentially double the focal length of the lenses to give the equivalent to 35mm. So, I have a range from 28-300mm in two high quality optics.
Camera has arrived. Brilliant! The results beggar belief. LOADS of options. Easy to use and well made. The most difficult thing was attaching the strap.
I have looked at the images and I can't fault them.

It was only delivered yesterday but I have spent some time with the manual and it is a breeze to understand and use.
Highly recommended at just over £400 for the lot. A 'grey' import I know, but guaranteed all the same.

PS: The fly's not bad...don't you think?

Snowy Owl?

More images to follow.

The Lion Tamers visited the BFFI today. What a great place to learn and find new ideas!

'I think the fish can see your gut, old chap'

My shopping list was short: A decent silver badger cape/saddle.

Bone and Jon wanted wading vests.

After enduring a three mile drive (sometimes Stoke is a good place to live), we parked up and had a coffee. We needed coffee as it was Bone’s birthday bash last night and we were a bit worse for wear.

The queue was building up, but sensibly, we had our pre-booked tickets and went straight in.

I was desparate to get my hackle stuff. I told the guys it was urgent and got myself a super silver badger saddle from Lakeland. That was me done. I now needed a horse.

We wandered around, buying bits and bobs and then bumped into Sheena Goode. (England International). What a lovely lady. We showed her our new shirts. I think she wanted one but we were interrupted; she is so popular, Sheena had to talk to other people and so we slinked away.

We then went to see John Tyzack, (the master)  who showed a guy how to tie a spider with some dodgy thread and an equally dodgy bobbin holder.  A copy of his latest dvd was purchased and I got it signed, as a signed copy will always fetch a few quid more on ebay.

John Tysack trying out the new 'fjy flute'

We bought some nice gear.

We bought some other stuff, took a lot in and retired to the pub.

I even went to the butchers, not knowing I still had a coat hanger emerger at the top of my brand new fleece

We loved it!

Cold, very cold on The Wye

Had a cracking day on the Wye today with Trugg. Was freezing. Rod rings continually iced 'till late morning.

However, that didn't stop us catching. In fact I can honestly say I had one of the best days fishing for a long time.
After Trugg nailed a couple of grayling, we noticed the odd rise so on went the dries. We didn't look back. We only cast at what we thought were grayling rises but we did catch the odd inevitable trout.
We must have had getting on for a hundred takes and we both ended up well into double figures.
I even trimmed a fly to make it smaller and it was hammered.
Bumped into John Tyzack who was guiding and Andrew from Manchester. Jan paid us a visit too.

At least I turned up in full camo. Yes, not retouched. This is what my car looked like after a mornings fishing. My car is a leaf magnet.

Tried out my new 10' #4 Streamflex, using it for a job it was never intended to do: Dries at a distance surrounded by trees. No sweat though, only lost half a dozen of my best dries.
Best fly for me was a double grizzle (still don't have a badger cape but it is the fly show this Saturday so...). Trugg gave me some brilliant advice and taught me a roll cast. He caught a lot more than me but I'm definitely getting there.
 Best bit was the one that got away. It was going dark and we were ready for a cup of tea from the Kelly and home. Trugg spotted a rising fish in a tricky spot. I raised it twice before finally hooking it. Sadly it came off but to me that was very satisfying as I would not normally have tried for it.
I am getting more chilled about fishing and now realise there is no need to rush. Trugg reckons I'm too quick on the draw when striking. He reckons I have John Wayne syndrome. I reckon it's something to do with my drumming past.
So, BFFI Saturday, new badger cape, and some neoprene socks.