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| Andrew with a Rainbow |
June and July have continued to be mainly a washout with persistant high waters making the fishing very difficult, especially the trout fishing, with very little insect life in attendance, however there have been a few days when the salmon fishing has been good with several fish being caught, mainly on the middle and upper beats of the river, but not with any consistency as the water is just not getting time to settle at all, and as soon as it looks as though it is going to drop in nicely, the rain returns yet again to scupper our chances. There is an up side to this unnatural summer though, as salmon are pushing well up the system which will hopefully bode well for their future progeny, so lets hope the winter months don't produce too many formidable floods that could potentially damage the redds, and if not I think we will see a further upturn in returning fish in the future, which we have already seen with the spring runs this year.
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| Doug Playing a trout |
Plenty of tuition sessions though as the water conditions do not effect this whatsoever, but not much to report on the trout fishing front over the periods of high water, as conditions have often caused us to be off the river all together, however, during the few days when we could fish, a couple of the guys I have had out did get some trout, and we even spent a little time on a local stillwater as I took Andrew out (Pictured Top left) to do a bit of casting tuition whilst fishing for Rainbow trout, where he caught a couple of nice fish and missed a few chances too, so not all was lost.
Doug Douglass came back again this year after an earlier cancellation due to high water, so we did a little bit of casting tuition on the river whilst fishing for trout, and he did manage a couple of small trout, but not up to his usual standard as he has had some exceptional days in the past for both Salmon and trout. However as always we had an enjoyable day.
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| CAA (Guide Fly Fishing Event) |
In the interim, as well as delivering the usual Borderlines youth days for schools and for Carlisle Angling Association (which once again saw another good turn out this year) I was also involved in a few open days for Guide Fly Fishing with my friend and fellow instructor Jim Fearn. The days were aimed at local angling clubs and consisted of free tuition, whilst giving the members who attended an insight into some of the new fly fishing products available on the market today, and more importantly giving people the opportunity to try them out on the river. We still have a couple of these days to deliver this weekend.
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| AAPGAI & Borderlines Stall |
I returned to the BFFI (British Fly Fair International) again this year, (held at the Staffordshire Show Ground in June) as part of the AAPGAI (Association of Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructors) demonstration team, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I was also asked to be part of the demonstration team for the West Cumbria Game Fair with another friend and fellow instructor Neil Barcock, this was held at Armathwaite Hall in Cumbria and was the shows inagural event. I think the show is now poised to become an even bigger event next year which will hopefully see the expansion of the fishing area. Well worth a visit.
Whilst water conditions on the Eden were unfriendly, to say the least, I took a trip down to Wales to stay with a very good friend and collegue. We fished the river Wye for salmon on day one, to no avail, but we then had a night on the River Dovey for Sea trout, which I am very fortunate to have been invited to do for several years now, which is one of my favourite indulgences, and once again we managed to encounter a few fish, (sea trout) up to around the 11lb plus range. If you have never experienced this type of fishing or this quality of sea trout before, then I suggest you book onto one of Illtyd Griffiths's courses and at least give it a go.
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| Lowther Show |
This year will see my return to The Lowther Show, which is now called the Lowther Game & Country Show. This is a venue I have not attended since 2008 as the 2009 show was cancelled and saw the end of the show as we knew it. This year however, AAPGAI has been asked to run the fishing area, casting clinics and demonstrations, so I am happy to return to the event in this role with several other AAPGAI members. Let's hope it will be a great event and I hope to see many of you there over the weekend of the 11th & 12th August.
