Plenty of Heat but we Won't be Beat

You can still winkle a few out

Still no significant signs of rain, despite the odd promise by the forecasters in early July (nothing new there) and the cooler air we experienced in late June also came to nothing as we are now constantly being bombarded with this very hot, energy sapping, weather.

However, we have been far from idle on the Eden over this difficult period, and during these less than ideal conditions we have found a few methods that still work, managing to winkle out a few fish with people here and there, especially if you are prepared to book your sessions later in the day and into the evening (which some of you have been doing) when sport is still quite good, regardless of what people might think, with some good brown trout and grayling fishing into dusk, and sea trout into the early hours (not to mention a few large browns on our sea trout flies).

CAA Members Open Day

In addition to taking people out on the river, I once again had the good fortune to be one of the testers for the Trout & Salmon magazine, testing a variety of 14 foot salmon rods, the result of which will be available in the August edition of the magazine. As well as this, along with my good friend Jim Fearn from Guide Fly Fishing, (also an AAPGAI Instructor) it was my pleasure to help deliver another casting and have a go day for Carlisle Angling Association members, which was once again well received and fun to do.

REDFA Youth Angling Day

Another Borderlines day ensued, this time it was arranged by REDFA (River Eden & District Fisheries Association) where we introduced 27 young anglers to a variety of activities, including Safety on the river, Entomology, Water craft, Fly casting and Fly fishing. The day took place on the Appleby beat of the river Eden, courtesy of Appleby angling association, with assistance on the day from Kirkby Stephen and Penrith angling associations. The day was a great success with several testimonials received by Mike Ashwin of REDFA following the event. Another very rewarding day!

Irish International Fly Fair

I also visited N. Ireland again with several friends and fellow AAPGAI instructors (Association of Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructors) for the Irish International Fly Fair, to take part in the demonstrations and casting tuition in the village of Killyleagh, this is a fund raising event for the Dibney River Conservation Trust (a great cause) and at the same time it allowed me to catch up with many good friends over there too. Upon my return, the low warm water conditions certainly didn't stop people coming out for casting tuition, and the usual sessions ensued, with several people wanting to get their casting up to speed prior to the rain arriving to provide better conditions for fishing (which it will at some point).

This one came to the Dry Fly

However, we are certainly not letting these difficult conditions keep us off the river, and whilst we are awaiting rain we will persevere with a variety of techniques, and no doubt continue to catch fish on some of them, whether it be weighted nymphs or upstream spiders in oxygenated water, or even dry fly late into the evening, or large hair wings through the night, there will always be a successful method to keep us going until the weather changes and breathes additional life into the river system.

Warm Weather & Daytime Lulls

Returning a late evening trout

Over the past month, since my last post, the weather has become gradually warmer (hot at times) and very humid, making the daytime fishing (as we got further into June) much more difficult, as well as switching off much of the insect life too. This effected the optimum catching times, pushing us further and further towards late evening when fishing conditions became a little more bearable, not only for us, but also for the fish, and often the last hour before dark gave us the best results, but also giving us a good excuse to stay on into dark for a spot of Sea Trout fishing, which although sporadic, has had it's moments, with some good fish being caught around the 3lb mark. Not to mention the odd smaller fish around a pound and a half on the dry fly (late evening) despite the distinct lack of insect life. 

A good result Prospecting with the Dry 

With nothing significant to see on the water surface, in the way of flies and with spiders still under performing, (compared to previous years) prospecting with the dry fly became the name of the game, and it did pay off from time to time too, although through the day when the heat was on, the gold heads often out performed them in the faster more oxygenated areas of the river.

Great to see these young fish back

We have also been encountering some good numbers of Grayling on the river recently, especially on the lower beats, and the good news is that the majority of these fish are young fish, around the half pound mark, with some 3/4lb fish thrown in too, and enough in the 1/4lb class to let us know that stocks are seemingly thriving. These new additions certainly gave us some good sport on the dry fly whilst searching for a trout or two, and this potentially bodes well for for those of us who enjoy some good winter Grayling fishing, giving us something to look forward to.

Returning a larger Grayling

Over the last couple of years Grayling did seem to be on the decline, which was quite disconcerting given a river that regularly produced good catches of these beautiful looking fish, and prior to that they were all big fish, in the 1 & 1/2lb to 2 & 1/2lb class. With a distinct lack of these new prodigy over the past few years, this turn around goes some way to proving that this has simply been part of their natural cycle, as Grayling grow much faster than trout and have a much shorter life expectancy. There now seems to be a far better balance with regard to size, and we are certainly still catching some of those bigger fish too as you can see from the picture above. Things are looking good!

A nice fresh Eden Salmon

Before the water began to recede, due to the recent dry conditions and lack of rainfall, there were several very fresh salmon willing to take the fly, especially on some of the higher beats, where it was apparent that these hard running fish had powered through the lower sections of the river, often undetected. Many experienced anglers, and river keepers, will confirm that this indicator can be identified by the obvious scarring on the lower bodies of these magnificent creatures, telling us that they had no intention of allowing low water sections and rocky rapids to halt their upstream journey. This being the case, with the river carrying an additional foot of fresh water at the end of May, and these fresh run fish showing an interest in our offerings, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to fish as a guest on one of these upper beats, and yes you've guessed it, managed to land one of these magnificent fish that the Eden has to offer. "A quick picture", and back to the water to continue it's upstream migration.

Richard with a good Eden Brownie

Border Game Angling also donated a full days fly fishing and tuition to the Eden Rivers Trust Auction at the end of May, and I recently spent a very pleasant day with the successful bidder Jonathan Airey and his party on the Lower Lazonby beat of the river. The group consisted of Jonathan, Ellis, Richard and James, a four rod lot and great guys to spend the day with. The day also included a riverside BBQ donated by the Tufton Arms at Appleby and cooked by their very own Chef, Michael, and I must say a great spread it was too. Although the fishing was difficult, as warm humid conditions prevailed yet again, they did manage to catch, which is always a bonus,.and as you can see from the picture, Richard landed a particularly nice brown trout.

David with a small trout

A regular visitor of mine David, also faced less than ideal conditions for a couple of days as June continued to warm up, but he still managed a few small fish on the gold heads when the dries proved difficult throughout the day. The same scenario was the order of the day for Phil Craig and Lewis too, with similar conditions, although Phil did tempt a few fish to the dry fly through sheer determination, but unfortunately lost the best chance he had on the day as a good fish parted company with his Klinkhammer.

John with one of many on a sunny day

Following on from this, whilst covering a variety of techniques on the lower river with John Dunn, often fishing in bright sunshine, against all the odds, John had an exceptional day, as he proceeded to land several trout and grayling in these less than ideal conditions, although the majority of takes did come in the broken water, which was understandable. A good result though and one I know for a fact he has repeated since.

However, we could now do with some fresh water (rain) just to inject a little life back into the river, especially for those salmon anglers out there, and certainly for those higher beats on the river, where water levels are now very low in places. That said, the fact that the air has cooled down a bit at the moment and conditions are a little more comfortable, (for us and for the fish) we are still getting some good catches of trout and grayling in places on the lower river, but a little rain wouldn't go a miss. I will keep you all informed!

Good Trout Fishing Continues

Peter, tentatively playing a trout

The trout fishing continues to improve on the river Eden, despite the re-appearance of a few easterly winds from time to time, but with temperatures now warmer, (most of the time) and insect life more abundant, the trout are most certainly in a better mood, so to speak. Peter (on the left) had a few frustrating offers to his dry before eventually hooking into this one, but he did manage to get a couple before they switched off in this particular area. Nice one Peter!

Briefly in the net (Goldhead Nymph)

As a result of a couple of spells of fresh water entering the system there has also been one or two more salmon caught over the last two weeks, (on the beats we have been fishing) but not by us I hasten to add, as those I have recently had out on the river have been focusing on the excellent trout fishing that the Eden has to offer, with some great results too, improving all the time.

Jeff with an Eden Brown

Over the past two weeks, since my last Blog, the trout activity at the surface continues to affirm the dry fly as the dominant approach, producing by far the best results ahead of alternative methods such as spiders and nymphs etc, however we have had one or two very good quality fish on gold headed nymphs too, (see above) just not as many as usual as our dry fly offerings continue to produce better results with regard to numbers. That said, don't abandon the goldheads though as they are still tempting some nice fish to have a go from time to time.

Rob playing a very nice fish.

It has also been apparent though, that the trout have not always been taking the dry as positively as we know they can, (especially at this time of year) resulting in many missed opportunities, as Jeff, one of my regular visitors, found out first hand, although he did manage to make contact with a few in the interim as you can see in the picture above. Once again the Klinkhammer has been our top dry fly, although a small CDC pattern has proved useful at times, especially when black gnats are in attendance and believe me they are certainly in abundance at the moment. Other patterns are available!

Stuarts first Brownie off the Eden

We had several satisfying days on the middle river as the guys rose a few fish to the dry, several of which were missed yet again, but through perseverance and a few fly changes they did manage to land a few fish, always rewarding when a plan comes together. The lower river produced some good catches too with one exceptional fish of around 3 1/2 - 4lb unfortunately parting company with the fly, but not before producing an epic battle as it threw itself into the air several times, giving us an eyeful of its substantial proportions. Maybe next time!

I was involved in several youth days again over the last week or so as part of the Borderlines team, with a couple of events being held at Drumlanrig castle on the stocked rainbow trout fishery there. Youngsters were introduced to all aspects of fly fishing, culminating in a fishing session with great success as they caught lots of fish on a catch and release basis (see picture below) and lost a few too. A good time was had by all.

Youngsters working as a team.

Off out again tomorrow with my good friend Tony with both the trout and the salmon rods as we had another small rise in water last night and reports of salmon being caught higher up the river have come to my attention, however, it's always a good idea to put the trout rods in the car too, as there is nothing worse than fishing for salmon all day long, with no success, and then suddenly a hatch of insects occur and  a phenomenal trout rise ensues and you suddenly realise that you have left your trout rod at home.

Westerlies Improve the Trout Fishing As Expected

Caught on the Klink

Although it has taken some time, the Easterly element to the wind has eventually relinquished it's dominant hold and given way to the various Westerlies we are now experiencing, which without doubt has made a big difference to the available insect life, in turn, encouraging more activity from the trout. This has been very apparent during recent trips out with people on the river. Even the casting sessions are noticeably more comfortable in these slightly warmer conditions and we are now beginning to believe that we might get a summer after all, although that's still a bit off yet!

Doug in Action

Prior to this, especially on an evening, just when it looked as though it was going to be quite good, with a few fish topping on the surface, that thin Easterly wind would sneak in from time to time, chilling the surface, and putting the fish down again, much to the dismay of Doug Douglass who was out with me on the river during one of these periods. However, Doug did get one or two small fish which kept him occupied, and with conditions now improving and the trout fishing beginning to take shape, it won't be long before he is getting into some of those better fish that are now starting to accept our offerings with a bit more confidence.

A Male Iron Blue Spinner

As temperatures slowly begin to rise, following the recent large hatches of Grannom, we have also been seeing some good hatches of Iron Blues, a few Olive Uprights, a steady flow of Large Brook Duns (although not in great numbers) and (in places) some substantial falls of Black Gnats and Hawthorn Flies, two terrestrials well worth finding a good imitation for. All great temptations to bring up some good trout, and we have certainly been using this to our advantage.

A well hammered Klink

We have had a few fish on spiders too, but they haven't been fishing anything like as good as they can fish at this time of year, although I am confident that they will come into their own at some point. 

During the lulls in the the easterlies (before it warmed up a little) the best results were on dries, and this continues to be the case, and once again the old faithfuls are coming out of the fly box, including the Klinkhammer and the Adams. Goldheads have taken a few fish as you would expect, but again, in the areas we have been targeting, not nearly as many as the dries have produced.

Piaras with a fight on his hands

I had Piaras and Chris over from Northern Ireland for a couple of days, to experience some Eden trout fishing, and they certainly managed to tempt several fish to their flies. It was Chris's first visit, although Piaras has been a regular visitor over the years, but only for the Salmon fishing, and would you believe it, whilst having a cast with the double handed salmon fly rod, on very low water, he managed to hook a nice salmon, against the odds, but unfortunately it parted company with his fly after a significant fight.

Chris about to land a fish

Whilst the trout were beginning to show some real interest, plans were afoot to take a couple of regular Border Game Angling visitors out onto the river again this weekend, but unfortunately (for the trout angler) the river has since swollen in the aftermath of the recent rain we have had, so we will have to put this on hold for now. However, whilst the water was on the rise we did spot a couple of salmon making their way through the beat we were fishing, and when the water begins to drop and clear, I am in no doubt that there will be a few salmon caught on several beats along the river, so let's get the Salmon rods out!

One anglers loss is another anglers gain!

Temperatures Improve over the Easter Bank Holiday

A rod well bent on a Klinkhammer

Several more spring salmon have been caught and returned to the Eden since my last post, which bodes well for the river, but as water levels have now dropped considerably, so too have spring salmon catches, as you would expect. However, the trout fishing is now beginning to improve and the signs look good for the Eden trout angler.

Improving temperatures over the Easter bank holiday period have certainly helped our cause, and with the odd Large Dark Olive still in attendance we managed to tempt a few more trout to our ever faithful dries, the Klinkhammer and the Adams, but only for short spells from around mid day to 1:30pm. 

A net full of Grannom

The wind still has an easterly element to it though, and if you happened to be out of the sun (especially Easter Friday) it was quite cool, but when the sun decided to make an appearance, the higher temperatures certainly contributed toward some very substantial Grannom hatches along the river, and as these temperatures improved further, (making for a much more pleasant fishing experience I might add) by Easter Monday, they were in their millions.

coming to the net on a Nymph

Unfortunately (in my experience) the trout can be very difficult to tempt at this stage of the Grannom's life cycle, and because there is so much aerial activity it is very tempting to put something on the surface to attract the fish, but during this time the trout are often feeding below the surface on the pupal stage of the Grannom hatch, and the only thing that may give you any consistency with catches is a nymph presentation (often weighted). However, the fish may have already gorged themselves on this pupal stage prior to this snow storm of sedges occurring, and therefore the opportunity may have already gone, but nevertheless, you can still pick up the odd fish on this method during this period.

On the CDC Caddis

That said, there is nothing wrong with trying a few things that may be contrary to popular belief, remember, these are wild creatures, and they don't read the same books as we do, therefore I am (and always will be) an advocate of self discovery. Finding things out for yourself (in my opinion) will always give you a better insight into what is actually going on over a given day, when temperatures, pressure changes, weather conditions and river height can all be factors of how the fish will react. Whilst adopting this approach, on one particular run, we did manage to raise a few fish to a small CDC sedge, but only for a short spell of around 15 minutes before they switched off again, but well worht ringing the changes as it got us a couple of additional fish.

With a few sessions now in the pipeline and more activity from the trout as temperatures improve, I am now looking forward to some more positive results over the next few weeks, especially now that we are managing to tempt a few more fish to our flies, which I have to say is very satisfying.

Better Water Conditions (but still a bit cold)

Measuring in at 32 inches

At last! the water has now been fishable (in places) for the last couple of weeks, and we have actually been able to get out onto the river to wet a line. Good news too! there has been a small number of spring salmon caught up and down the river already, and although I had to go further afield, I too managed to start the season with a bang, by hooking and landing a fresh sea liced salmon of around 12 to13lb.

A quick snap whilst in the water

We have also managed to get one or two early season brown trout since the trout fishing kicked off on March 15th, however they are still a little tentative in their approach to the fly, with low water temperatures and persistent east winds, which seem to have become the norm at this time of year.

There are some good quality browns out there though, just waiting for conditions to improve, and whilst fishing for salmon a nice example of one decided to take a large snelder fished deep on a full sunk line, a fish of around 2lb, (with an all too common piscivorous bird attack mark near it's tail) a little unfair on the fish though, being as it was landed with the salmon rod, so needless to say it was returned to the water to fight another day, and believe me it will make a formidable opponent on the trout rod!

As big as the top handle

During this cold period we have also had the odd warmer spell too, (albeit short) and in turn, the odd sparse hatch of Large Dark Olives, couple this with the sand martins showing face again last week and all the signs look good as we approach April, and with the long range forecast not looking too bad, we should soon be tapping into some good trout fishing again here on the Eden, and with several fishing trips already arranged for people, it won't be too long before we are putting this into practice. Can't Wait!

Will It Ever End!!!

Here we go again!

Despite our best laid plans for the 2013 / 2014 Grayling season, we have not been able to get out onto the river to put them into practice. This has been down to the persistent torrential rain, and therefore seriously high waters we have experienced over the past 3 months, so since catching those few Grayling in November (see blog post 18th Nov 2013) i'm afraid it has been a total washout.

I must apologise for the lack of recent posts, but there has simply been nothing to report, except bad news, and everyone has had their fill of that recently. 

As you can see from the digital camera image, from the Warwick Hall beat of the river Eden, (above right) we are left with little hope yet again for the coming week, and with more rain pending I have once again cancelled the rest of the week.

"Don't worry guys we will get out eventually".