Cats Whisker & Dawsons Olive

At last nights tying class we were tying lures that are popular on the stocked Rainbow Trout tarns in South Lakeland. The main reason for tying these was for the techniques used in tying which can be used in other patterns.
I do not fish lures much as I rarely fish for Rainbows, as I prefer river fishing.
Having said all this I will tie some more up and I will give them a swim this year when I try my hand at some Rainbow Trout fishing.
Let me know what you think of the tyings.

Scout Scar

Decided I need some exercise, so I went for a walk up on Scout Scar. The walk up is not difficult or hard going, but for someone who is not too fit and carrying a bit too much weight it is good exercise.
The wind was blowing from the North West, which made it feel a lot colder than it actually was, also there was plenty snow up to 6 inches deep in places. On a crystal clear day the views are spectacular, you can even see Blackpool Tower. I went to the viewing point, known locally as the mushroom due to the shape. On the roof of the mushroom there is a viewscape letting you know what hills can be seen in the direction you are facing. The Langdale Pikes, Helvellyn, and Scafell Pike are all visible. As I said earlier the views are spectacular and this is well worth the walk up.

River Brathay Again

Went for a walk along the Brathay again today following the fresh snowfall of up to 2” in places, just to see the difference it makes to the river. The river itself had not risen much (it is a spate river) even though there was a bit of a thaw on when I got there this afternoon. As you can see the photo above is taken from the same place as on the post below, the difference being the snow in the background under the bridge.

River Brathay

While out for a walk today around the Ambleside area, I decided to walk along the banks of the Brathay looking for potential hotspots for fishing for Brown Trout. Windermere, Ambleside & District Angling Association (WADAA), controls the fishing on this river. I have found a few likely looking stretches of the river with reasonably easy access that just have to be fished.
I decided to take a walk into Ambleside to the Tourist Information Centre to get the prices for fishing the river. Day tickets cost £8.00 and for this you can fish the Rivers Brathay and Rothay also all of their wild trout waters. Remember that you also need and Environment Agency Rod Licence.

Paul Little Fly Tyer

At our latest meeting of the Lakeland Fly Dressers Guild we had a talk by our Chairman and Master Fly Dresser Paul Little. Paul’s talk was about his passion and techniques used fly-fishing for pike. He has fished for pike on Bassenthwaite Lake for 32 years and has within the last few years started fly-fishing for pike on Bassenthwaite.
His set up for pike is a 9’ 8weight with a knotable wire trace using the perfection loop to attach the fly as the teeth on the pike will cut through mono very easily. Having listened intently to Paul’s talk and watching the slide show I think that I may try this for myself this season. In Paul’s experience the best time to fly fish for pike is during September, which is when I will give this a go.
There is a link to Paul’s blog on my side bar should you be interested in Fly-fishing for Pike

The River Kent

Went for a walk today down to the River Kent at Sedgwick. This is an amazing stretch of this river where it flows though deep water cut limestone gorges and opens to wider slow flowing stretches, then about ½ mile further on you come to the fish pass and counter which give much easier passage than the fast flowing waterfall of Force Falls, for the Salmon & Sea Trout to reach their spawning grounds further up river.
This is a very productive beat for Salmon, Sea Trout and Brown Trout, with some large bags of fish taken on a regular basis during the season.

Clip Stand Update

As mentioned in an earlier post I hoped to have the Clip Stand finished by Thursday. Well I managed to be on time and have actually made 2 different stands. I am pleased with the results. It has been a many years since I did any proper woodwork, other than some normal DIY. Having good quality wood has made all the difference to the finish achieved with this project.
Let me know what you think.

Lakeland Fly Dressers Guild

I was at tonight’s Guild tying class, we were tying Bibio’s and Blue Zulu’s. My Bibio was poor to say the least, but as you can see from the pic my Blue Zulu although not great is passable, more practice needed for both of these types of fly. I have never been good at palmering but I have learned a lot from tonight’s class.
Mainly learning to choose the correct feather for the palmer and for the head hackle. Also learned that I need to get better hen capes and also that a good saddle hackle wood be better than the cock cape that I currently use.

Hans Wilenmann Fly Tyer

I first came across Hans on a couple of fly fishing and fly tying forums that I use regularly. He will always give useful advice should you ask him.
I met Hans when at the BFFI in November 2009 and he is a really nice guy. He was demonstrating his fly tying to the assembled audience. He was demonstrating fly tying with a modern twist, which was using plastic strand from net bags in various colours as the rib on his flies. He was also on tyers row and the flies he was tying there were on size 28 hooks, I could harly see the eye of the hook. How he can see to tie these flies amazes me. He wears his glasses when not tying but then takes them of to tie, even for the small size 28's
If you have a look at his web site you will find some amazing flies on there. It is well worth the effort to visit. http://www.danica.com/flytier/ I have a link to the right for his website.

Mike Harding (North Country Fly Fisher)

I attended the British Fly Fair (BFFI) back in November last year. Mike Harding was launching his new book “North Country Flies” and would be signing his book. Mike is a very approachable bloke and recommended a fly, which he had much success with while he was on Lewis last year. The fly recommended was the Grouse & Claret Nymph.
This is a great book, describing many of the spider patterns that are so successful on the Northern English Spate Rivers and also some of the Scottish rivers. A full colour picture of each fly and the dressing is included. It's spiral binding makes it easy to open and place by your tying bench without damaging the pages.
In my opinion having read this I think it is an Essential reference book for anyone wanting to tie or know more about North Country Spiders.

Fly Clip Stands

Looking at fly clip stands in the shops I found them to be rather expensive for what they are. Most of the ones I have seen are made out of pine, which has been stained and varnished to make it look like oak or mahogany.
Now during the current refurbishment of the hotel where I work we are having solid oak flooring laid and I thought about using some off cuts of the flooring to make my own clip stand.
Having to work at the weekend when only one or two of the joiners are around and no management I was able to acquire some off cuts and set about making the stand. The first thing I did was cut the wood to length and then using the bench saw I cut an angle of 25o on the face of both pieces. I then cut both pieces to the correct width for what I wanted. As you can see from the pictures I have placed a step to make a two-tiered stand.
This is a work in progress. The next job is drilling the holes to accept the clips, after that it is then time to varnish and the stand will be complete. All being well this will be completed by Thursday.

Tying Night

I attended the Lakeland Fly Dresser Guild’s tying night held at the guilds HQ The Club Inn at Endmoor. The patterns we were tying were the Hares Ear Nymph and Pheasant Tail Nymph.
Now the group I attend is the beginners class and I am still a relatively newbie to fly tying. This was to me a great evening learning new techniques for my tying and new flies that I have never tried to tie before.
The picture above is my first attempt at a Hares Ear Nymph, which, the tying instructor was very impressed with.