Happy New Year

Not posted much recently due to heavy work commitment over the Christmas period. So here is hoping you had a good Christmas. I hope the big man in red brought you all you wanted..

Looking back over the past year there has been many highs in my fishing life, mainly fish caught using flies that I have tied myself. I have also enjoyed visiting new fishing venues around the county, but mainly in South Lakeland. I am enjoying the project my boss gave me in putting together a booklet on fishing in the local area for the guests at the hotel.

Today one of our regular guests brought a copy of a fishing guide and asked me to mark the best venues within it for fishing for brown trout for when he is down next season.

Here’s wishing you all a very happy New Year and tight lines to you all

Cumbrian Earthquake

At about 11pm last night there was an earthquake, which registered 3.5 on the Richter scale near here with the epicentre at Torver near Coniston, only 12miles from Kendal as the crow flies. The effects of the quake were felt as far away as the Isle of Man, the Yorkshire Dales and the Borders of Scotland.
There was what sounded like very loud rumble of thunder and the house shook for about 20 seconds. My daughter was woken up by the noise and vibrations.
At first I thought it was a tree at the end of the terrace had fallen on the end house. But on checking the tree was still standing. There is no reported structural damage that I know of. It also look like the fishing will not be harmed.
Talking to my colleagues at work today they said that the bar glasses and pictures were rattling with the vibrations

Winter Wonderland

I went out for a walk yesterday in the Grasmere area as part of my research for the fishing booklet that I am going to produce for the hotel where I work.
I decided to walk around the area up to Alcock Tarn is located about half way up Heron Pike. The temperature was below freezing all day. The walk to Alcock Tarn is not very difficult normally but the footpaths all around the area were very icy, so great care had to be taken. The tarn was dammed in the early 1900’s by the then owner of the land a Mr Alcock,. The tarn was formerly know as Buttercraggs Tarn. After it was enlarged Mr Alcock stocked it with brown trout whose descendent are still resident in the water today. The fish are not large but they are plentiful There is plenty of space for fly fishing even in the summer when there are plenty of tourists in the area. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area even if you are only here for a couple of days.

Cookshill Fly Tying

I attended the latest monthly meeting of the Lakeland Fly Dressers Guild on Wednesday, where the guest speaker was Steve Cooper of Cookshill Fly Tying.

The evening began with a talk and slideshow by Steve on fishing in Iceland. The potential of thins untapped area is amazing. The fish that you can catch there are Brown Trout, Sea Trout, Salmon and Arctic Char. The Icelandic’s think that anyone who fishes for Brown Trout and Arctic Char are mad, especially if you catch and release. They treat these as food only and net them by the ton.
The Salmon and Sea Trout are the main reason most people visit Iceland and the cost of a day’s fishing is quite reasonable as you can expect to catch at least a dozen fish per day.
Brown Trout and Char fishing is even more reasonable and at about £5.00 per day with no restrictions on the amount of fish you catch and keep, you can see that it is good value for money.

The second part of the evening was a demonstration by Steve on skinning and preserving birds for fly tying. The whole process is actually quite easy and if you can get hold of a couple of birds it is a most cost effective way of getting the feathers that you will need in your tying.

Above is a picture of some capes that I got from Steve at the BFFI and also one I got on the night. As you can see the quality of his capes are second to none. I would highly recommend him for any tying materials that you need. There is a link on my side bar to his website where you will find all the materials that you will need.

Fly Tying Induction Night

I attended the Lakeland Fly Dressers Guilds fly tying induction night yesterday. The tying classes start on the 5th January for 8 weeks.
This was a chance to register for the tying classes and find out what flies and techniques we will be learning. I have signed up to the beginners class again as this will give me more training on the basics, which will enable me to start producing flies of the quality that I would like to tie.
Some of the flies we will be tying are Peter Ross, Mallard & Claret, Blae & Black and the Greenwells Glory.
We have signed up at least 3 new members for the tying class and for the Guild. All newcomers have been invited along to next weeks monthly Guild meeting where the guest speaker is Steve Cooper, owner of Cookshill Fly Tying.. his talk is on fishing in Iceland where he has been recently and he will also be giving a skinning demonstration and showing how to preserve the skins when done.