The Complete Fisher Forum

[BristolFlyer]

Since moving to Bristol a few years ago I have mostly fished the reservoirs that are on my doorstep. I grew up fishing small streams and ponds, and became a bit obsessed with learning the black art of fishing big stillwaters.

I have pretty much failed miserably in that quest, so lately I’ve had a hankering to do more river fishing again. Fortuitously I recently heard that I’ve finally reached the top of the waiting list for a club that has beats on a couple of rivers in south Wales.

So in addition to polluting the Bristol Waters thread with my drivel, I expect that this diary will be a mix of stocky bashing, a bit of wild trout river fishing, and a whole lot of salmon blanking.

Probably I’ll just lapse when the flush of the new season has worn off after a few weeks, but you never know...

[MarkS]

I think you do yourself an injustice, if you 'blank' as much as you do on the ressies Dave I think you'll do okand have a few over the net.
Look forward to the updates..

Cheers,
Mark

[Allrounder]

[BristolFlyer]

Chaps, you are very kind, but of you are not careful I’m going to say how many times I blanked last year and that will blow my credibility forever!

I’ll of course still contribute to the BW thread, but I feel the need to exaggerate in other threads, and if the pursuit of a first salmon finally drives me insane, I think it would be good to have a written record of that process...

[BristolFlyer]

Opening day on Chew today. Fourth year in a row at the same spot. Good to see a couple of the Wurzels and the honorary Wurzel after a long winter, even if Alan was wearing an eminently sensible hat. Unlike last year when the fish were flinging themselves on the bank, it was much tougher and two and half hours effort yielded two pulls and a single stocky in the net. They seem to be on the buzzer already and all my action came to static flies. Lots more of that to come hopefully - the clocks go forward on Sunday and fishing after work will be an option again. I really love where I live.

[Allrounder]

[Whistlekiller]

[BristolFlyer]

I’ve never caught a salmon. I’ve been trying for three years now. I’ve had casting lessons and practiced diligently. I’ve coughed up for quality fishing on Scottish rivers where I had a decent chance; I’ve spent long days on Welsh rivers where I had next to no chance.

I actually had a pull on my first ever morning’s fishing. After an awful cast my line was straightening in the broken water below me when there was a savage wrench. Like the hardened trout fisher that I am I struck straight away - exactly what you are NOT supposed to do. Two years later I was covering the tail of a pool on the Scottish Dee where running fish were occasionally showing as they splashed up from the rapids below. As the light failed, and in desperation I eventually tied on a monster of a long winged fly that I could hardly cast. Amazingly, something big and silver had a go at it as it swung across the current. I felt resistance for a fraction of a second, but it could hardly be called a chance. That is all I have to show for three year's effort and a ridiculous monetary outlay.

I can’t afford to do much salmon fishing. I will be very happy fishing my club water on the Usk for a few hours every now and again when there is some water. I’ll make another trip up to Scotland in the Autumn, this time to the Nith, but mostly my 'salmon fishing' will consist of tying flies, reading books, and picturing the next take in my mind’s eye and planning exactly what I will do when it comes. Surely it must come sooner or later...?

[BristolFlyer]

I fished in the Snowbee Comp on Chew on Saturday. I had a really good day, mainly because I was paired with a lovely chap called Alan who is the retired club treasurer. A true gentleman and an excellent angler, who has fished the Bristol lakes for over 50 years.

I’ve got mixed feeling about competitions. In some ways they leave me cold- the jostling for position, the discarded fish afterwards. The scene also seems to attract some individuals that I wouldn’t want to spend five minutes with, let alone 8 hours in a boat. There are some very fine anglers though, and it is a great opportunity to learn from your boat partner and get to know a fishery a bit more intimately. There are also a good bunch of anglers like me who see it as a social occasion and don’t take it terribly seriously – unless of course I do well and am in with a chance of a prize, in which case I take it very seriously indeed!

Alan was firmly in the social camp so we stayed away from the main armada and did long drifts along the East shore. I started with my usual DB and buzzer rig on a slow intermediate, but was happy to put a blob on the end when other boats started having success on the ‘daphnia emerger’. There may be something in it, as the fish we spooned were stuffed with the a pale orange daphnia ooze.

You probably won’t believe me when I say that before Saturday I had never actually caught on a blob before. I’ve always associated them with pulling, which I’m way too lazy to do, but I realised that they are much more flexible than that. Most of the fish took it static as I fished normal buzzer tactics. I also had a couple on a steady retrieve, and after tying on a new fly after a break up, I actually had a fish swirl at the thing as it floated static on the surface! Alan stuck to his small static buzzers on a floating line, and while I caught a few more, I was rather jealous of the way he had his. I killed my last fish just after 4pm so spent the last couple of hours watching him fish and really concentrating on what he doing and what was going on around us. A couple of times I saw his line twitch and had to stop myself from yelling “Strike!”. The water clarity is amazing at the moment and on one occasion I saw a fish move about five feet to hit his top dropper. Very entertaining.

Lots of limits at weigh-in, so it was a bit of lottery as to who was in the winning places. The real comp guys cherry pick the best 8 fish and the winner had 8 for 23 lbs. That is averaging almost 3lb a fish. I would love to know how many he released to get there!

[tenet]

Good blog Dave - totally empathise with your views on competition fishing.

I don't know a lot about the rules and regs of comp fishing but it seems to me that the rules for Saturday's comp encouraged discarding smaller fish in favour of larger fish with the possible consequences of wastage

I told you a few years ago that your quest for salmon could lead to a life of penury - just hope that 2012 is THE year for you. The option for the Stinchar still holds even if you wanted just a day.If the gauge at Ballantrae is showing 2ft6in - 3ft during the week you could almost be guaranteed a fish

Cheers

Doug

[Allrounder]

[BristolFlyer]

It is allowed, as long as you stop fishing after killing your 8th fish.

A lot of people voluntarily kill their first 8 fish. I caught my 8th at 4pm and was happy to pack it in after a very enjoyable day.

[MarkS]

I think comps vary, some state that you must kill your fish as you catch, some allow C&R on you way to you bag limit.

[BristolFlyer]

With the rain we have had, there should be some salmon moving into the middle reaches of the Usk. The main run usually starts in May, but there will always be a few fish to be caught before then. Unfortunately I have strained an old back injury, so am out of action for a while.

Hopefully it will be good by next week - I am not very good at convalescing!

[BristolFlyer]

Fished my new club water on the Usk last night. River has been running high and coloured, but cams were showing it dropping through the day yesterday, so thought it was worth a go.



I got to the bottom beat just after 5pm and it was the colour of coffee. Feeling a bit disheartened I headed upstream about fifteen miles and found it a little better, but I probably should have had a spinning rod rather than the 14 footer.

Worked my way up the beat casting where I could. Had a painful experience when I slipped while climbing over a fence and narrowly avoided serious damage to the Gentleman’s Collective.

The top third of the beat was a lot more fly friendly and I had a couple of very enjoyable hours ironing the wrinkles out of the casting. I even caught a couple of nice brownies, including my UK PB - which impaled itself on a gaudy bottle tube for reasons best known to itself.

The sun came out just in time for sunset, and even though the rumble of the main road was just behind the trees, it was still a peaceful and relaxing way to spend an evening. I’m looking forward to my next trip already.

Salmon should start arriving in numbers in the next month, so here’s hoping that rain, high tides and work flexi-time coincide at least once![