Evening’s fishing, no fish for me

Spent a pleasant evening fishing at Bourley. Tried daddys, blue flash damsel, cat’s whisker, and black gnat type thing, all to no avail. Peter caught a small trout on a booby as he was winding in to pack up!

 

Ladies fly fishing day at Albury

Vale End, Albury held a  Ladies Fly Fishing Day today, and I had booked a session as an improver. Fantastic day with casting lessons, guided fishing, cooking demonstration, BBQ lunch, fly tying demonstration and more fishing.

I hooked a fish and was going to try to net it myself, but managed to lose it before I even had the net in my hand! I eventually caught a 2lb rainbow at 5.30 on a blue flash damsel, the Albury favourite fly, and let someone else net it for me. It fought well.

My casting has improved – sometimes the line actually floats in the air before landing on the water.

More Ladies Days are planned for the future – excellent! Contact Tony Hern for details.

 

Netting practice – or not!

Went fishing at Bourley after school today to practice netting fish myself. But could we find any fish to practice on? We could not!

I must learn to tell my lines apart – I had a sinking line in my reel, and Peter told me to put a fly line on – but I selected the slime line by mistake and fished with that for an hour! I didn’t think I was casting very far!

Forgot my camera, so no pictures this time. There was good purple haze from heather or ling and a couple of dabchicks were around, but I saw no insects.

 

First fish caught at Bourley!

Finally caught a fish here! A small but perfectly formed brown trout of just over 1lb. Caught with a cat’s whisker I made myself.

 

Casting for Recovery DVD launched

The promotional DVD we were filming at Duncton Mill has now been released.

 

Weston on the Albury estate

Peter and I went to Weston, part of the Albury estate near Guildford. A very enjoyable morning’s fishing marred only by the lack of fish (but I got to keep the 2 fish tickets for use anywhere on the Albury estate before April next year).

Started on the Lower Millhouse lake, where there was a pair of coots (fulica atra) with 4 black fluffy young with red and yellow markings on their heads. There were lots of Common Blue Damselflies (enallagma cyathigera) and an emerald green one, possibly Emerald Damselfly (lestes sponsa).

We then moved to the main Weston Lake where there was a veritable whirlpool of trout leaping out of the water like dolphins. But it appeared that we were witnessing the display team in action. We could see fish everywhere but they were totally uninterested in feeding. By the time we left at 11.30 only one person seemed to have caught anything!

 

I’m being watched!

This morning while I was casting in the field, I spotted the bird of prey who I have seen several times, but been unable to identify. This time she obligingly stayed visible while I went to get my camera, so I have been able to confirm that she is a female or immature sparrowhawk.

I’ve wondered if she has been assessing my hunting skills – if so she must be pretty unimpressed. I haven’t caught anything in the field yet apart from daisies!

07 January 2009

Actually I am reliably informed that my sparrowhawk is actually a kestrel!

 

Christened my rod!

Reg and I went to Barn Elms today, getting there at 9 when they opened. I fished here for a bit

but didn’t have much luck. I caught the trees behind several times, but no fish. Reg next to me caught 2 and we then changed spots. Of course he then caught another one! But I then caught one with a montana on my own rod (first fish caught with my own rod!), and another trying out Reg’s flashy 7 section Orvis Frequent Flyer rod. I’d forgotten how good it is to catch fish!

There were lots of little dragonflies with pale blue black-tipped bodies looking for all the world like tiny flying neon lights. And there were brown ones too. Later I found they were black tailed skimmers (Orthetrum cancellatum), the blue bodied ones being male, and the brown ones being the same species but female.

On the water there were a family of mute swan, moorhen, a great crested grebe and a couple of cute dabchicks. Saw a peacock butterfly. Flowering on the bank were

water mint

(mentha aquatica)

valerian

(valeriana officinalis)

purple loosestrife

(lythrum salicaria)

and many more (I was there primarily to fish but couldn’t help being distracted a bit)

 

Haywards again

Celebrated last day of school by going to Haywards Lake for an evening’s fishing.

Unbelievably hot when we started at 5.30, but full of wildlife. There were lots of blue damselflies darting about; some larger dragonflies apparently laying eggs, certainly dipping their tails in the water in a meaningful way; a family of coot with very noisy young; and a family of unspecified geese. I saw a great-crested grebe which swam quite close, and a heron flew over. There was ragwort(Scenecio jacobaea) and purple loosestrife(Lythrum salicara) by the water.

And there were fish there, some jumping out of the water and turning complete somersaults, but they were not interested in any of the goodies we tried to tempt them with. I tried a black buzzer, red buzzer, black Shipmans buzzer and a flashy olive damsel. There was a lot of weed , which was a challenge. I was pleased that my casting practice meant I could cast beyond the weed, but I was still retrieving through it. Later in the evening the promontary became free so we moved round and found a welcome relief from weed. But still no fish. We tried till 8:00 and then gave up.

 

Fishing after work

Peter took me to Bourley after work today.

A lovely peaceful evening, but no-one had caught anything by the time we left at 8:00. But Peter noticed a marked improvement in my casting. Still plenty of room for improvement, but gratifying nevertheless.