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Were very proud to announce that Carp Champions - The Home of Fly-Fishing for Wild Carp have been invited to host a stand at Moy Country Fair 2023 this coming Friday and Saturday.
We will be promoting fly fishing in all its variety; carp, pike, saltwater (in fact, any fish that swims!), kayak, pack raft, destination and DIY adventures.
Drop by and have a chat, maybe have a cast with the latest S-glass rods (perfect for huge predators or delicate dry-fly presentations)? Or just cuddle up with a carp & chill out with some awesome fishing movies😎
We will also be showcasing the work of Charles Jardines Fishing for Schools charity and the The Wild Carp Trust....
A few more F-Flies in the box, far from perfect, but they don't have to be perfect to have fun making them
Enjoyed a cracking afternoon/evening on the Don, weather conditions just felt right - so I headed down for a few hours.
Netted lots of nice Brownies, and found a couple of bonnie Sea Trout in amongst them too 
A few more pics here: https://www.fishingthefly.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=9859.msg77413#msg77413
Photo by Stewart
Last day on shift yesterday, lovely evening so I thought id take the new Steffen 804 I finished 24hrs previously, out for a spin.
What a little gem, nicely christened with one on a spent spinner
Several more followed, then it was onto sedges as the light disappeared, small window, but lots of fun, gave the rod a good workout.
So yet another seriously impressive Blank from Mr Gray. Still have a couple more to build up and try out....
and I'm busy boxing them up and filling the shelves
The final taper design for the new U.K. made Smallstream line got some testing in the garden this morning, with my arsenal of glass
And I was a little earlier than expected home after todays Chores, so I nipped down the river with my favourite 4wt glass rod and did some proper R&D. All I can say is for small stream work up to 50 this line is just superb, presentation is delicate but the short head is punchy and controlled, roll casts really well and you can progress from just the tip of the line to the whole head , which will be really handy on those tight brushy wee burns. I was doing reach mends with a small RH hook to get a fly over a current to a rising fish, no problem, even got the drift
Went over to Skye for a few days this week
Cold and windy - certainly blew away a few cobwebs 
This place at Talisker make a great coffee 
The martins have been back for a week or two but now the swallows are here, so the OU can start to hatch
Montana? New Zealand? Or the upper Don valley
Caught a few fish too ..... bonus
This afternoon I watched a Stonefly begin its emergence from its nymph. I spent 3 hours watching it and then had to go home.
I had no idea it took so long for them to break out of the body. I did get a few step by step photos up to the point where I had to go home. would have been nice to see the whole thing, but 3 hours was enough even for my patience 
Looked like they were rising to March Browns and Large Dark Olives, but I really struggled to tempt them on dries.
I went back to some old favourites - and then it was a totally different ball game!
I've had the New Barrio GT125 out in both 5wt and 4wt forms over the last couple of days.
Orange has always been my favourite colour for a line and this orange is just perfect, easy to see but low profile.
The new hydrophobic coating that the UK made line has, makes this the best floating line I've used, its incredibly easy to mend and floats pretty high so its easy to track the tip.
I've used it with dries and with an indicator and tungsten nymph and it turned over both equally well, although I would usually be using this as my dryfly line because the aerial stability is superb and the control is just fantastic. Needless to say, I'm smitten 
The weeks Sepa chart is an interesting story
Cold but fishable
But current weather conditions don't really invite me to come out of hibernation just yet - I imagine the Don will be rising a fair bit today
This year's auction catalogue is now live and bidding starts at 9am on March 17th.
https://auction.wildtrout.org/categories
Great to see so many friends donating lots of awesome items again this year!
Grab yourself a Barrio Pocket Fly Box in lots 83 and 84 and check out Sandy's superb McFarland 7ft 6in glass 3wt dry fly rod in lot 96, which comes with a Barrio DT3F fly line.
... 
However It does mean I have a rather lovely collection of agate guides for building this year.
(I may have done the same with Wooden real seats
)https://thefiberglassmanifesto.blogspot.com/2023/02/sandys-custom-fly-rods-sandys-ethos.html
