[Loxiafan]

I was doing my version Czech Nymphing last night, which is really a cross between French and Czech. I use around 20 feet of 8 pound line, then 6 inches of orange braid, then a leader around twice the depth of the water, with two very heavy czech nymphs. This lets me "long line" czech nymph.

I saw one fish rise the whole evening despite olives coming off.

Sounds kinda like 'Spanish' ?? Interesting there are flies now coming off in the evening. Not long now for Sedge Fest ! What kind of 'bugs' were you using Rob, Scuds, Ryac's or other ? Still to give the method a go despite buying the gear and tying the flies  Allure of the dry is too strong I guess......

Weather "do-able" this weekend maybe ?

Lindsay

[Rob Brownfield]

What kind? Not sure..I don't speak Czech

One like this but dressed on the Partridge hook.



I also tried some Ryacs in a nice bright green and the same patten as above but with hares ear and no red.

[Sandy Nelson]

Sandy, nice pics - that suspected LDO above looks like it may have a large hindwing (or is it a crumpled forewing on the near side ?), but an LDO has small hinds as I am sure you know. Think you might be right with O. Upright or thereabouts ?? A 16 and 18 JT Olive covers 'em all anyway  

Having looked closer at some of my other photos, i reckon you're right, it probably is an upright (the feet are light olive instead of black as well as the hind wings being bigger), however i can tell you most of the uprights would have been about a size 16, but the ones that were like the top photo were at best 12's possibly even 10's
So what i saw was an upright hatch, but with two distinctly different sized flies, some size 12 and the rest 16's anybody any ideas why we would have two very different sized and different coloured flies of the same species, hatching off the same stretch of river. All quite fascinating

Sandy

[Iain Goolager]

Rob,
well done on your Trout from Castle Forbes, it's also much nicer to see a shot of the angler (hate that word) holding the fish at water level - just seems more personal and asthetic than a fish in the grass, If only I had an angler friend 
Iain, when I saw the picture my first though was of a cock fish tartaning up, I've never seen anything like that in a Don Trout before.

Rob, Trig & Birdfan
What's 'council' about down stream dry? Am i being lambasted? Loosen up, chill, let your hair hang down...............................oops, sorry that's possibly too close to the bone   

Nice to see fly pictures Sandy 

Iain

[Loxiafan]

Rob, Trig & Birdfan
What's 'council' about down stream dry? Am i being lambasted? Loosen up, chill, let your hair hang down...............................oops, sorry that's possibly too close to the bone   

Nae me slaggin' ye of min.....though I suppose I did call that Van Klinken bloke a cad on another thread for his downstream Klink...  Seriously, what with recent conditions downstream dry is about the only sensible option the now !

Nope, nothing Chav with a dry down the burn AFAIAC , far more aesthetic, skillful and sporting than trying to 'stun' fish with heavy scuds or howking mackerel feathers past their lugs  I joke of course.

[Loxiafan]

however i can tell you most of the uprights would have been about a size 16, but the ones that were like the top photo were at best 12's possibly even 10's

I've seen some really big upwings coming down and not been sure what they were, but were MB sized, but not MB's. Didn't matter as the fish were not targetting them but instead were taking the smaller Olives. The 18 CDC Olive I used was bang on for the size the fish were taking. Had the bloody wind not been so bad I would have cleaned up, but sadly a few good fish were simply "unreachable" due to conditions and the consequent poor presentation. Best left for another day.

As to the two different sizes of the same species, possibly two different age cohorts in species that can emerge as one or two year olds ? Maybe ones that should 'hatch' later are hatching now though this would seem very unlikely as they have to develop instar moults, mature their wing buds etc. If definitely the same species, more likely natural variation ?

Lindsay

[Mike Barrio]

angler (hate that word)

Iain

Funny that, I've never liked the word 'angler' for some reason ...... 'fisher' sounds better to me, but I don't know why

Cheers
Mike

[Noel Kelly]

Just been looking back through previous years don threads. Partially to remind myself that I can catch decent fish occasionally and partly to see how we are faring hatch/date wise.
Well us lot moaning about the weather, cold wind and lack of rising fish is nothing new it seems and the good news is evening sedge action shouldn't be far away.

[Liam Stephen]

When do the big evening hatches tend to begin guys? 

Liam

[Matt Henderson]

If only I had an angler friend 

Maybe if you answered your PMs you would !

[Iain Goolager]

I've seen some really big upwings coming down and not been sure what they were, but were MB sized, but not MB's

Due to the weather along with other factors I haven't really been in the mood for photo'ing flies but I have looked out my bandy net and will take it along on future trips. Only way to be 100% (ish) in knowing what something is is to capture the beast and photograph it - take lots of shots as the duff ones can hold vital clues - the hind wings for example might be out of focus but there might be a clear shot of a femur, etc.

But then you know that   more interested in catching that biggie on an upstream dry - yuk!

Quite often when OU's start to appear in amongst LDO's they can appear substantially larger especially if seen on a flatter water. Often I have noticed this (earlier in the season) and then a MB or two come into focus and you realise just how huge MB's are.

Iain

[Iain Goolager]

Maybe if you answered your PMs you would !

Sorry Mattheus but when I see a pm from you it's either money or a cuddle that you are after and as you are still due me 8 pence & not my type I usually delete them. 

Ok so I've been embarrased on the camera front..news flash.... middleman now has my camera and is dropping it off on Saturday so we can now be nerdy photo geeks.

Happy now?

Iain XX

[Iain Goolager]

far more aesthetic

Damn, just noticed. Is that a go at me mispeling 'asthetic'?

     Are you smart enough to be that subtle?   
 

Iain

[Mike Barrio]

When do the big evening hatches tend to begin guys? 

Liam

Usually from about 9 pm onwards

Sorry couldn't resist it

[Liam Stephen]

 

I should have been more specific!  How soon/what month can we expect the bonanza? 

Liam

[Ben Dixon]

I should have been more specific!  How soon/what month can we expect the bonanza? 

Liam

The time is general knowledge Liam, the dates are a secret 

When I think it's going down by me I'll drop you a PM.

Cheers

Ben

[Rob Brownfield]

Rob,
well done on your Trout from Castle Forbes, oops, sorry that's possibly too close to the bone   

Thanks, but it was not Castle Forbes, but close..lol

As for your down stream dry, I thought we British only did upstream drys, leaving that down stream nonsense to the Americans, New Zealanders, Canadians, Spaniards, French...oh..hang on..I get it now...we are the ones in the wrong If truth be known, thats the only way I used to fish a small burn by my house as I could not get in down stream of the fish. I just wish I could fish it with the skill you have.

[Rob Brownfield]

My god it was a bloody horrible night last night. Started fishing at 5.30, packed up at 9.30. I saw one fish rise at about 8 and then as I was walking back to the car a very good fish rose close to the bank. All excited I changed from Czech nymph to dry fly, and sat and waited...and waited...and waited. It never came up again!

The only flies I saw was at about 8.30 and they were tiny olives. About a size 20!!

I thrashed the water to a foam and did not even get a touch. It was 5 degress when I got there, 2 when I left and it never stopped raining the whole time.

I how I hate fishing!!

[Loxiafan]

When do the big evening hatches tend to begin guys? 

Not sure they are big Liam, but thankfully they occur after I finish work in the evening weekedays  Late May onwards....

Iain no, not being subtle - I am as subtle as a brick as they say !

Sitting here 'designing' and making a new leader for w/end. Have been using a Dibble Furled 5 ft but experimenting making my own mono tapered leaders. However, I didn't like all those water knots rattling about in the rod rings with the two pounder though, was fair crapping myself  Having a bit of a rethink, may even needle knot on a Furled 

What do you guys do/recommend ? Should a mono/copoly needle knot be whipped over just to make it a bit smoother....I have always used RM Braids up till now but reckon turnover/presentation is being compromised at times ? Having the option of changing leaders for diff tactics is not a prob, I can stick with one leader as I tend to fish dries/emergers. My tippet is usually 0.14 Stroft GTM (approx 5x ).

Lindsay

[Loxiafan]

Downstream dry, as I see it, is actually way more skillful ! You may only get one chance at a fish as when you lift off to recast you will invariably spook it. Other than this, the only other disadvantage is that you will be striking the fly out of the fishes mouth, so care needed ( and a slow or calibrated strike).

There is often a down stream wind on the Don and this tactic is absolutely valid. It is one of the reasons I am interested in the Leader to Hand thingy as J Lucas does fish down stream with this method when conditions dictate and preseumably the thinner mono causes way less disturbance when recasting = Advantage.

L

[Matt Henderson]

Ok so I've been embarrased on the camera front..news flash.... middleman now has my camera and is dropping it off on Saturday so we can now be nerdy photo geeks.

Happy now?

Iain XX

Much better now dear. 

Also you appear to have forgotten this spectacular photo I took of you...




cheers

matt

[Irvine Ross]

The upper river was in good fettle today. There was a hatch of mixed upwings going at 1pm and it lasted until at least 4:45. I wasn't wading so I could not get close enough to indentify the flies but there was the odd LDO amongst them which looked big by comparison. The water is tea coloured but visibility is very good.

I made contact with 3 fish in the first 15 minutes but contact only lasted about 2 seconds in each case. A wee while later a nice 2lb fish took a parachute Adams and came to the net and I took scale samples. A bit later a nice half pound fish came to the net also. After that the fish started to refuse anything I put in from of them. The were some small dark chironomids coming off with the upwings so maybe they had switched attention to them. All in all, a good afternoon.

Irvine

[Allan Liddle]

There's some amazin hatches and falls of black gnats mixed in with the olives and the troots are lovin them.  Had to switch to a wee black emerger a couple of times recently despite there bein more uprights and ldo's about with instant positive results.  Generally smaller troots though with the trophies still fussy for the olives, but great sport.

[Loxiafan]

My (lack of) exploits recently were Kemnay yesterday (Sun) - not much happening, very little fly on the water and consequently not great for dries. Sat about most of the day waiting for things to kick off but unfortunately they never did. Loadsa Grannoms with many females egg laying - possibly the kiss of death that, as a sign at least ? Got a good tan.

Today, Kintore/Torryburn, and again very very few Olives where I was, just lots of little black sh*te and few Yellow Sallys. Got bored and did a bit of "glory" casting to wee fish on the opposite bank a) to see if I could reach them, b) could I maintain decent line management and c) could I convert any that were hooked. Failed only on the latter, perhaps unsurprisingly !

On the way back to the car late afternoon I did lose an absolute growler of a trout though, well big, possibly a PB for the Don for me  Took a size 19 JT Olive and went mental. Eventually got the fish level with me midstream with some sidestrain (I was wading in quite fast deep water) after it had careered downstream and was just trying to 'gently' encourage it slightly upstream of me ready to net when "ping". Thought the leader had broke but thankfully hook still attached to leader and intact (size 19 103BL too !). For once, I didn't do anything wrong, just bad luck I guess ? Ar*e ! I know where he lives though. Topped up tan from yesterday, look like I've been on my hols....

Lindsay

[Rob Brownfield]

I have had quite a few on the dry these last few days, but frustratingly, I seem to lose a lot more than I land, and anything that was big enough to put a healthy bend in the rod, broke the leader!! Getting very annoyed about it. In 35 years of angling I have never had so much hassle from broken line!!! I use a lot of very light line for my roach fishing, down to 12oz breaking strain and size 24 hooks, so I think I am ok on knots, but everything I have tried recently has led to broken leaders, normally the hook knot. Not a happy bunny!!
 
Currently I am using (for the tippet) 3lb Drennen Sub Surface, 3.3lb Orvis Mirage, Wychwood 3 or 4lb Fine and dry.

As for the succesful flies, mainly olive F-flies in size 16-14 or olive paraduns in the same size.