Season so far.

My season this year started with a trip down to Hampshire to fish for grayling on the river Test with my old fishing buddy Albert Pettigrew. Albert is currently working through his bucket list and the Test was on that list. Fellow instructors Jim Williams and Ian May had organised the fishing for us, both who have become great friends over the years and under there guidance two great days fishing was had by us both. On march 14th Jim Williams travelled up from Wiltshire to give a presentation on furled leaders for our branch of the flydressers guild. This was well received from the members some of which have started making there own. The day after was opening day of the trout season and I returned the favour to Jim by taking him fishing on one of my favourite rivers the Eden, a day he must have enjoyed as he's returning soon. Since then I've fished as much as possible and even managed a small stint in the Caribbean. The last few weeks have been spent fishing local rivers, and patience was rewarded this week with a beautifull wild brown trout of 3lbs 2oz. I sit here now looking out of the window of my fly tying room watching the east wind bend the trees over,hoping that the forcast of better conditions is right

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Bolton fly flying club.

Demonstrated at Bolton fly tying club last night, thanks to all who attended, Great night with a great bunch of people.

A day at Bigland Hall trout fishery.

Earlier this week i enjoyed a days fishing with newcomers to the sport, David and his son Frank.

Both had the basics of casting picked up really quickly, then Frank spotted a rising trout and was keen to get a fly on and have a try for it. Unfortunately this fish was hooked and lost but soon after Frank was into his first trout.

A few pictures from the day.

Two more fish for frank had me thinking this lad is a natural, then one for David and we called it a day.

Well done to you both and i hope this is the start of many happy years with the fly rod.

Guide Fly Fishing Day. Cancelled.

The Guide fly fishing day at knottallow tarn has been cancelled due to bad weather forecast.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

We will try to rearrange for later in the year.

If only we could control the weather.

Guide Fly Fishing Day.

Ulverston anglers open day is Sunday 17Th July at 10am on Knottallow tarn.

Myself and Jim Fearn will be there representing Guide fly fishing.

Both Myself and Jim will be doing casting-fishing demonstrations and offering casting tuition.

We will be more than happy to try and answer any questions you may have.

There will be loads of the latest lines, reels and rods to try from, Rio lines, Vision rods and reels, Lamson reels, Sage and Reddington rods.

Then mid afternoon we will drop down to a local venue for refreshments,

and a fly tying session where myself and other members of Ulverston anglers will be tying some of the successful patterns that work well on the tarn.

All are welcome so please come along and hopefully enjoy the day.

Rio Tapered Trout leaders.

The 9’ Rio tapered trout leaders have been in the Guide fly fishing range for a few years now, but for me the recent introduction of the 12’ leaders was long awaited.

Tying your fly straight to the end of this leader is fine but my preference, where conditions and surroundings allow tend to be towards a longer leader for most of my river dry fly fishing with fly’s in the 16 to 12 size, a length usually about 14' to 15' is good for me.

While adding a couple of feet of tippet to the 12’ leaders is ok, this for me leaves to long of a level section which can hinder turnover, so a slight rebuild of the front (fly) end helps me get a more positive and predictable turnover, and although a tight line on the river can often be detrimental because of problems with drag, adding a little slack to the system during the cast is my preferred method.

To rebuild the front end I tend to cut back a 12’, 6.4lbs tapered leader to approximately 8’6” or 0.24mm diameter, basically cutting of a tiny bit of taper and the level section at the front, then add 12 inches of 8.2 lbs (0.20mm), and 18 inches of 6.4lbs(0.18mm) these additions are made with Rio Powerflex tippet material, then the final tippet is made from 2’6” of 4.7lb Rio Suppleflex, this as the name suggests is a really supple tippet material which helps to minimise any drag or unnatural movement of the fly, then if i need to go finer i simply cut the 4.7lb back to 12" and add 2'6" of a lighter breaking strain.

This leader coupled with the Moss colour Rio Gold or the Rio windcutter2 fly line in a 4 or 5 weight is my setup for river dry fly fishing this season.

Stockport, Fly Fishing Shop Open Weekend 19th and 20th march.

Stockport, Fly Fishing Shop Open Weekend 19th and 20th march.

Myself, Jim Fearn and Gary Coxon will be there, offering free casting tuition and advice on all the latest product's from Sage and Guide fly fishing.

There will also be all the latest fly line's from Rio that you can try on one of the latest rod's from Guide and Sage, or try the line''s on your own rod to get the match that suit's you.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Best Regards,

Tony Riley.