Tony Riley Fly Fishing Instruction - Cumbria

A day at Bigland Hall trout fishery.

2011-08-25T17:59:00.003+01:00

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.

2011-07-16T10:33:00.003+01:00

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.

2011-07-11T16:23:00.002+01:00

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.

2011-04-11T16:59:00.003+01:00

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.

2011-03-17T20:56:00.001Z

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.

Wed 16th march.

2011-03-17T20:35:00.002Z

On Wednesday evening i travelled over to Endmoor near Kendal to do a tying/fishing evening for the lake land branch of fly dressers guild. On arrival i found i was to be filmed by a high quality video camera, this was just a little daunting as while tying a size 24 aphid i looked up at the screen to find the hook looking like a size 8 and every miss placed thread rap was to easy to see, especially with friend Paul little one of the best fly dressers I've ever seen sat watching in the audience. Joking aside this was once again a great evening and i thank Paul for the invite.

Tuesday 15th march. Boulton flydressers.

2011-03-17T20:26:00.003Z

On wednesday evening i travelled down to Boulton to do a fly tying/fishing demo with the emphisis on river fishing, a really good night and i would like to thank Boulton flydressers for the invite.

Mexico

2011-03-17T17:42:00.004Z

On Sunday 13th of march i returned from a fantastic fishing trip to Ascension bay in Mexico with Paul proctor.

A superb week of salt water fly fishing on the flats and lagoons catching Tarpon, Bone fish and Barracuda. These fish really do test your equipment to the max and once or twice i wondered, is hooking one of these fish a good idea especially as the fish i caught aren't that big as far as salt water game fish go. The only downside i can think of is the road down to Punta allen from Tulum, about a 4 to 5 hour drive over the worst potholed road I've ever been on, i recall Paul saying you'll never moan about potholes in the UK again and he was right. All i can say is i can't wait to be back.

A few pics from the trip.

A nice Barracuda on the last day.

Bone fish.

And my best fish of the week the Tarpon.

Catch up.

2011-01-31T19:57:00.004Z

Its been a while so here's a quick catch up.

Most Wednesdays during august, September and early October were spent driving the long slog up to Aberdeen to fish for Salmon at the Tilbouries beat on the Royal Dee, owned by good friend Willie Banks.

I first fished there in 2009 with Jim Fearn, who had a Friday rod on this syndicate beat.

I was fortunate to join myself in 2010, with my day being Thursday, this worked out well as myself and Jim generally traveled together and shared both days fishing, also getting the chance to watch Jim fish and his approach to salmon fishing was inspiring to say the least.

My first fish of the season came on Feb 2nd, a stunning 15lb springer and my best fish of the season came in at just over 19lbs.

February fish.

Best fish of the season.

The winter months have been spent topping up the fly boxes, and with everywhere being frozen most of the time instruction has been mainly casting tuition. I really enjoy teaching casting and take great pleasure watching people improve during the sessions we have.

One person i would like to mention is Paul Maxwell, who i first met about two years ago and at that time to my knowledge had never even held a Fly rod.

We've had a few days together now and its been a pleasure watching Paul making his first cast, catching his first Trout and now, like most of us Paul has become fascinated with the sport.

I was due to meet Paul on sat 29th Jan for a few hours at a local fishery but a cold night and a frozen water stopped the fishing again.

To salvage something from the day we decided to have a couple of hours casting as Paul wanted to work on his accuracy and his distance and after sorting out a small tracking issue and introducing hauling Paul was soon casting a nice straight accurate cast and also made a distance of just over 80 feet, more than far enough for most trout fishing.

A good well tracked cast with a well timed haul, nice one Paul.

Carp on the 'Fly'?

2010-08-11T21:32:00.003+01:00

On nice warm summer evenings myself and good friend Paul Proctor enjoy some amusing sessions catching Carp on the fly. I use the word "fly" lightly as I don't use an imitation of an insect but that of a dog biscuit or bread. Catapulting a few real dog biscuits into likely areas can often get Carp feeding on the surface and, once a few offerings of food have been eaten, the Carp start to feed more confidently. Now is usually when I would choose to make a cast.

Hooking one of these 'submarines' is exciting to say the least! These fish are extremely strong and a hard fight usually follows. My local waters have a lot of 'snaggy' areas and I would feel under-gunned with a rod rating any lower than 8. At range they can be tamed but once under the rod a big Carp can be very difficult to get up to the surface. Talking of tackle, check your local fisheries rules and regulations as my local fisheries dictate certain size landing nets, unhooking mats and whether barbless or microbarbed hooks must be used. I've learnt the hard way that you need to use a strong hook!

All in all, catching Carp on the fly can be a pleasant change when the rivers are out of sorts.
Below is a picture of a recent catch.

Recent Events

2010-07-14T20:00:00.003+01:00

Friday and Saturday last week was spent at The Scottish Game Fair, at Scone Palace, working for guide fly fishing with good friend, Jim Fearn. I enjoy these events because it's a good chance to talk to like-minded people.

Then an early start Sunday morning travelling down to the North East to give casting demonstrations and tuition at a local event. After a wet start, a good day was had by all.

Most evenings, recently, have been spent tuning up casting, in between fishing. After a long dry spell we finally have some water back in the rivers which has improved the fishing massively, as my son found out on Sunday during his first river fishing experience. Just like anybody's first attempt at river fishing it took him a while to get accustomed to the flowing water but his determination was rewarded and he caught over 10 fish for the day! That's an exceptionally good day for any fisherman, let alone a novice, and, when he was so enthusiastic about the fish he'd caught, I didn't have the heart to tell him that, that sort of thing doesn't happen often. Let's hope his enthusiasm doesn't fade away as the blank days start rolling in.

Upcoming Event - CLA Game Fair

2010-07-12T21:11:00.002+01:00

For all those interested the CLA Game Fair will be held at Ragley Hall (Warkwickshire) this year, from the 23rd - 25th July 2010.

Myself and the other Rio Pro Guides will be attending the Game Fair, offering advice and tips about products from Guide fly fishing, aswell as giving people the chance to try out the different lines and rods available.

Hope to see you there!

Big wild brown trout for simon.

2010-06-22T22:37:00.004+01:00

On Friday 18th i had the pleasure of guiding two guy's both named Simon on cumbria's river Eden.

A productive day with a first Grayling and numerous trout being caught, one fantastic wild brown Trout weighing in at exactly 3lb and a length of 19 and a half inches caught by Simon Hollis. Fish of this size are fish of a lifetime for some so seriously, well done Simon.

2010-06-17T20:54:00.007+01:00

Firstly I would like to apologise for the lack of entries to my blog of late. Fishing has taken up, both, day and night recently and there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day!

Most of my days & evenings, so far this month, have been taken up with guiding, teaching and loads of fishing. One evening was spent on The Eden with Sam & his son Matthew - a young man who impressed me with his care and consideration to all living things in, and around, the river being so gentle when returning the fish he caught to the water as well as his fascination with the large mayfly which rested on his hand for a while.

One Saturday was spent at Fox Houses Lake for Pat Stevens, from Flytec, & members where myself and good friend Jim Fearn were representing guide fly fishing and offering demonstrations and casting tuition. This is the second year we have participated in this event and, once again, it was a great success. Jim is a salmon fishing fanatic so, with Scottish rivers having decent levels & local rivers being extremely low, a lot of his time, of late, is spent in Scotland however, after a lot of persuasion at The Fox Houses day I managed to talk Jim into an evenings trout fishing on a local river (which he used to do an awful lot of). After watching Jim catch some 'cracking' trout on the dry fly I'm sure he was left just a little bit inspired.

On Sunday myself and Jim were at Knottallow tarn holding a Guide fly fishing day for Ulverston anglers, again, offering advice, tuition and casting demonstrations and despite some heavy rain showers everybody seemed to enjoy the day.

Myself offering advice on products from guide fly fishing.

Casting Tuition

Jim teaching with the Salmon Rod

Jim and I run days sponsored by Guide Fly Fishing regularly up and down the country. Any clubs interested in holding a day sponsored by Guide Fly Fishing should please contact me for further information.

A great week.

2010-06-01T20:45:00.003+01:00

Last week saw me on my way up to Dumfries and Galloway to spend four days assisting the guys from Borderlines in providing a very successful Angling for knowledge scheme to children from schools all across the district. It really was a pleasure to work with these kids, watching the excitement on there face as they made there first cast and caught there first fish, also getting them to catch and see the various invertebrates that live in our waters. For more info on Borderlines and the services they provide visit there web site at http://www.borderlines.org.uk/index.html.

After each day with the children i just could not get myself to drive past Cumbria's river Lune where i had some fantastic sport fishing the evening rise. As far as hatches go Monday was by far the best, with various upwings hatching masses of olive upright spinners in the air, some big Stoneflys crawling up the rocks to hatch and various terrestrials about the trout had a good menu to chose from and i enjoyed a very good evenings dry fly fishing.

Large Stonefly shucks on one of the boulders

On Tuesday evening i was joined by Paul Proctor hoping to see a repeat performance.
However as light faded and the temperature dropped it soon became evident it wasn't to be, but even with no where near the same amount of invertebrates we still had a good evenings fishing and as ever its always a pleasure to fish with Paul.

Light fading on a very low river.

On Wednesday there had been some rain and i stopped by the river really just to check the level.
Looking over a bridge the river was still very low but up in the neck of the pool i saw what looked like an average size trout rise, i thought before tackling up I'll just check the pool round the corner where, mid pool in the foam line a big trout ate a newly emerged dun. That was that, swiftly back to the car tackled up and headed back to where I'd seen the big fish rise, literally seconds later it tilted and sipped in a dun. Then a few rain drops turned into a heavy shower and the fish was gone. Who knows maybe this was a sign from the river god's telling me not to over indulge.

Another cool evening and showers on Thursday saw me fish for just over an hour and only a few small trout were caught.

Saturday and Sunday i spent two great days teaching on local stillwaters but by Monday i was itching to get back on the river.
Again as light faded the temperature dropped and myself, Tony Bell and Paul Proctor spent another tough but enjoyable evening's fishing. The river is very low and clear at the moment and the fish really are very spooky, but still, looking forward to next time.

A nice 2lb 12oz brown trout
doing a better job of posing for the camera than me.

Cumbria fishing festival.

2010-05-23T15:32:00.002+01:00

This week the Cumbria fishing festival has been holding various events from saltwater, river, stillwater and salmon fly fishing.
Myself and good friend Paul proctor were hosting two stillwater events the first on Thursday at Bigland hall trout fishery where 18 anglers had possibly the best weather and fishing conditions of the week.
Anything small and black seemed to be proving most productive and i think everybody had fish.

Farleton view trout fishery was Saturday's venue where myself and Paul were asked to provide a masterclass on stillwater trout fishing.
Aimed at the more experienced angler we went in depth into equipment, leader design and knots, entomology and various casting/fishing techniques, finishing off with some fishing and one to one help and advice.
The festival once again seems to have been a big success and i thank all who were involved in it's organisation.

Diving in sharm el sheikh

2010-05-19T16:35:00.005+01:00

Arrived home on the 14th from a fantastic holiday at Sharm el sheikh in Egypt.
Unfortunately there is no fishing allowed on the coral reefs of the red sea,
and this was the biggest reason my partner picked this destination.
Two week's with no fishing, what was i going to do? even the fishing books had been banned.

Fortunately for me the hotel she'd booked has one of the best snorkeling
and diving reefs in Sharm el sheikh,
so every day was spent in the sea, having the chance to observe
some of the fish in there own environment, such as, Barracuda, Giant trevally,
Tuna, Shark's, Grouper's and a mass of other fish that live around
the stunning reefs of the Red sea.

One of the reefs in Ras Mohamed national park.

Our hotel reef in sharks bay.

So after a great holiday all i need to do now is fish. A lot

Stockport, Fly Fishing Shop Open Weekend 24th and 25th April.

2010-04-22T19:43:00.003+01:00

A hard day on the Eden.

2010-04-19T22:18:00.004+01:00

Sunday,18th April.

I set out to the river this morning enthused as weather conditions seemed perfect. Only to find on dropping down into the Eden valley a big hole in the clouds beaming sunshine onto the river.

With enthusiasm dropping fast I met up with my companion for the day, Paul Maxwell, and we headed for the riverside.

First glances didn't help as the river was running low and very clear, the pools having only a trickle in, hardly any flow in the body and a trickle out (not easy as fish tend not to hold station and wander searching for food and can also be very alert).

Waiting for the rise is often good advice as, when you cant see them, a badly timed cast here can line the fish and you're left wondering why its suddenly stopped rising, or a bow wave is seen as it bolts for cover.

At about 1.30 a few olives started to show and a rise was spotted in very slow water. Paul's patience paid off and the fish rose to his fly which was either unexpected or he was daydreaming (sorry Paul) as he struck lets just say "a little late". Then, further up the pool, a big fish showed and about 10 minutes later we were in position waiting for it to show again.

It was just one of those days as looking up onto the bank was some guy with his dog stood right next to where the fish had risen and to make it worse his partner turned up with her dog and decided to watch for a while.

Needless to say we grumbled a bit and quietly waded out.
Joking aside an enjoyable day in good company.

Paul working on nymphing in a nice plunge pool.

2010-04-17T21:37:00.002+01:00

Hi Everyone!

This is my first blog entry so thanks very much for checking in.

With the weather today being very bright and breezy I decided to go and check out some new water I'd joined this season on the river Lune.

A long walk was on the cards and I took along only the bare essentials, including a rod (just in case a rising fish was spotted along the way). I wasn't holding out much hope though with the conditions as they were today. - You know the old saying "bright and breezy never easy"!

I'd been walking for about 40 minutes, looking at some promising pools, when a large, dark 'olive' fluttered by so I decided to watch for a while. A few minutes later a fish rose. Not wanting to spook the fish, I tackled up with a long leader and an olive parradun. Just as I got into position another fish rose to the side of me, only a small fish, but still good target practice.
A moment later a nice half pounder came to hand. Still having one eye on the bigger fish, which had risen a few times by now, I made a cast up and the fly was fortunately taken first drift by a nice 'brownie' of about 1lb.

Having walked a good few miles today and seen some promising water I'm left thinking there are good days to come!

New Website & Blog ~ Lake District Fly Fishing

2010-04-05T18:55:00.008+01:00

Welcome to my new Blog

I will soon have a website launched as well in early April.

I hope you'll check back and view my blog contributions.

Contributions which will include fishing (of course!), fly Casting & fly tying... all of which I have a passion for and most of which are done in Cumbria where I live...