Rutland Water Opening Day 15th March 2014

Opening Day March 15th

After an incredibly calm, sunny week, Rutland Water opened 2 weeks earlier this season, Saturday March 15th. March has a habit of ‘biting back’ and what a difference a day makes, from a settled week of Summer-like weather a howling Westerly wind on the Saturday made conditions tricky and also meant that bank anglers were concentrated into a few sheltered area, but as we all know a wind from the west makes life difficult for Rutland bank anglers as it curls into every shore.

With English Nature restricting some bank areas until April, Barnhill, Old Hall Point, Sailing Club were out of bounds as was the bottom of Whitwell Creek, all areas which could give respite in the strong wind.

However, plenty of fish were caught from Sykes Lane around into Whitwell, Normanton Bank round into Church Bay and the track side bank of Old Hall Bay. Some clean fish were taken but the fresh stockies seemed to be on a suicide mission and a rod average of over 9, including catch and release figures indicated no shortage of stock fish concentrated in pods all over the lake.

Successful methods included slow deeply fished buzzers and the ubiquitous black and green tadpole on floating lines, down to a Di5 and boobies fished on a Di7. Tony Tibbet’s grandson Toff decided to experiment and caught every one of his fish on different flies.  Brian Moore caught his ‘limit’ on a Dawson’s olive, a Rutland early season favourite which bears little resemblance to the traditional pattern.

On the bank there was a confusion about which restrictions were in place, which gave the wardens a bit if a headache, as many anglers weren’t aware where they could and could not fish. RWFF will aim to be involved earlier in the future to help with communicating any restrictions.

Boat anglers were also hampered by the gale force conditions all weekend but they did find some really good overwintered fish out in the open water along both arms using rudder techniques, alternatively anglers who  found some shelter drifting onto or out from the banks which were out of bounds to the bank anglers and had frantic sport on Di3 and Di7 lines. It seemed that the general pattern was that predominantly, though not by any means all stock fish were found close to the bank, around 2 or 3 rod lengths out, whereas further out, resident fish were found.

 I've taken a few beginners out on boats so far, Mick and his 10 year old son Archie had some brilliant sport, Archie catching his first ever trout, well done, he wants to come back for more, maybe when it's warmer!!!

2 friends Martin and Mick had loads of fun fishing from a boat with me, lots a joking and banter. Well done to Martin who cast, retrieved and caught his first trout on fly, and to Mick who was quick to remind his friend of the score!

Here are Martin's words. I had a brilliant day, your instruction

proved more fruitful than my last trip to the Lake District. We had the fish for tea last night and they were very tasty! We'll definitely be back. Hope to see you soon. And from Mick..

Many thanks for yesterday Rob. We both had a great day, really enjoyed the fishing and of course your company :-)

Also, we appreciate very much the fact that you squeezed us in an extra hour at the end of the day. I have no doubt at all that you will be hearing from us again over the summer months, so be prepared for another day of friendly banter :-) 

Looking forward very much to seeing you again some time in the not too distant future.

Regards 

Mick  P.S. Mick 5.....Martin 3  :-) 

From Mick and Archie. Thanks to you also, we really enjoyed it. Fish all dressed and prepared. Two to a neighbour, two going in the Tandor this afternoon.The rest frozen. Nothing wasted!!

Hi Rob, Thanks so much for making Georges fishing day such a success, he has been telling everyone who will listen about how big the waves were on the lake as well as how big the fish were too! Thanks also for the super photos they provide a marvellous record for us of a really lovely day. All the best for the rest of the season, and may all your fish be huge ones. Jane and Georges.

Currently as I write this the bank fishing is smoking!! There are guys out there catch and releasing huge numbers of fish. Buzzer fishing is now more prolific than lures. I hope these fish move away and become the silver grown-on beauties of which Rutland Water is famous.

Now is the time to book an introduction to fly fishing. It's 10am-2pm and covers all the skills and knowledge you'll need to take up fly fishing with some time fly fishing from the bank, and those fish are close to the bank now! Email me on rob@rutlandwaterflyfishing.co.uk for details.

 

 

 

 

 

Since last Autumn, I have been a member of the Rutland Water Fly Fishers Club committee. Not really a 'committee man' but I wanted to help grow the club and make it more fun to be a member.
I have 2 major roles, first as one of two members (along with new Chairman Chris Evans) to hold a level 2 fly fishing coaching qualification, is that of 'Head Coach' for the club. I'll be helping at open days and club days with casual tuition for beginners. I also 'put my hand up' to take over the editors role to produce the newsletter. This task has been done brilliantly for many years by John Wadham who has  tirelessly produced an excellent, informative publication eagerly awaited for by the members.
Mighty shoes to step into! However, the first edition has been published and received much praise from members. We've given it a name 'The Big Puddle' one of Rutland Water's affectionate nick names, hope you like it.

This first bumper sized edition featured articles on Jamie Weston of the River Gwash Trout Farm, suppliers of hard fighting silver specimens into out water;
Cold smoking trout: reviews of RWFF fly tying event; stories from myself and Roy Taylor on January fishing on Grafham Water; a look back over the 2013 season by myself; a few special fly tying features; a report from John Wadham on the lake itself, levels, clarity etc; a lovely story from Peter Gover of him taking a 90 year old chap on a boat for the first time; a review of Grzegorz Fryc who gaves us a talk on Polish fishing and expeditions to the Maldives and futher afield, and finally a little joke for the last page!
I'm staring on the next one now, due to be published in May, so in order to get 'The Big Puddle' regularly, join RWFF now, on www.rwff.org.uk  and send any pictures, article, letters, ideas to me rob@rutlandwaterflyfishing.co.uk

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Country Boys

Part of the well known Game Shooting/Beating Crew from Rutland, good lads, country boys. Ed, Waddo, Loz and Conor. Conor's now gone to work in Oz, James (Waddo) soon to join him. Have a great time lads, come back safe!  
Duck Dynasty in Rutland.

RWFF an evening with Grzegorz Fryc

Thursday 30^th January Rutland Water Fly Fishers evening with Grzegorz Fryc Polish angler and director of Fly Fishing Expeditions

Thanks to Grzegorz (commonly called ‘Greg’) for stepping in at the last minute to replace Anne Woodcock who unfortunately had Flu. Greg did a great job!

Already a well known angler and fishing writer in Poland, Greg, felt he needed to come to the UK the ‘heart of fly fishing’ so that he could learn more about his passion. A Passionate Fly Fisher could be Greg’s title as he took us on a journey from his origins in Poland, explaining how the Czechs took the original Polish Nymph technique to new levels of ‘fish catching’. Though not without its downside, as perpetrators of modern Czech (Polish!) deep nymphing, using short line techniques can lose the casting skills necessary for the more ‘purist form’. Greg would always prefer to catch a fish on a dry fly or casting a nymph rather than this.

He praised the new barbless hooks from dohiku as being the best barbless hooks available, which can be  bought online via http://dohiku.eu/ these Barbless hooks are made in the Czech Republic and  will revolutionise fly-tying and fishing. The Dohiku Hooks are barbless, thin yet strong with a wide and slightly offset gape.

Greg thanked me for being the first in England to make him welcome when he arrived in 2006, I met him by my house all those years ago and shook his hand and explained some methods we used here. I was immediately impressed with his passion and enthusiasm for all things fly fishing and we have become friends since. He went on to described the challenges of starting a fishing expeditions business and his forthcoming AAPGAI examination, being mentored by Vic Knight, a casting master.

Greg offers comparatively inexpensive fishing trips throughout the world concentrating on the ‘Adventure’ and ‘Expeditions’ using himself, friends and contact to host ‘without fills’ holidays to countries such as Poland, New Zealand, Chile, Norway, Mongolia and the Maldives. Fishing on lesser known rivers, costs can be a fraction of the the cost of more ‘famous’ venues.

Apart from good trout and grayling fishing, some rivers in Poland can yield double figure barbel to the caddis nymph imitation and big Taimen or Hucho Hucho can be caught on large lures and ‘mouse’ imitating floating flies. The rivers can be fished all year round for the various different species. The permit system in Poland is a lot simpler than in England as Greg told us some amusing stories of ‘misunderstandings’ on various river beats and limits. Why is that all the fish seem to stay on the prohibited part of the river!!

Thanks to Greg for an inspiring evening, and good luck to him on his Fly Fishing Expeditions

http://www.flyfishingexpeditions.co.uk/

A Hard Days Night, salmon fishing in Russia. June 2013 Heatwave!

When I tell friends and colleagues that I’m off on another salmon fishing trip to Russia, they all have the same reaction; firstly amazed that I am prepared to pay such a huge amount, then they exclaim that it’s easy out there, “a fish a chuck!” they say.

It’s difficult to justify the cost, I agree, but it’s the highlight of my fishing year and hard as it may seem to understand, for what you get; helicopter travel, wilderness comforts and truly magnificent fishing on incredibly beautiful rivers in a true magnificent wilderness; it is actually worth the price. Compare the cost of catching a Scottish salmon and a Russian salmon and, per salmon caught, it’s a bargain!

The second point, ‘it’s easy fishing’. Nothing can be further than the truth. I’ve been on 12 trips now and can compare the fishing on 10 or so different Russian rivers. You may have heard of some of them, Kharlovka, Eastern Litza, Rynda, Yokanga, Strelna, Varzuga and more. These are not easy rivers to fish. If you think you can go there and gently stroll the river casting an verge line and catch ‘shed-loads’ of salmon, I’m afraid you won’t. Not for the feint-hearted, they often require death-defying wading, huge casts and a keen talent in watercraft. Get it right and you can catch many fish, get it wrong and… well that’s fishing! To me, Russian fishing is the most demanding and arduous I’ve experienced, requiring much skill.

Coming back to the cost issue. I am not a wealthy man and I usually have to pick a ‘non-prime week’ as the dates coinciding with the main early runs of big silver fish come at a gigantic premium, so I’ve been fishing hard for resident fish with a few fresh fish coming in from the sea.

I’ve just returned from my latest jaunt to the hallowed beat of Middle Varzuga in the Southern edge of the Kola Peninsula, flowing into the white sea.

Normally the holy grail for large numbers of sparkling fresh salmon of medium size up to 12 pounds with the possibility of a 20 pounder, this was a ‘cheap’ week at the very end of the short 6 week season and my friends and I were met with the most difficult of conditions.

An unprecedented heat wave had hit the Kola and no more so than the rivers of the South coast. Day temperatures of up to 40 degrees were recorded and the water temperature peaked at a record breaking 25 degrees! With a tea bag and mug you could have got a good brew!

After the first day we realised that extreme measures would have to be taken, so we ‘worked the night shift!’ We fished the river from 10pm till 6pm, it never gets dark at this time of year but at least the sun was very low on the horizon, back to camp for ‘breakfast’ of bacon and eggs and tried to sleep in the roasting daytime.

Awake for 7.30 (am or pm, we didn’t really know any more!) for a 3 course dinner, or was it breakfast? and back to the river.

With slippy rocks and a strong current, the wading was awful resulting in many ‘swimming episodes’ (like bathing in the Med!) and the fish were reluctant to take the flies.

However, it shows what a fantastic productive river this is, by the fact that 10 rods caught 103 salmon that week, yours truly with  respectable 14 fish, all released carefully to kick off back to their lies quite healthily. We worked hard for those fish, changing tactics, flies and lines constantly to fish the fast runs, the deep pools and the little riffles in the optimum way. Anywhere else in the world, I suggest that we wouldn’t have caught a thing, which goes to show that Russian salmon fishing, although  very demanding is most productive on the planet.

Other than the pull of a salmon on the line, other highlights were the companionship and humour of a good group of guys; excellent care and attention from Roxtons, the organisers, plenty of grayling and brown trout coming to our flies, a few fun evenings of ‘pike fishing competitions’ between the Dads and the boys (my son and my friend’s son came long for their first Russian adventure) and the close sighting of 2 iconic Tundra animals; a reindeer and a huge brown bear!

An adventure indeed, a bit of an ordeal also, but ….that’s fishing!

 

Flies were fished either on  full floating shooting head or intermediate tip on a 14’ double hander or a 10’#7 single hander.

Best flies

Apart from 1 fish taken on a deep heavy Fancis in  slow pool and  few on tiny Golden Willie Gunns size 15 and 13 most of my fish were taken on a #8 Green Machine fished just under the surface,  favourite from the Miramichi, Canada. But other succesfull flies were:-

Green Butt

Stoat`s Tail

Bomber Green Salmon Single

Green Highlander

Red Francis Brass Tube

Hitch Green Butt Nylon Tube

Sunray Shadow Nylon Tube

 

All in small sizes.

Best fun was skating a small sunray shadow across a fast run and watch salmon coming up, splashing, and occasionally grabbing the fly!

 

 

 

 

Rutland Water Fly Fishers Fly Tying Evening

Thursday 16th January 2014.
A mild January night lit by a full moon, and the promise of new and exciting fly tyings for the new season encouraged a record turn out for this popular social occasion.
4 enthusiastic RWFF members were invited to demonstrate their specialities and to share some secrets to around 45 members and their guests and to swap 'fishy tales' along the way.
The fly tying evening is always popular to see what's new and to get ideas for flies to tie for the new season.
'Clever' Trevor Ashby is a well know and gifted fly tyer, he worked at the fishing lodge years ago and is a regular on Rutland and more often these days on Eyebrook. He's quite a celebrity in the fly tying world, famous for appearing on many fly fishing TV programmes. His speciality is using new and unusual materials and methods to make fly tying simple and effective. He usually produces something unique, novel and innovative at these events and this evening was no exception.
On this occasion, Trevor focused on his unique dry flies, including his 'Eyebrook special', a parachute style tying, using the same hackle stalk as the parachute 'post' and the wing with a hot orange thorax, "deadly" says Trevor. Parachute dry flies feature a hackle, tied horizontally around a 'post' on top of the body creating a floating fly with a very realistic insect wing and leg profile from underwater and a submerged body. The post can also be used as a sight indicator, ideal on rivers so that you can see the fly easier in turbulent flows. Trevor tied these on a 'klinkhammer' curved hook. Trevor's parachute fly works well on Eyebrook with a hot orange dubbed thorax, lying just sub-surface, suspended by the horizontal hackle.
Klinkhammers and other parachute flies with hi viz posts are used widely on Southern chalk streams with a tiny gold head nymph tied 'New Zealand Style' underneath, if your dry fly disappears, the trout has either taken it, or the nymph underneath, lift the rod, either way, 'Klink and Dink' it's known as, and it gives a bit of 'legitimacy' to the 'bung' method of bite indication on those rivers where, traditionally and upstream dry fly or unweighted nymph is usually the order of the day.
Trevor recounted many funny stories during the evening including the one about an 'Old Etonian' who requested some parachute flies to resemble a pattern which he gave to Trevor to copy. That fly got lost but Trevor tied him his own versions plus an extra one to make up for the lost sample. " They're Perfect!" said the old Etonian, "I can't even tell which is the original!"
Martin Blakeston, inventor of the famous 'Blakeston Buzzer' a 'must have' pattern for all Rutland fishers showed us some very delicate Diawl Bachs and Crunchers, essential for nymph feeders throughout the season. Martin also brought a huge amount of feathers; hackles and all manner of materials which he kindly displayed for a charity sale. Lucky members went away with bargains galore.

Paul Wild brought along a wonderful selection of his own superbly tied saltwater flies which he uses on his bonefish adventures to Andros, Bahamas and Cuba.
Gotchas; Crazy Charlies; Deceivers; Shrimps, Clousers and lifelike Deerhair Crab patterns were shown and demonstrated, tied on stainless steel saltwater hooks, many designed to swim upside down along the sand with the addition of chrome dumbbell eyes. Paul also showed his excellent version of the Minkie made with 'colour-edged' rabbit fur and tied his well know invention and 'catch-all' fly, the Black Pheasant Tail Nymph, tied on the now discontinued Traditional Wet Fly #8 hook, this is a perfect general 'buggy' imitation and can catch fish throughout all season, but works particularly well in April and May along the Arms of Rutland Water.
Brian Bonner made a selection of successful skinny buzzers and intricate Diawl Bachs and showed us his ingenious tying of the Irish 'Duck Fly'. Using black chenille, melted to a point with heat for a realistic body, he created a very lifelike hatching chironomid (buzzer). I'm sure these would work really well when the Rutland trout are taking emergers.

Cameron Neil moved from his native Scotland to Rutland purely for the fishing, which speaks volumes about the quality of what we have on our doorstep! He believes Rutland, Grafham and Eyebrook beat any Stillwater fly fishing available anywhere else in the UK, and we agree with him. This will be Cameron's first season as a RWFF member and we welcome him as an enthusiastic and gifted fly fisher and a particularly inventive fly tyer.

Many standard fly patterns which we now take for granted were initiated by Cameron and his repertoire keeps growing. For this evening he demonstrated a number of his specialities. Some, brand new on the scene specially premiered to RWFF members (so make sure you join this season). His Mylar fry pattern has been deadly for the past 2 seasons and the introduction of a 'double hook' gives it an irresistible wobble in the surface. I can vouch for it's success, giving me a few exciting floating fry sessions last season around the North Arm weedbeds. Make sure that you add a gold holographic eye, it makes all the difference.
Cameron demonstrated the correct way to tie the two-tone blob and a new foam 'helmet' blob pattern, which gives buoyancy without the danger of spinning to which the booby blob can be prone. The Rutland Rat isn't fished as much as it should these days but it was this palmered body minkie which caught Cameron a 10lb 6oz brown trout last April from the dam wall. The 'Rat' works well in Black/Yellow and Olive/White colour combinations. A jungle cock or substitute eye adds to the effectiveness.
Finally, some flies to give heart murmurs to the purists and traditionalists amongst us... the 'Humungus Tube'... one for the rudder guys with silver/gold/black/green/pink/holographic sparkle (just let your imagination run wild) and a grizzle or fritz palmered body on an extra long tube, with or without the 'Friendly' foam half body, but as I can testify, this fishes outstandingly off the front of the boat also, deadly, but not for the faint hearted!  This is Cameron's beautifully conditioned 10lb 6oz Brown Trout caught in April 2013 on the Rutland Rat, the fish was weighed on digital scales but was sportingly returned to the water before being witnessed by AW fishery staff so sadly didn't count as one of the biggies caught last season. I wonder how big it will be this season?


The next RWFF social evening will be on Thursday 30th January with a talk by Anne Woodcock, from FishPal the hugely successful online fishing booking company specialising in Salmon fishing throughout the UK and an enthusiastic campaigner for getting ladies into fishing.

Rob Waddington

 

January 18th. My son, a very experienced game shooter took me along as a guest to his syndicate today. Not the first time. Once before he took me for my first experience. It's a very tricky shoot this; not lots of birds and in a thick wood giving you just a fleeting glance of pigeon, pheasant and the odd woodcock. For a novice like me, it seemed that as soon as you saw something...it's gone!
One for the connoisseurs of the shooting world, and thankfully not the high volume kill often heard about.
Needless to say, my first trip ended in a blank! However, yesterday I shot my first pheasant, in fact the only bird which came to my gun, so, pleased as punch. And what a lovely dinner it made too, very much appreciated. Thanks James and it was a privilege to spend a day with a great bunch of lads. Very interesting shooting. I'll be back!