Couple of blanks

Friday afternoon, sunny, warm hardly any wind, perfect for a spot of fly fishing at Jubilee. I went to Ryton determined to revisit and prepare for the autumn assault on the Carp. I found a couple of Carp in the margins at one peg but even though in my usual camo outfit they saw me first and fled. I put a rod onto the spot and forgot about it, I was sure they would return. An hour past and nothing, I was very impatient as normally I would be constantly casting and baiting when fly fishing but as luck would have it I had my fly rod with me along with some newly tied Pike flies, time to give them a go.


Most of the swims at Ryton are very tight for casting with a fly rod but I was able to get the flies wet and get some lengthy casts in from a few pegs on the far bank and the sand bank area. The weather wasn't ideal for Pike as the sun was bright and the water crystal clear, however I did get some good practice in with fly presentation, the clear water allowed me to see the fly as I tried to make it look and act like a fish, the bucktail pulsed with each short pull of the line then a stop allow it to sink a little before a steady pull on the line made it move off again, very convincing, shame there wasn't a Pike around.

Saturday and I decided to pay a visit to the river Leam at Newbold. Took the fly rod to see if I could tempt a Pike from here, I didn't and after Reading Keith's last blog about the same stretch and the depth encountered, I can see why. (should have done my homework) There were a couple of swims with several good Chub milling around and did get one feeding on bread off the surface but this all stopped before I could get my line to it when a canoeist past through the swim, the Chub melted away not to return.