Women in Fishing

The drive to attract more women into fishing seems to be gathering pace and about time too! The piece in last weeks "culture show" tells me we are turning a corner. My wife became interested in the sport three years ago through my passion for fly fishing and with encouragement from me thoroughly enjoyed many aspects of the sport. Although she does not fish regularly, she comes along on several sight fishing trips each year.

You may notice I mention "sight fishing" specifically and this is deliberate. You see I have querried family, friends, clients and audiences at the occassional talk I make, with some interesting results. This has been by no means a scientific study and not all participants are anglers. The one thing that captured the interest of nearly everyone was being able to see the fish (trout or otherwise) then try and catch it.

The whole experience of spotting a trout, studying its behaviour, casting to it and hopefully catching it, is one that really seems to get people's adrenalin pumping as the anticipation of the take builds. This is something I can understand completely as my own fishing preference is to spot then stalk individual fish and is something we have offered to clients at Midlands Flyfishing during the last two years. Everyone who has tried it tells me that their fly fishing has changed completely. No longer are they happy to fish blind, hoping a trout comes along. They want to be active, they want to go find the trout, they want to learn more and then they want to put everything together to catch the fish small or large.

Put like this fishing sounds exciting and interesting, a million miles from the dull public picture of a bloke sat on a box under a green umbrella doing nothing. In fact it sounds like something everyone and anyone can enjoy in the great outdoors, man, woman or child.

Let me know your thoughts.

Tight lines until next time!

Willington Lake Trout Fishery

For anyone wondering what has happened to the Willington trout fishery website it has been taken off-line for the time being. They are also having a new phone line installed so for any querries call Mark Jenkison on his mobile number. The fishery is operating as usual.

The water is ice free and despite the freezing conditions the rainbows are still feeding though deeper in the water now. The best tactics are to fish a floating line with a leader of no less than 15 feet. As willington is absolutely heaving with damsel nymphs year round a weighted damsel pattern fished on the point slowly will score. You can then experiment with various patterns on droppers to see what else the trout are interested in on the day.

Certainly the rainbows fight well in the crystal clear cold water. Good numbers of trout around 4lb are being caught plus the odd double. One lucky angler taking rainbow trout of 10lbs and 11lbs the previous week.

More fishery news and winter fishing tips soon!

Midlands Trout Fishing Report

What a difference one week makes! Last week although the weather was very wet with strong winds trout were well up in the water and we were catching on dries every day. One client caught six rainbows off the top on his first ever fly fishing trip! With the sudden drop in temperature the rainbows have moved lower in the water, but are still willing to take.

Tactics as always vary from water to water. My winter fishing experience is that on waters with a maximum depth of 15 feet I set up a single rod with a floating line and long leader, keeping an intermediate in my bag in case of strong winds. Where the water you are fishing has extensive depths over 15 feet I would carry two rods. One is setup with a floating line the other with a wet cell 2. This allows you to search through the depths while maintaining the slow retrieve so critical in cold water. Wether you are fishing a floating or sinking line remember to count your flies down after casting. I work from the surface down as trout looking up can easily spot your fly and some though not all will intercept it. Fishing this way allows you to carefully search the depths finding fish as you go. If you get no takes having covered the water around you, move!

Remember, even on the coldest days a hatch can and does occur around midday. Always keep that floating line handy as even if the trout refuse to come to the surface they will take ascending midge pupa and olive nymphs a couple of feet down.

As I type this some of our smaller lakes are frozen over bank to bank but larger waters are open. No matter what the weather, from now until the end of March is my favorite time for rainbow trout. The fishing can be challenging and the trout fight fantastically well in the cold water. With modern outdoor clothing their is no excuse to stay indoors!

Thats all for now I'm off fishing!

Introduction

Welcome to the Midlands Flyfishing Weblog. This initial posting is intended to be an introduction to the fly fishing information and advice available free to everyone.

Midlands Flyfishing is based in Staffordshire and provides guided stillwater fly fishing in the Midlands and north west England. More information on me and our services can be found at midlands fly fishing

Here however you will be able to find weekly updates on local fisheries along with advice on fly fishing techniques, where and when to use them, plus tactics to keep catching trout throughout the year.

Call back again next week for latest catch returns and current winning tactics.

Tight Lines