Thursday 31 May 2012

Long weekend coming

Probably like all of us, I'm looking forward to a few days off with the prospects of some good fishing. The river is continuing to drop but is still at a very good level for fishing.



Friday 25 May 2012

Great Start to the weekend!

Having been woken up at the usual 4.30am by my 5 week old Daughter I was finding it hard to get back to sleep as a morning trip to the river had been planned with my mate Tony.

Wednesday 23 May 2012

I Think i have the mid week blues, the weekend was disappointing as we fished for over six hours and didn't see a single fish which was very surprising considering the conditions. It may be that with the high water fish have pushed further up river. I had a look in the book in the hut and nothing was recorded there either.

I did manage a brief fish on the next beat down on Monday and lost a 10lb fish and had a follow form a 16lb fish. I did get a phone call that evening from a friend who had lost a 20lb fish as he was bringing it towards the net - Gutted, good for the fish though, a bit of fast C&R! roll on the weekend, fingers crossed that it will be better than last week. I will also be trialling an underwater pole cam as i'm really interested in looking at the contours of the deep pools to see what lurks beneath. once i have some footage i'll post it on here!

Thursday 17 May 2012

Roll on Sunday

With the river looking perfect and the weather being a bit more settled i'm looking forward to the weekend and getting back on the river. Met a new rod on our beat yesterday - he hadn't seen anything but that doesn't mean they're not there. Frome fish do not generally show themselves - they will be there and with a bit of look i'll meet one on Sunday.


This is my first fish from last year - typical cracking Frome springer - look at my boot under the fish to get an idea of scale!

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Big fish lost

I have just returned form a lunchtime walk down the river with Poppy and bumped into a couple of lads who fish the beat below me. I asked if they'd had anything, spinning started on the river today and it is usually very productive at this time of year. Sadly one of them had lost a fresh fish off about 25lb. He had it in and out of the smallish net on four occasions - the curse of the small net strikes again - Gutted!

It looks perfect and i look forward to getting back there on Sunday!

Sunday 13 May 2012

Off the mark!

Despite the high water conditions over the last few days i kept a close eye on the river levels going that the water may drop and clear enough to make it fishable this morning. I woke early and was pleased to see it had dropped to 1.13m on the gauge at East Stoke.

I arrived at the river at 8 and tackled up in the hut and had a coffee whilst i decided on fly and line options. I went for a fast sinking tip on the Rio Multi tip in combination with a 1 1/2" Cascade brass tube.

Friday 11 May 2012

Favourite Flies for the Frome

Due to the even higher river levels today i have decided to sort out my fly box and get tying some more flies for the following week.

Here is a selection of the flies i tend to use the most depending on river levels and clarity .


My current favourites


Thursday 10 May 2012

More Rain

After a night of more heavy rain it's not looking good for the weekend. The river was falling nicely but we had a decent lift in the last few hours adding another 30 odd centrmeters to the level and a fair bit of colour. There is a pretty good page on the EA website for checking the levels here

With any luck things may be better by Sunday morning but if nothing else at least it will get the fish moving!!!!

I stopped off for a look after work and saw it was definitely not looking good.

Even Poppy doesn't look too hopeful!

Wednesday 9 May 2012

River Frome Salmon Research Report 2011

As i follow with interest the research carried out on the river frome's Salmon i was please to read the findings of the 2011 annual Salmon Report. you can download the document here;  http://www.gwct.org.uk/documents/salmon_research_report_2011_final.pdf



Looking perfect

I took the dog down to the river this morning for a look and i must say it looks very promising for Friday. I think a late start for work would be good as hopes are high to connect with a Frome springer. Fingers crossed!

My Best Salmon

 On a memorable day in late April I arrived at the river with a guest who was intent on fishing for trout and looked at my 13’ double handed fly rod as if I was mad.


Wecome

Welcome to my new blog where i will be sharing my adventures of chasing Salmon around the South West. Operations are primarily focussed of Dorset with further wanderings throughout the year.

As i write the river Frome has had a big spring flood and is just dropping back to a nice height and clearing slowly Its .96 on the gauge today. As we are now seeing the spring tides i'd expect a decent amount of springers to be finding their way up river.