I had been pissed off with my rivers being up all week so had read reports on the conditions at the wye, I decided it was time to get my first trip to the Wye.. I rang the peacock hotel and booked in for £70.00 ( mayfly fee ).
I arrived at the hotel around 11.30 and was greeted by freindly female staff who were good on the eye, the hotel is like nothing i have seen, they have kept it old style and with a modern touch here and there, I knew it was class when i opened the glass doors that held the on sale flys and the whole thing lit up with door switches.I bought some Mayfly and headed off for the fishermans carpark.
I have never seen the Wye before (only bridge at bakewell) so was eager to see what it was like. I had bought a hardy demon 7ft 3# in the week and was looking forward to trying it out properly.
The river looked in fantastic condition and was wider and deeper than i imagined, it had so many looking 'fishy spots' it was untrue, I had not seen any river keepers so had no advice of where to fish so just walked around and got a feel, I could see that i had arrived at the end of a hatch of Mayfly, there were odd ones coming off and rises no rises were apparent, I decided to start with a large caddis fly to try and bring these fish up, I was rather nervous, dont know why but its like that when you arrive on a new river..
I started to fish a fast tail of a fast pool, on my second cast a rainbow come clean out of the water and dive bombed my fly, the line went slack and i had missed my first take, I started to have hits from the violent raibows but not connecting until i started to skate my fly across the surface, this produced at take like i have never seen, the trout came up a hit my fly but i skated it 2ft away and it chased it all the way and properly hooking it, i had hooked my first wild rainbow and this fish went nuts, the speed of the first run was great yanking my rod to the floor, after a 2 min fight i landed a lovely rainbow, this was a great feeling, i had been worried about a blank and this settled my nerves and got me fishing with a straight head, There were still no rises so i continued with skating the caddis which bought me another rainbow around a pound, the colours on these fish were great, bright red and not a mark on them..
I moved up the strech and found fish rising on a big bend by a bridge, tried the caddis which were totally ignored, this was where all the lessons i have had come in, i started to look what they were on.. they were taking the olives, i matched the size with a jt olive and started to take fish after fish, these were small beautful browns that fought there heads off, i then hooked a massive out of season grayling that was taking me all over the place, i unhooked the fish in the water and off it went,
I could of stayed there for a while but i have learnt to move on, the fishing was that productive i would .have fun all up the river, I was fishing very hard and heading for bakewell where i knew i could have a rest..Walking further up i saw a chap being guided opposite me, i spoke briefly and was advised to move over the river and up on the cutt grass bank, As i walked over a a keeper came over and introdued himself as Jan, he was nothing like i expected, i thought he would be a bit posh, he said 'your Glen Pointon, i have been been told by Warren to watch for t him nymphing' then pissed up laughing, i then said its the bread fly i have tied what you need to worry about... He was very friendly and helpful and gave me some great advise, he said bank holidays were a nightmare with poachers everwhere and he would be up late looking for them..
As i moved up the river i saw a couple who were fly fishing and having a full english picknic, they had been guided by Jan and were having a break, the lady had never fly fished and managed to catch two fish, the man had caught a few and Jan was sorting out his casting, they looked like they were chilled out sitting next to this lovely river.. not for me, i had come to hit the fishing hard with it being my first go, I walked up to every pool with eagerness not knowing what would be there, i love this when you are on a new venue,
Walking further up i spotted a huge brown rising under a tree taking olives every few mins, i watched it for ten minuites seeing how it worked, it would drift out of its hide and take a olive then shoot back for cover, i knew if i missed placed the cast i would put this clunker down, first cast i hit the tree and it unraveled itself and dropped onto the run sweet as a nut, the fish slowly came out and sucked the olive down, my heart was in my mouth because thats what i love most about fly fishing ( seeing the take) the fish just bolted down stream 30 yards and just snapped me clean, i had no chance, it never stopped going, i estimated it to be around 5/6lb..
Around 2oclock slowly taking emergers, i could do nothing about this, they were letting my fly drift over their heads..
I had fished for 3hrs and taken 11 rainbows and 6 browns, I thought i would walk into bakewell and have a pint and wait until the Mayfly hatch, i had been smacking fish out in every pool and the Mayfly had not hatched yet!!!
I arrived in Bakewell to see the fat trout being fed by the public, I used to think i would like to hook one but this was not what i wanted, i have learnt so much in my fly fishing and i thought i would rather have the wild rainbows and browns i had hooked earlier..
I sat down and had a pint with some sandwichs and reflected on what had just happened, i was in the zone and wanted more fishing. All the trout i had taken were feisty rainbows around a pound and small half a pound browns that pounded the rod.
I moved further up from the town and walked for a mile and started to work back down stream, it was 3.30 and the magical mayfly started to come off, the trout started to switch onto them big time, it was a joy to watch.
This is when the big browns came out and i was taking these fish all back down to the bridge, the run where it goes close to the road was electric, i was skating the may all over the place which was making them hit it hard, if i left it to drift i would not always get a take.. Proberly i was hooking that many i was getting greedy and should of layed off but i never stayed in one pool after a fish, i could not help myself, i was like a kid in a sweet shop..
I walked back through the town brigde and the mayfly had calmed down, I started to fish behind the cricket club, fish were rising but not looking at the mayfly, i soon found the working fly to be a BWO, this produced more cracking browns..
I was so tired, i had walked for 7 miles and caught lots of cracking wild fish, I stayed till around 8 and there were still mayflys coming off and a massive spinner fall.
I had parked on the wrong car park and had been locked in but Jan new and rang me and give me a lift back to my van, he was a pleasure to talk to and was interested in how my day had gone, he said i had done well to catch more browns than rainbow, he put it down to me fishing the sections that anglers do not fish..
I really enjoyed myself and would like to fish it outside mayfly season, the keepers have made a great job of the river, i was sometimes casting and would look around thinking i will hit a tree but i realised they have cut certain branches ect so you could reach the head of a pool..
It would be embarasing to say how many i caught but i put it in the book at the Peacock hotel.
At the end of the day i was overwhelmed with the fishing.
The only negative side i did not like was when i caught a fish i realy needed a long landing net and found it hard to slip the fish back in safely, i think they should let you drop in the river to land fish and to release them, I caught a 2 lb brown and put it back only to see it go belly up so i entered the water to revive it for two mins and it went off ok, i felt i was doing wrong by this..
Well there it is my story of the river Wye, i will be back soon.
Was it better than the Dove? well the Wye is Warrens but the Dove is mine!!
Will post pictures on my blog
Thanks
Glen
I
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