A day flyfishing with Keith Arthur

This August, I had a big surprise - an e-mail from Keith Arthur, the presenter of Sky Sports' Tightlines and Talk Sport's, Fisherman's Blues, asking whether I would be interested in taking part in a video clip about flyfishing for Trout and maybe Zander, to be broadcast on Tightlines. Without hesitation, I said yes, and soon a date was pencilled in the diary to meet him at Grafham. My Dad also agreed to drive the boat for the camera crew!

We arrived at the lodge early so we could all have a chat about the day over breakfast. The conditions were looking well suited for Trout fishing - overcast with a slight chop on the water. We were both raring to get out there and fish - all I hoped was one of us would catch for the cameras!

Before we could leave the harbour, Keith and I were rigged up with our microphones, and after tackling up with a slow glass line and Keith with a floater, I motored us both out to Deep Water Point where my Dad and I had caught some Trout a few days before. On my very first cast I hooked up to a nice stocky rainbow, which had taken my blob tied to my top dropper, and soon had my first fish in the boat - phew! Minutes later, it was Keith's turn to hook up and he also had his first rainbow of the day, caught on a big buzzer at the other end (on the point) - what a great start!

We repeated the same drift but this time a little closer to the bank on the edge of a drop-off, and again, it didn't take long before we both had bites - and a double hookup!

Whilst fishing we chatted about everything, including Arsenal - who we both support! Keith is a living encyclopedia - not just about fishing either. He blew me away with what he knows.

After catching about 10 Trout between us, Keith and the camera crew felt that they'd taken enough footage of us Trout fishing, and would like to see if we could catch some Zander. Unfortunately, the wind had strengthened considerably as the day had gone on and it would make holding anchor over various spots quite tricky, also casting fairly heavy flies would be difficult!

The zander sport had been slower in the past few weeks and it took a good hour and a bit before I had the first solid whack, which the fish had taken on the drop whilst the fly was falling through the water. It was only a small fish of around 5lbs, but it was great to get one in the boat and on camera! I was still confident we were going to get some more though.

Shortly after catching that fish I decided that we should move to another area. Keith lowered the anchor down and we both cast out in hope of a bite. On my first cast everything locked up and I found myself playing what felt like a good fish. Keith, with the net on the ready, did the honours and scooped up our biggest Zander of the day, which we estimated was about 10lbs.

Unfortunately, no more bites came from that spot so we decided to move. The zander fishing was proving much tougher than I expected. We tried numerous different areas of the reservoir before managing my third of around 6lb 8oz, and what would be our last Zed of the day. Although I'd caught three Zander, I was pretty upset that Keith was unlucky and didn't get one. We both decided to call it a day with the Zeds and switch back to Trout fishing, and hopefully enjoy some action similar to what we'd had earlier. By the end of the day we'd added another 5 or 6 between us to our tally of the day, caught mainly on Diawl bachs, Crunchers, Buzzers and 'The Thing'. My Dad also managed to have the last couple of hours fishing, and caught 3 including a nice Brownie of about 3lb 12oz.

It had been a brilliant day's fishing on Grafham - the Trout especially, but apart from fluffing up my words whilst talking in to the camera, I think it went quite well. It had been a real privilege to fish with Keith. He is a true professional at his job, presenting and catching fish! Thanks to John Mees also for making sure that it all went well. By the end of the day we were all very tired. What a great day it had been though, fishing with a 'minefield of information'! Now I'm looking forward to seeing it on Tightlines on Friday night.