Curley's Charity Open Weekend

Charity Open Weekend

This year's open weekend will be on
13th & 14th April
We will be raising money for"Fishing For Life" a cancer charity and Derian House a local children's hospice.

We will be having demos and presentations with Terry Phillips, the current International Stillwaters and National River's Champion.Mike Roden on Tenkara andPat Stevens Pro Fly Tyer.
Half Price Permits all weekend*
Free Casting Tuition*
* for donation to our charities
Lots of sale bargains in the tackle shop
Raffle for good prizes with all proceeds going to our charities.
Bolton Fly Tying club will be show you the clubs events etc..

31st March 2013 - Welsh Dee

Third trip to the Dee this year and second blank! Feast or famine seems to be the theme over the last few months. I blame the weather but the being a fisherman a would!

Broke out the Tenkara rod for the first time this season after being inspired by Mike Roden from Tenkara UK and a great presentation at Bolton Fly Tyers meeting. Worked well for Czech nymph apart from not catching fish. My mate Phil did not catch either and so the fish were obviously not on the eed this time.

Some kick sampling was the only way I could catch something including this beaut of a yellow Sally nymph and a juicy Rhyac.

River Hodder - January 5th

First river trip of the year and Phil & I arrived and were both itching to cast a fly line on running water, no thanks to the crappy Christmas weather/ river conditions.

The Grayling took some time to find but we got there in the end! Czech nyphing was the order of the day and by the end of session I had learnt al lot, (most of which I had probably forgot from last year!).

Pumped stomach contents of a salmon parr shows fish were feeding on both the bottom and hatching midges. 

Grayling No 1.

Grayling No 2.

Phils parr.

Wet and Windy Raygill

Due to the forecasted windy weather instead of going to Stocks and fishing from a boat, we retreated to the not quite as windy Raygill fishery near Colne. There are two trout lakes and two course lakes at the fishery a well stocked shop and a cafe that serves great all day breakfasts. The fishing was a challenge, the constant crosswind and rain making life a little uncomfortable and fishing a bit complicated. If you could get your fly in the water however, there were plenty of fish to be had in the shallows. Most of us wet our nets with a fish or two by the end of the day and we all agreed that this place is worth another trip in milder conditions.

My only fish of the day!

There are a couple of boats for hire, but it was definitely a no go today.

Go on Mike you can do it!

Best fish of the day from Dave at 3.5lb. And I was reliably informed that it fought its fins off.

The fly you need to catch a 3.5lb Raygill fighter.

When the weather got too much, we entertained ourselves  by feeding these beauts with trout pellets at 20p a shot.

A nice blue for Phil who as per usual had a few!

Fishing Florida

6' long Tarpon just swimming around the boat landings. Hooking one of these babies on a small boat is called the, 'Florida sleigh ride'.

World Wide Sports, Pro Bass shop on Islamorada. Just about everything you need. 

Two weeks holiday touring Florida was very frustrating for me being a fisherman. everywhere we went it seemed there was no time, the guided fishing price was too expensive such as in the Keys at $750 a day, I had the wrong gear/bait, or I was with the wife!
In Florida fishing seems to be the local pastime and everyone is doing it. I managed to persuade my wife to come party boat fishing with me but it was not the best fishing day and for the most we caught a few yellow tail reef fish although there was a Barracuda and a shark caught by some anglers using the yellow tails as live bait.

Yellow fin reef fish.

I eventually bit the bullet and paid to do some sport fishing around Naples on the Florida West cost. I was taken Back water fishing around the everglades with a guide using live wapping great shrimp as bait. Not being the most accurate of casters with an open faced reel led to a lot of tangles with mangroves and way off casts. Eventually after more missed takes than I care to remember I managed to hook this beast. It put up one hell of a fight and the light wait tackle we were using made the adrenaline rush even more potent. The dock behind me in the picture would have been the fishes refuge if it wasn't for the captain screaming at me, "get it out", over and over.

An average size Snook.

North East Cumbria's rivers revisited

It was a planed weekend to fish the rivers near Penrith that I had been looking forward to for weeks. Unfortunately the weather had been unkind for days and we had been nervously watching the river levels all week. Despite this the Eden was still very low up until the morning we arrived! Starting out on my favored Eden beat we were met with increasingly heavy and persistent showers that were soon to become the main feature of the weekend and the Eden became blood red and on the way up the bank very quickly. As we struggled to find fishable waters I felt a bit like Goldilocks.  We tried the River  Eamont which was too low. As a last resort we decided to take a trip over to the Lowther and it looked just about right! And so it came to pass that it was the Lowther where we finished our trip that turned out to the best of all. The rain stopped, the sun came out and we had just a bit of dry fly action that will be in my memory for a long time to come.

A very low River Eamont.

A lovely ravine that looked as fishy as the soon to be rising fish confirmed it was!

Geoff disappearing into a Gunnera's on the river bank. Makes a nice change from the usual  knot weed and stuff!

One of very few fish that were caught that weekend but this one  made it all worth while. Nothing special  just a great take on a delicate dry that I was poised in anticipation for, (for a change).

River Hodder

An olive waiting with anticipation in the river bank rushes.

Best Grayling of the day, small but perfectly formed and there were plenty to be had.

A Yellow May Dun, spotted just as I got back tot he car on the windscreen!

Perfect day for the dry fly. Fishing the Hodder on the lightest tackle and the smallest dry flies is my absolute favorite type of fishing. The river was very low but this made it easier to se the good runs that were hiding small pods of grayling in the shadier pools. At times the action was fast a furious with almost a take a cast at times. The fish were mostly small but good fun.