I am down in Llangollen for the weekend to fish the Dee with John Emerson and Hywel Morgan and had a cheeky wee session with Hywel and John pre official course. The weather was brilliant for the time of year, sunny all day and quite fresh, but very very pleasant for a day on the river.
Czech nymph was to be the favoured method and John kindly gave me a handful of his beautifully tied jig hook flies to try.
I tried fishing the standard Czech nymph method of a short leader and indicator in the morning, but though I had a few knocks, never got a fish. Hywel and John had a couple each Grayling and Brown Trout. Moving downstream we fished another stretch and John immediately was into some fish on the edge of some fast water. I joined him and a few casts in I felt a fish take as the flies rose in the water. I struck but it wasn’t there. I cast again and sure enough it came again, I struck, contacted the fish and there was a splash and it all went slack. Everything below my indicator was gone. Not good.
I re rigged my line and eventually after a change to the French Leader picked up my first Grayling of the season probably shy of half a pound. Not a tiddler but no real size either. I had a few more knocks but no more hooked. Moving on downstream on a lower run I picked up my second fish almost right away, a little bigger than the first Hywel and John by now had caught well into double figures between them. It was a wee bit disheartening for me but at least I had caught. I did however lose an awful lot of flies through the day on sub surface snags.
Still a great day on the river in good company. The main event starts tomorrow.
John Emerson at the Country Park
