Day 1. The local Beagle pack told me a chap had won, but had a phone call from his wife who said it was her and had never fished before but simply wanted to watch me, ask questions and see if fly fishing was for her, I explained I was the wrong bloke to teach her to cast as I was a duffer...and my old cane rod set up was not ideal. Anyway turned up at the cafe on the last horrible weather day and there Sue was, turned out we had friends in common, the wind was wailing and rain falling as we walked to the pool, the water was badly coloured and to be honest I wish I’d rearranged but a few fish rose, I had two on which both came off which, she then said could she have a cast, even with my poor tuition she got a line on the water which in the evening when the fish rise close in would have put her in with a chance of a trout. We packed up mid day and the pleasing thing was that she emailed to say how much she’d enjoyed it and as I recommended she would go to Rutland Water and get a couple of hours casting tuition.
Day 2. This was my turn as a guest on the river Gwash near Stamford. My mate Adrian who is very proficient had been catching plenty of wild trout up to the 1lb mark since the season started and he said the Mayfly hatch had just started. The weather was warm and sunny and as we tackled up I felt very confident of catching a wildie, We walked a fair way upstream where with Adrian pointing out likely spots, and the odd Mayfly was drifting out, he was going further upstream and would meet me back at the cars for lunch. The odd fish was rising and I quickly had one one which came off, I rose several more but missed them all.....back at the car Adrian had caught 11......up to a pound, your soon catch one he said, after some good grub and beer I went to a more wilder stretch where their were far fewer rises or visible fish, I packed up fish less but happy..spoke to Adrian that evening and he’d had a further 8 fish ! I need to improve !
Day 3. My turn again to take a guest from a hunt auction who turned out to be another woman...who described herself as a very good dry fly fisherman ....she sounded of a certain age and said she fished top waters in the Cotswolds as well as fishing abroad. I explained our stretch of the upper Welland was in places overgrown and in some places high banks, no probs Jane said she enjoyed crawling about the bank stalking fish and got through plenty of waders in her time ! she didn’t want Breakfast but would bring a picnic and was it alright to bring her dog which she would tie up where she fished. I met her in the village on another lovely day and the best way to describe her was extremely charming in the Joanna Lumley mode...her dog was a small Lurcher, we made our way to the river, good to see no other members parked but the level was a good foot above normal and slightly coloured but looking over the bridge two fish rose, I had arranged to walk her upstream show her the water and leave her to it as I had to be away for lunch. Fish were rising and the odd Mayfly drifted by. I made my apologies for not being able to join her picnic but gave her a bottle of red and some apple cake which she was delighted with, I watched her cast and she was extremely good. I got back to the car and two members were tackling up, told her where Jane was. That evening she told me she had a lovely day and caught 5 , 4 which were wild fish, and one was about 3lb and another nearly 2lb, plus she had met a member at the time she landed the bigger fish and took this pic on his phone, she had given him a piece of my apple cake which he’d enjoyed. So a very satisfying week with 3 different anglers even though my own fishing results were poor to say the least but I get as much enjoyment from others enjoying themselves.
it's very satisfying to help others on 'home' waters
but I am sure that your assistance was helpful and appreciated! 