Snow, Icy Grayling & BFFI 2013

It’s been a busy ol’ weekend. As a number of you know, I’m resident of the lovely Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales – which sits snugly at the top of the South Wales valleys and at the base of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Okay, so our snow levels are nowhere near the levels seen on the Continent, etc, but when the snow does fall ‘heavily’, our elevation in comparison to the lower climbs of Cardiff, etc, does give ‘some’ a wake-up call. Schools close, roads grind to a halt, bread and milk sell-out in every shop and supermarket, and all-out panic kicks-in due to the impending Snow-Apocalypse (why bread and milk? Is that all people eat and drink when snowed-in?!) RUN! SAVE YOURSELVES!!!

I’ve never been much of a fan when it comes to panic. I suppose it comes down to my ~~good looking~~ lighthearted and laid back attitude. ‘The house is on fire? Let me just grab a coffee and I’ll have a look.’

Anyway, I digress. To my post!

Thanks to the snows, I opted to take the safe route and not go hiking in the Beacons this weekend, although I would’ve easily jumped at the chance if thrown even a hint of optimism by either the better-half or a hiking partner. Training for the TrekFest event coming up needs to continue but, unfortunately, my immediate area was ground-central for the Met Office’s Red/Severe Weather Warning alert. Best stay at home then. Instead, Saturday was spent pouring over maps and planning my route for next weekend. I also managed to get quite a few fly orders finished up …getting trapped-in has never been so productive!

The roads were starting to become passable on Sunday, so Liam and I decided to descend into the warmer (almost tropical) -1°C temps of lower Taff. The day was a cold affair of cold fingers and toes, but we did the leg work and caught a number of rather nice looking grayling. All of my fish took a pink shrimp pattern on the middle dropper (stay tuned for a step-by-step post to follow this week) and fished as part of a team of three Czech nymphs in a short-line fashion.

British Fly Fair International 2013

I’ve recently been invited to this year’s British Fly Fair International (BFFI)! Chuffed to bits with my second invite and can’t wait for June! Planning is now well under way and the show will undoubtedly be, once again, bigger and better than ever. The 11th BFFI will be taking place on the weekend of 22nd & 23rd June 2013. There’ll obviously be a number of posts to follow regarding this, but I’m looking forward to getting down and dirty regarding everything small stream and main-stem river fishing and the flies needed to tackle both types of water bodies! I’ll also be selling flies at discounted prices again this year, and I’ll have a number of selection boxes with me for those wishing to purchase rather than chat tying. Either way, both bases will be covered.

New Patterns Coming Soon at The Fly Shop

Lastly, I’ll be adding a new selection of micro flies to The Fly Shop this coming weekend. I’m just finishing up the macro shots for them and, once complete, we’ll be ready to rock! Remember, there’s still a 10% discount on all order placed up until January 31st. Simply enter HAPPY2013 on the Shopping Cart page.

A few shots from the weekend past…

One of the dozen grayling, this one taking a pink shrimp on the middle dropper…

And the pattern itself – The Pink Shrimp (step-by-step to follow)…

…and the rear of the fly. A smooth taper is SO important on Czech Nymphs (more to follow int he step-by-step)…

The -1°C temperatures must have been to the liking of the olives, as quite a flurry hatched around 1pm…

And back to The Fly Shop…the below size #28 Caenis Spinner photo didn’t make the cut – You can see the tails are out of alignment and so not up to scratch…I’ll nail it on the next picture…