Do you ever have that feeling that you’re doing something wrong? Well I did last night!

Popped down to the Taff for a little ‘After Work Fishing’ last night and arrived on the water at 6:30pm. Nothing seemed to be hatching, so on it was with a trusty PTN (this seemed to work well on Tuesday night as I landed and returned a total of four browns, all around the ¾lb mark).

Working my way upstream I found no rises of any kind, and at times the Taff seemed to be devoid of any life at all, fishy or otherwise.

I did happen upon a little streamy run where there seemed to be a fish rising (to what though I couldn’t make out). So a leader change and on with an olive comparadun, a cast a couple of feet in front of the rise…and bang.

Now, I’m still unsure whether or not I actually struck too early, or whether the fish just decided at the last moment that it didn’t like the look of my offering.

After this ‘proof of life’ in the river, I was a little more determined, although determination doesn’t always mean you win.

Still, a lovely evening, although I would have preferred a few fish.

A few photos of the evening:

A couple of weeks ago I ordered the two volumes of The Trout Bum Diaries DVDs which I have heard so much about. And God are they good!

Both DVDs follow the piscatorial exploits of a group of anglers known as the Angling Exploration Group (AEG) around Patagonia (Volume 1) and New Zealand (Volume 2) and feature some spectacular and breathtaking scenery (and even better fish!).

One of the DVDs has even got me thinking about my own fishing trip to New Zealand! Although, I think I’ll be sticking to the Taff until I can persuade one or two fishing friends to come with me!

I don’t think there is an easy way I can describe the DVDs apart from amazing!

Go watch the trailers yourself at the AEG website and make your own minds up, although both are WELL worth the purchase!

…but they’re psychic too!

Over the last month, I’ve had a couple of mishaps with some of my Orvis gear, namely, my new rod’s tip section snapped after 2 fishing trips. To make things worse, a couple of weeks later I noticed that my favourite pair of waders had sprung a leak.

After ringing Orvis regarding the first mishap (a new Orvis Western2), I explained what had happened and they couldn’t have been more helpful. “No problem sir, pop the rod in the post, and we will replace the broken section”. No question asked!

Then the strangest thing happened of all!

Nope, you could never guess this one! Read on:

Orvis (yes, THE Orvis, the makers of the gear mentioned above) read the blog entry regarding my waders and decided to get in touch.

After a few emails back and forth I now have a new pair of Orvis Clearwater Endura’s in the post, and all down to one incredibly customer focused individual at Orvis!

James…THANK YOU!!!

How James managed to find my blog entry I don’t know. He MUST be psychic!

What I do know, is that if this is the usual standard of customer service employed by Orvis, I’m going to be a customer for a long long time!

Thank you Orvis!

I kind of have this obsession that has slowly taken over my life; fly fishing on rivers.

I usually find my mind casually wandering into the realms of rippled streams, calm pools and beautiful river banks lazily overhung by green green trees where a wild brown trout or two lie. This can happen whether I’m at work, in a meeting, or just in the pub.

I also have the bad habit of turning a conversation around to fishing; much to my family, friends and colleagues boredom.

With this said, now and again I enjoy a spot of reservoir fishing; the more remote the reservoir the better. And I have a few gems that I like to keep secret. Beautiful waters all of them, and all holding a healthy head of truly wild brown trout. Wild – as they should be.

So, with reservoir fishing in mind, myself and my good friend Sam decided a bit of wild brownie fishing was to be the order of the day on Bank Holiday Monday. And what better a location than the beautiful Upper Neuadd reservoir, overlooked by Pen-Y-Fan Mountain.

Arriving at 8:00am saw us as the only anglers present (which is very common for the Neuadd). Overcast skies and a nice ripple on the water meant the trout were quite happy to rise in front of us and not stop! A ‘hike’ down behind the dam wall and up the other side, saw us piggy backing our way around the reservoir.

A few missed takes from both myself and Sam, and we had both only landed 1 brownie each by 12:00pm. Whatever fly we tried, we just couldn’t seem to match whatever dry or emerger the fish were taking.

With a decrease in cloud cover, rising temperatures, all surface activity stopped. So, a walk back to the car for the beers which were chilling nicely was decided…then a rather funny disaster struck.

Not very often do I utter anything that could be called ‘wise’, however, my past experiences of the Neuadd has taught me keep well away from the “orange/boggy mud”! Much to Sam’s dismay, within 5 seconds he was stuck and up to his thighs in mud!

After trying to keep my laughter from exploding I thought a branch was needed, and after 5 minutes in the mud, Sam was out and soon to be found in the reservoir washing off the mud…I however was sitting next to the car enjoying a lovely chilled can of lager (and laughing!).

The rest of the day continued much the same, with only 1 more fish each caught…so…we decided to call it a day and pop in to a local pub…the next best thing!

Now I’m starting to get slightly annoyed.

First of all my “brand-new-all-singing-all-dancing-only-used-it-twice” Orvis Western2 rod that I had purchased for still water fishing decided to weakling-out on me and snap itself while I was casting. Through no fault of mine I might add.

That I can deal with as, as most you know, the majority of my fishing is on rivers. And if my river rod had broken I would probably, by now, be holed up in some sort of ‘mad-house’ (excuse the terminology).

So, a day off work last Friday saw me on the Taff again. A very hard day due to the very low temperatures, no fly life, bright and sunny skies, and to make things worse, there was a tiny sheen on the water’s surface due to a small oil-spill from an industrial estate further up stream from a week earlier. This meant nothing short of a breeze-block would sink my leader. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a breeze-block on my person, so a gold-head PTN would have to suffice.

It was after a couple of hours into my fishing that I noticed I had either lost control of my ‘facilities’, or, I had a leak in my waders which was resulting in me having a wet inner left leg. Super. A deep exhalation of breath with my eyes looking up to the sky for some sort of sign or explanation followed by (something along the lines of) “OH, FOR F*&K’S SAKE!”

So, after owning a pair of Orvis Enduras for 11 months (but in actual fact only USING them for SEVEN of those months) they have developed a small hole. Seems to be down to where the inner legs rub when walking, as the other leg is developing the same weakness.

Now, I have to send them back to the retailer where they were originally purchased from, and from there they will be sent back to Orvis for testing. I’m told “this could take around a month”.

On hearing those words, I didn’t think it was possible for my heart to sink anymore than it had already. But bugger it! I’ll wade in a pair of shorts if I have to!

I’m hoping this isn’t going to be a regular occurrence with Orivs gear, as I really love their products…plus, I have an Orvis Battenkill LA, if that broke…well, you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry…

The waders will be going in the post tomorrow, and for the next couple of weeks I will be undertaking a mixture of fly tying and praying…