Blog — guided flyfishing

It has been a busy week taking anglers onto the Midland's top waters, Rutland & Grafham, and with them both in fantastic form of late, was it going to continue? First trip out was with Scotland's Ramsay Mgowan and Tyler Hay. After a "night before" catch up it was time to show these boys the big "R". We headed South, and parked up along the fence at Gibbets Gorse, where I new fish had been holding for some weeks. It wasn't long until both Tyler and Ramsay hit into fish, fishing buzzers on floating lines. The fish were noticeably close...

It is not too often I get the opportunity to fish 3 days in a row, let alone 3 different venues. It was very interesting indeed to understand how each water can fish so differently in very similar conditions. My first stop was Grafham Water, and a day afloat with John & Eddie(2 boats). The cold northerly wind was still here, but lighter, with what looked like a perfect ripple. We headed straight to the Hedge End area, having seen 9 boats parked in and around the area. It was soon apparent there wasn't too much happening, as only a...

As many of you may already have been aware, I have set up camp at Rutland Water this last week, fishing there 4 days of this last week. First up was Essex based Martyn who had never fished Rutland before. It is no secret that the North Arm of Rutland has been in scintillating form for the whole of April, so this was our starting point for the day. We started at the dead tree in the water at the Transformer. It was just moments later that Graham hit into fish, pulling on a fast glass line. I too got...

"My best day's buzzer fishing ever" claimed Alan Telford. Read on to find out why.... As we meandered  eagerly along the pontoon, I told Alan it was a floating line only day; his response was one of joy. Buzzers, buzzers buzzers! We headed to Hideaway Bay in search of a Rutland biggie. An hour in, and we had managed just the one fish, fishing buzzers on our floating lines. My instincts were telling me the fish were not playing, so we decided to move on to hunt out the seemingly elusive fish that we knew were there.   The next stop...

 So, the big day looms –   Known as the “Midlands’ Mecca”, Rutland Water opens  tomorrow, since “lock down” struck last November. This 3000+ acre reservoir can be daunting to the first time visitor, and even those who fish it maybe several times a month! For me, Rutland offers it all, a sense of wilderness, a challenge, and hit it right, world class fishing. So, where do you start on a lake so big? I will tell you the known areas, drifts, recommended lines, and suggested flies to use for the opening months right here and now…. The water is full...