Tregate Angling Club Open Day 2024

Fresh in through the door after a fantastic day of teaching at the wonderful Tregate Angling Club's 2024 members' open day and BBQ. Based on the River Monnow on the Wales/England border, this is a truly fantastic group of passionate anglers who eagerly work to promote wild fish, habitat protection…

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Tying the Klinkhamer Special

The Klinkhamer Special needs no introduction. Developed by Hans van Klinken in the 1960s, the pattern has become known as one of the most widely used flies worldwide. I love this pattern when fishing my home waters in South Wales, UK, and more so on the small, fast-running streams for…

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Tying the CdC Chironomid/Midge Emerger

This is a pattern that (if you've ever fished with me) you'll know is on my leader pretty much every outing, and sometimes regardless of what's hatching. This is one of those perfect everything-and-nothing flies and one that imitates not just midge but also small olives/mayflies/Ephemeroptera. Materials Hook: Fulling Mill…

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The Precedent to Trout

It was sunny during Bryn’s lunchtime walk to the park. Despite the slight chill, snowdrops, crocuses, and daffodils proudly sunned themselves while hazel and birch joyfully flaunted healthy blankets of catkins. The blackbird’s song and deafening sparrow fight reflected this late winter/almost spring afternoon rather perfectly. Bryn sniffed at the…

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Screw the Numbers

A cold start followed by warmth, but several stalling hatches of Brook Duns, Large Dark Olives, Chironomids and Alderflies (likely due to the cold north-easterly gusts) failed to elicit any significant surface activity throughout the day. Luckily, we did find one consistently surface-feeding trout, creating the type of rise which…

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