Geoff Handley reports another fish from Bigswier yesterday.  A sea liced approx ten pounder.
No other reports so far!!

Yes there is. Another one at 7.40am this morning to Geoff Handley AGAIN
Bigswier10/12lbs. A couple of others seen.

                                               

                                                           FLIES

Now that we are almost fishing again might be a good idea to see what peoples favourite fly is.
Been tying myself for over 55 years and tied some weird things during that time, mostly for other people.   I came to the conclusion long ago that fly choice plays  perhaps smaller part than you might think in catching a fish.   If certain things are in your favour, such as fresh fish in a taking mood, good river conditions, easy casting access, then most components of success are in place.

Flies range from the old Classic |Jock Scots, Durham Rangers etc through to the sparse Stoats Tail on a size 14 hook through now to the  Sunrays, Francis and latterly the overdressed Frodin type flies which are an exercise in how much you can cram on a hook in how many colour combinations possible.
Right size, fished in the right way, right depth, and without being seen of course then its not rocket science.
Many people have boxes full of flies, many never get an airing and when they do its usually because all else has failed.  The fly you use needs to have your confidence that it will work and that's the important thing in my opinion.    If I knew to a fish that might take on the Wye then I would show it the fly below.  My own Wye Thunder   A bascially simple fly to tie it works for me any many of my friends not only here but in Scotland and elsewhere too.

The top fly in the pic is  the one I usually use but it can be tied as in the one below with the yellow bucktail tied in at the tail.  Fished in the conventional down and across method I would back it against most.
If you fish a pool you suspect is holding fish I would always fish it down again after giving it a rest.  I think I have mentioned before that having been able to watch fish take a fly at fairly close quarters when someone else is fishing.  Quite often seen a fish rising to the fly, opens his mouth and turns away left or right to return to its lie.  However there is no connection. The angler was never aware that a fish had what appeared to me just missed the fly.  A few minutes wait, the fly was presented again and this time it was hooked.
How often I wonder has someone fished down a pool without result, changed his fly, fished it down again and caught a fish thinking to himself 'that's the one it wanted'.  Probably not.  Having seen some of the 'fly's that have caught fish for others  I'm not sure that sooner or later any fly, no matter how weird, badly tied, scruffy, garish would not catch a salmon.

Much of my fishing over the years has been done in fast water where slowing the fly down enough to give the fish enough time to rise and take it.  Having seen how leisurely the fish rises to intercept a fly even in fast water if its fished slow enough I sometimes wonder that those who strip a lot to speed up thier fly don't miss a lot of fish.  Imagine the fish is just about to take a fly during the small pause between strips and then gets it whipped away from him at the crucial moment. A more steadyyet faster retrieve without pauses wouldbe fine.
Fishing for sea liced tide fresh fish may well be a different matter when they are still full of aggression and prepared to chase a fly fished fast. It only has a very limited time to consider its attack which makes it somewhat ridiculous to think that a multitude of colours  and a bit of this and that material in the fly can make any real difference  That been my experience over the years anyway.

Some people as about the effectiveness of Jungle Cock eyes.  Difficult to say as there are plenty offlies that do well without it.  Don't think I would have the same faith in the Wye Thunder without them though, despite the huge price hike in these feathers theses days -up to £100 per cape.  However like I said watching a fly being fished it is the Jungle cock that you can pick out first -perhaps the fish do the same.  We might never know.
Have faith in the fly you are using,especially if its worked for you before, fish it in the right size and right way and if all else is in your favour you should be ok.  Problem these days is finding a fish to show it too.

Might be interesting to let others know what your favourite fly is and why. Let me know.