Grayling Society winter meetings Bakewell, Derbyshire 2015 to 2016

Grayling Fishers programme

Below is the programme for this winters talks.  As usual we will be meeting at the Rutland Hotel in Bakewell, starting at 7.30pm.  The cost remains the same at £3.00.  Everyone welcome, you don't need to be a member.

October 14  Don Stazicker

         A Colorado Flyfishing Roadtrip

Don is traveling to Colorado in September, and he will be brining us some first class video and stills from his trip - he tells me you can get pretty close to the trout in some of the tailwaters there.  Don is a highly-skilled fisherman and a GAIA-certified fly-fishing instructor, and those of you who have seen his work before will know that he is also a first class photographer.

November 4  Alan Henshaw

  Grayling in the UK  plus Fish Rearing.

Alan is the Team Leader at the Environment Agency National Coarse Fish Rearing Unit at Calverton.  Alan will be telling us about fish rearing, and the history of the unit.  He will also talk about the history of Grayling in the UK.  I have been told by those who heard Alan speak last year that this was one of the best talks they had been to - not be missed.

December 2  Jack Perks

Jack is a professional wildlife photographer, with a keen interest in conservation.  

Jack aims to photograph all the freshwater fish species in the UK - over 50 in total, and has studies the lifestyle and behaviour of each species.   He will don his wet suit and snorkel when appropriate to get up close to the fish.

He has worked for the BBC filming for Springwatch and Countryfile, and on angling series such as Mr Crabtree goes Fishing.

January 13  Mike Green

Angling Escapades

Although Mike is a passionate pike fisherman, he is an all-round angler who loves all types of fishing.  He has traveled to many countries in pursuit of all manner of fish - including carp fishing in Ireland and France, to catching Peacock Bass from the Amazon and Rooster fish in Baja, Mexico.

February 10  Stuart Crofts

Stuart needs no introduction, this time he will be doing some fly tying, and importantly talking about how and when to fish the flies, helpful for those who don't make their own flies.

March 9  Dave Southall

        A Fly For All Seasons

Dave is a regular contributor to angling magazines, and well known for his imitative flies.  Dave will be showing us the invertebrates that one might expect to encounter at any season of the year and the imitations that might be used for both trout & grayling.

Updated womens fishing days. Day in October in Derbyshire

Proposing a day on the wonderful Wye in Bakewell on October 4th 2015
Any female anglers wishing to join us? Contact via the blog. Beginner or any level - if you are interested in trying fly fishing, just curious, or keen to get more fly fishing in - contact and come along and enjoy an activity which will see you spending time in the countryside watching the wildlife and learning a little about the river

Updated the River fly diary page

Finally got round to updating the River fly diary page on the blog. Moved on to Windows 10, which seems to be making life a lot easier for moving things about from phone, tablet and computer. Plus we finally have fibre broadband - less time for making a cup of tea whilst everything downloads.
My favourite fly at the moment is the Hackled coachman. Will see how long it persists in catching fish!
Size 18 barbless hook. Peacock herl, red thread, tag of gold tinsel. Hackle brown with a white hackle in front.

Water water everywhere and not a drop to fish

We saw many beautiful rivers on our trip to Italy this month. Unfortunately I was unable to fish any of them as I had not taken fly fishing gear - it was a walking holiday in the Piedmont area. Just to give you a taste of the area I have a couple of pictures and a video

The river above is the Chiusella. Within easy walking distance of where we were staying. A mile or so upriver of this is a swimming spot named 'Devils mouth' (Bocca diablo - in Italian? Or something like that) where we watched Barbel grazing the rocks in the clear water.

I did note that the most accessible spots of the river were in the no fishing zones!

Just to give you a little more feel for the strength of the water here I attach a video. This was in Fondo, a high village - with very small communities (many abandoned) living even higher up. I know because we did the high route then back along the river.