I had my third visit to stocks this week (Tuesday) and it turned out to be a frustrating day on a boat with only 1 fish caught.

I should say that I really like Stocks for a number of reasons. It has lovely surroundings, friendly staff and not to mention the good food.

I took another newbie with me so so it was a case of the blind leading the totally blind. I tried a lot of different flies and approaches floating line, intermediate line etc. But all to no avail. My frustration was further compounded when another boat told us that they had caught in the high teens.

There was two things which I struggled with in particular. Ben, the owner, advised that the fish would be close in to the East bank but I couldn't get the boat to drift or stay in that particular zone. No matter how we positioned the boat we soon drifted back out into open water. We were told that we wouldn't need an anchor which was just as well because we didn't have one in the boat.

I also struggled with the wind and the floating line. I put out a straight cast and was in direct contact with the fly but within seconds the wind had put a big bow in the line. I was concerned that the bow would prevent me from seeing a take.

Before the day at Stocks I thought I was making relativey good progress as a newcomer to fly fishing. My conclusion was that I still have a lot to learn. When I began coarse fishing years ago I struggled until I went out with an experienced angler (my neighbour). I learnt more in two outings with an experienced angler than I learnt in a year of self teaching through books and Internet.

After reading the recent threads in here there seems to be only one angler who can possibly help. I need a day out with BILL!

Seriously I would welcome any views on the above mentioned concerns.

Cheers

Chris

pm me chris and i will have a day on stocks with you and give you some basics on setting up a drift ect cheers john

Are you using a drouge Chris ? this will give you more time over a select area in windy conditions, you can also set a drouge to allow for better drifting along banks.Stocks can hold fish very tight in and many times you can only get a couple of casts in the zone before motoring back , so a lot of engine work required, but if your wanting to increase your bag then it can be worth it.

Take John up on his offer Chris, it'l save you lots of fustration

__________________
www.te-ff.org/
Trout Fisherman Magazine.
Hardy/Greys. Fulling Mill.

John

I would like to take you up on your kind offer.

I will send a pm to set something up.

Cheers

Chris

Chris, been there and done that. There are definetly things to do and not do BUT fishing being fishing there are days like that, and what i have found is they make me want to keep going even more and working out how to do things diferently and better. Let us know how your trip with john goes
Wish a few more people would be up for giving a hand this end cheers jon