Went fishing again today. I've been about 4 times now since my lesson.

Most of them have only been for 2 or 3 hours.

Not caught anything yet apart from 2 baby grayling.

I had a really nice one on the line for about 5 seconds the other day but it got off.

Does anyone fish the river aire west of skipton that can give me any tips as I'm trying really hard but not managing to get it yet. I'm probably a bit clumsy at the moment and i'm spooking the fish.

Tonight I tried a dry fly with a nymph, dry fly with blood worm, tried swining a north country spider.

Also I noticed lots of flys around tonight, how do guys catch them to see what they are?

I will try again tomorrow but I dont want to be getting in that negative frame of mind thinking I wont catch anything everytime I go as if I do that then its unlikely I will.

Where I fush isnt stocked but there's loads of fish around, perhaps I need to go to a heavly stocked water to build some confidence

Hi Chris

Its incredibly hard to catch fish when your new to the game its hard to catch fish when your not. You must be doing something right as you caught one and missed landing another.
Matching the hatch requires you finding dead or floating insects on the water or in the edge.Once you have a fly note the colour size and profile. Try to find something similar if you can this will improve your chances of tempting a trout or grayling.

BK

Don't worry. Maybe you're trying too hard. It's not always easy to match the hatch and sometimes better that you don't as that little extra trigger point-a red head, rib, tail or such could make the fish take notice more or put them off-that's the nature of trout fishing I'm afraid. Don't worry it will all come good with practise and maybe taking a mate along who can helkp you and may know where you're going wrong. Good Luck. Hopefully there's a forumite or two familiar with your river that can give some useful advice?!!

__________________
The scenery in the Grand Coulee area of eastern Washington was worth the air fare on its own!

BK thanks for that.

Must admit, me stood on the banking trying to catch flys must look quite funny so pleased I dont have to do that anymore

The 2 I did catch were tiny, just a bit bigger then minnows so I dont take much pride in that. The one that got away I would of loved to land (it wasnt massive just a decent fish)

Since posting my last message my friend (who i've been bait fishing with all my life) has organised a day fly fishing with a guide, and for bit extra I can go too.

So obviously I have jumped at the chance, I do think this will be very useful as he will be able to help with things i've gotten wrong since my first lesson and also I have lots of silly questions to ask that I hadnt even thought of when on my 1st lesson.

Its going to be october - november though so it'll also be interesting to find out how to fly fish going in to the winter.

Until then though I will keep going and when I finally get a half decent fish I will post it on here to show the whole world

Flytier,

Thanks. Sorry I didnt mean to sound too down on myself, just dying to catch one. I do love the new areas of fishing I am in though. Keep seeing lovely kingfishers, millions of swallows, and when I turned round tonight I SH*T my pants as 2 HUGE herrons swooped just above my head! They dont scare me but when I turned round and saw two huge birds so close I must admit a couple of choice words came out

All in all though I am enjoying my new found love for fishing.....feel like a child again!

I would recommend a trip to Kilnsey trout farm which cannot be far away from you, this is well stocked and will give you confidence in hooking and playing fish that have taken your fly.
David

Two wee fish in your first four sessions is very respectable indeed. It took me MUCH longer than that to catch on a fly. Going on the guided day will be great. On my first adventure into river fishing my pal and I shared the cost of a guide and it was worth every penny. We had no idea how to approach river fishing and both came away having caught loads of little brownies and salmon parr. Your day will come!

I can echo that!! when i started, it took 2 days a week for 2 months before i got my first. a manky little rainbow, but it was worth the whole world to me!

if im fishing my river i always pick up a few rocks and see what critters are crawling underneath... this is usually a good start....
dry flies only ever work for me when fish are feeding heavy on the top.. we had a swarm of flying ant other week for example.. and they were going mental, rolling jumping...
just keep at it.. and be watchfull and always listen. cast at rising fish and if there not rising try nymphing for something different...
weather plays a big part also... if its really sunny dont bother with dries (my opinion) nd if its overcast then try...

Have to say took me more than 4 trips to get a fish....Thats a good result

Thanks, I'll keep at it.