Tigermoth showed me the delights of the Monnow earlier in the season and i reciprocated today with a day on the Lugg at Lyepole. River was quite full after the recent rains with some colour. Nice warm morning, some cloud....what more could we ask for??

It fished like a dream. This is great nymphing water, I've never caught one on a dry and in 8 visits i think I've only seen a couple of rises. We couldn't go wrong with a heavy cased caddis on the point and something else on a single dropper, I used a JT PTN, not sure what Dave used. Anyway, without going into too much detail we started at about 10.30, had a half hour break for the obligatory steak sandwich and called it a day, knackered, at 5. So about 6 hours fishing which brought 45 fish between us. It was Dave's first trip to the water and i think he had 2 in his first 3 casts! Some piccies below, we had some very good grayling but they wouldn't co-operate for the camera!

Regards

Peter



A good trout



Dave with a new personal best!



A better fish

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Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans
John Lennon

http://walksandfishes.blogspot.com/

What can I say Peter...? About the only thing that has made Cranefly's red letter day on the Escley remotely bearable, is the knowledge that we shared a truly superb days fishing somewhere else!

For me, a first trip to this part of the Lugg was a real eyeopener. The approach lane into the valley at Lyepole coils across the slopes of secluded woodlands, with the river lying hidden underneath the meadows edge. If you like your fishing in timeless surroundings, then Lyepole is for you.

The fishing aint bad either. Peter had made some fairly confident statements about the quality of the fishing on offer and if anything, he had underplayed it in... in my eyes at least. Loads of character, deep pools, fast riffles and pockets, lazy glides, something for eveyone... including some of the hardest fighting grayling I have come across. The river is deep and fast in places and once these girls got themselves moving, they were dynamite. My best fish went 15"+ (Grayling) and a gorgeous trout of just over 13". As Peter has said already, this is a beat ideally suited to nymphing tactics. I fished mostly two nymphs below a braid with the fish coming readiliy to both dropper and point fly. Successful patterns were a rather nice cased caddis (thanks Peter) and one of Sage's firetail hare's ear numbers.

I'll try and find a couple of pics to post but the majority of mine were pretty feisty and camera shy I'll close by saying a huge thanks to Peter for the invite, the great guidance on the beat, and the company. All in all a really special day out

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"A homeward tramp thro' mist wrapped night,
With heart and creel in common light,
Complete content, the day has brought it,
They fished for pleasure - and they caught it"

P F Morgan
taken from the catch record book at Llanthony Hotel, Honddu Valley, Aug 1942

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