Speaker Evening – Chris Skillen 2018
Chris Skillen returned as a Guest Speaker following on from his previous presentation in November 2017.
The theme for the evening was fly tying techniques and their demonstration on specific fly patterns – particularly detached body daddy, crippled midge (loop hackle and parachute) and deer hair sedge.
Chris showed a range of deer hair skins to illustrate the variety of deer hair that exists and some of the particular fly tying properties associated with them. He then demonstrated a technique for tying the detached body for the daddy using deer hair [...]
A Grand Day Out on Draycote Water
Keith Allison and Stuart Foulds, after hearing about John Goldie’s and John Poote’s spectacular session at Draycote Water the previous week, decided to try their luck on Wednesday, 8th August.
The previous day’s fishing log showed the fishing to be very difficult with numerous single fish or nil returns. So with some trepidation, they set off to Rainbow corner. The weather forecast for the day looked good – overcast sky and moderate south westerly wind. Initially the boat was anchored in Rainbow Corner followed by drifting to A buoy. With [...]
Spectacular Day on Draycote Reservoir
John Goldie and John Poote fished Draycote reservoir on Thursday, 2nd August, 2018.
The weather started comfortably warm in the morning, became hotter in the late afternoon but with some cloud cover and sunny spells. There was a nice breeze most of the time coupled with a good ripple.
The fishing started with a drift from A buoy to B buoy with John Poote fishing dries and soon catching on a fiery brown shipmans buzzer. John Goldie fished a floating line with diawl bachs and buzzers.
During a period which John Poote [...]
Secretary’s Plate Competition – 21st July 2018
The Secretary’s Plate (Largest Fish) 2018 competition was held at Draycote Reservoir on 21st July in some of the hottest conditions ever experienced for this competition.
Six brave souls set out in 3 boats intent on capturing the single biggest trout in order to win the Secretary’s Plate. Armed with Di 5, 6 and 7 sinking lines seemed to be the only way according to recent catch information. Everyone took advice from the Draycote staff and headed out across the water to try their luck and test the advice that they [...]
A Foggy Day Out at Grafham 29th May 2018
Stuart Foulds and Keith Allison had an interesting day fishing from the boat at Grafham. Having kept a close eye on the weather with thunder storms being a daily occurrence over the last few days, the weather was forecast as a misty start to the day and 11 -12 mph north easterly wind. How wrong was this! Boats were not allowed out first thing due to fog and it was very breezy! We retired to the restaurant for refreshments and eventually headed out at 9:30 am.
We decided to get [...]
Ray Bull Trophy Competition Farmoor II 19th May 2018
The annual competition for the Ray Bull Trophy (heaviest bag) was held at Farmoor 2 on 19th May 2018. The day also included a BBQ prepared by our celebrity chef, John Goldie supported by John Pearce whose wife prepared the traditional CFTFFC tiramisu.
A total of fourteen fishermen entered the competition with 10 fishing from the 5 boats and 4 fishing from the bank. The weather was warm and sunny with a very slight breeze from the south west creating an almost flat calm. Boats headed out in various directions [...]
Speaker Evening – Lindsay Simpson
Lindsay Simpson, who is described as a fanatical fly fisherman, was the Guest Speaker on 29 March 2018. The main theme for Lindsay’s fly tying demonstration was grayling flies, particularly patterns and flies that are appropriate for harder to fish grayling streams – Wherwell? He started with a fly called the Mull Killer – a jig pattern tied on size 14 Hanak BL450, with a 3.5mm tungsten bead, Andrews Scruffy Highland Peat Dubbing, silver wire rib and Globrite #4 collar. Lindsay introduced “Andrews Scruffy Dubbing” – a blend of [...]
Speaker Evening – Jeff “Razors” Wilkinson
Jeff “Razors” Wilkinson runs Razor Sharp Flies. He ties quality flies commercially to order and also supplies a limited range of fly tying materials prepared by himself.
He is perhaps one of the most innovative and creative fly tyers that we have had as a Guest Speaker at the CFT&FFC. He is also a successful angler on the competition scene and is a regular fisherman at Grafham and Farmoor 2. His flies are often used by competition anglers and have proven to be highly successful, often when other, normally successful, [...]
Keith at Grafham in December
KEITH ALLISON AT GRAFHAM – 5TH DECEMBER 2017
Another early start was necessary to maximise the daylight hours . The weather looked promising – a westerly wind of approximately 10 mph and some cloud cover with a temperature of 7C; not bad for this time of the year.
I headed off to my favourite spot, parking at Marlows and fishing the bank facing G Buoy. I started with a floating line with a shrimp on the point, red cheeked diawl bach on the top dropper and grhe on the bottom dropper. [...]