Dan-y-bont trout farm

And this is our fish farm located at the top of the Rhondda valley and this place is run by our fishing club and supplies the Llyn far with stock rainbow trout . Sorry about the picture quality this place is open seven days a week and is open to the publice so if any one wants to go have a nose and feed the fish your more than welcome it opens at 9am and shuts at 12pm we also have a website www.uraa.moonfruit.co.uk check it out there is information and prices for season tickets and day tickets and how you go about purchasing the tickets

Eggs have hatch

Went up our fish farm the smorning to see the eggs and how they were doing but when I got there I couldn't believe the success of our hatch this year as in the previous years we haven't had the high sucess rate but this year as been really GOODwe only had  one problem the smorning there was any running water going to the hatching trays so with a little tinkering about we raised the head of water back to the the pig (our name for the water inlet) and it worked a treat and even improved the flow of water to the other four stock pools which was great . I'm gona have to try and get to the farm a little more often I think and lend a hand and get things done but look at these beautys below just hope now that we have nice clean water over the next couple of months so we don't loose as much as we did last year. Next years stock are coming on nicely to and with this mild weather we have been having lately the are still feeding very well and coming along nicely.

Looking forward to the coming weekend me dai and alan are fishing in the garnfrwdd christmas pairs competition (www.garnffrwdflyfishing.co.uk) just hope that the weather holds out and it doesn't get to cold and I hope to better in this one than I did in the last one I quit early in the last one an hour early as I was soked through to my pants and I was on a peg in the wind was blowing straight into my face and thats when I cracked and went in to the cafe for a drink and a warm.
I'm just wondering wot is going to be the fly of choice I've knocked up some mini viva lures and some mini grizzly cats and I've also knocked a few black and olive straggle fritz lures up, just hope they are on the take on Saturday as the the last time I was at garnfrwdd they were not playing ball at all and we're taking the yellow egg flies (well they weren't playing ball for me anyway dai had a belter of a day) , I'm also gona make some big black buzzers up jamie miller the owner of garnfrwdd trout fishery had told me that the trout were taking these as well fished deep on a bung set up so I'll get some pictures on here as soon as I can and then I'll let you know how me and the lads get on.
And for all you anglers that want to try a different venue I'm telling you this is the place to go and I guarantee that you will have a good trip and you will be planning the next trip before you get in the car to come home or even planning a weekend end away as the offer stay and fish to camper vans and tourers and also have two log cabins and a beautiful old stone cottage available to hire so give it a blast and visit their website for more information.

http://www.garnffrwdflyfishing.co.uk

http://www.garnffrwdflyfishing.co.uk

Sempri fly tying silk

I've heard a few people talk about semperfli  nano silk and how strong and fine it is so I thought I would give it a try. I order it it from www.essentialfly.com this is the first time that I have order from them and that have very fast delivery.
So I got it back two days later and I had to put it straight to the test as soon as I got home from work so I put a size 6 heavy gauge hook in which I use from eggs,so I put the hook in to my vice then put a few turns on to the hook held my vice and pulled and I could not belive it but it was bending the hook and just when I thought that it had snapped when I looked closer the silk had just undone itself UNBELIEVABLE .
For those who are new to fly tying and are struggling with tying silks and having them snap on you half way through a fly I would highly recommend that you give this stuff a try .
You can get this silk at semperfli.com or at essentialfly.com

Tungsten river nymphs

Here are a few more river nymphs that i have knocked up ready for a trip to the river hopefully after xmas im am slowly but surely filling up my box i am only tying two of every pattern just in cas the dont work i can then cut them up and recycle please leave your tips or ideas i could do to improve the flies that i have tyed

pheasant tail jig

hook:-  hanak H400 BL #14

tail:-  a few fibre of pheasant (natural)

body:-  pheasant tail fibre (natural)

rib:-  utc gold wire

thorax:-  natural hares ear

bead:-  hanak disco bead

thread:-  red utc 70 denier

pearl pheasant tail

hook:-  hanak H230 BL #14

tail:-  pheasant tail fibre

body:-  pheasant tail fibre

rib:-  fine utc gold wire

thorax:-  hareline peacock dub

bead:-  white pearl tungsten

thread:- olive utc 70 denier

Codgers bay

This photo was sent to me but one of the members Martin me has been a good freind to me and Dai over the years he looked after us when we were you and played hell with us when we grew up I think Martin has been a member of the u.r.a.a for over twenty possible thirty years. Martin always has a camera in his pocket and is always snapping away in this photo from left to right is les the bull (the balliff of our water),Dai black and gold, John Pearce and bob stansfeild. Bob resently landed a brown that was thought to have been 6-6.5lb it was fin perfect and was stocked a number of years ago. So our lake provides a challenge for the accomplished angler and for the novice so check it out if you are interest in fishing at our lake you can send me an email and I will point you In the write direction my contact email is patematthew@yahoo.co.uk

Llyn fawr

This is the llyn fawr my local resevoir it is club run by the upper Rhondda angling association (u.r.a.a). I have been a member of this club since I was 12 or 13 I've fished this lake with Dai jones for a long time and have had some good and some bad seasons. The club has been struggling a little over the last few years but took a step backwards two yearsago when some idiot poisoned our stock of fish for the forth coming seasons. And although the club struggled members and the local community mad donations to our fish farm to replenish the stock with fry and stocks me fish.
Some of those fish where carried through into this season and where lumps. Biggest fish that was landed this year was 6.5lb which is big considering that the normal average is 2-3lb. The u.r.a.a offer a great membership fee a season costing just £110 for a season which runs from march 3rd until November 15th and they also offer a day ticket which is £10 four fish ticket which is great value for money.

The second photo is at our fish farm (dan-y-bont trout farm) this is wot our farm manager opened up to and was devasted as this is a full time unpaid hobby so you can only imagine how he must of felt the fish where taken to be burnt later that day.

River nymphs

After Xmas I'm hoping to get on the river and do a spot of nymphing and I have been knocking a few flies up. I've done a bit of investigating on the net and this one is fresh off the vice tonight please feel free to leave your comments and let me know wot you think as I have never fished the river before.
I have been itching to get out and try river fishing for a long while now and the irony of it is I only live twenty minutes from the river Taff which has been spitting out some cracking fish over the last year or two and I should be taking full advantage of my local river so again feel free to give me some advice and tips to help me along my way

hook:- hanak #14 h450bl

tail:- a couple of teal fibres it should be coq de loen

but i forgot to pick some up on the week end OOPS

Body:- dyed dark olive goose biot

thorax:- hareline peacock dub

bead:- hanak slotted disco bead

Over the last few week i have been working at dragon tackle international at west winds industrial estate pencoed (www.dragontackle.com) . It has been very interesting getting to know the fly fishing and fly tying indusrty from a different angle.Dragon tackle offer quality tyed flies for most species, you can get dragon flies from a number of good retail fishing shops across the british isles and ireland.
During the new year i am hoping to get a permanet contract at dragon and i think i have put myself in a strong position so far fingers crossed.
im hoping to upload some pictures of my time at www.dragontackle.com soon

All nice and tidy

Just tidy up my fly tying bench but how long will it stay this way

Fin perfect brown

Dai with a cracking fin perfect brown caught of the top on a #18 caenis this was caught at garnfrwdd on be dam In the summer of this year. Dai does well on the drys, I on the other hand have only just gained some patients to fish on the top but hope to do a lot more in the summer.

Big brownie

This was one of a few big brownies that I caught at garnfrwdd trout fishery a few months ago. I caught this fish on a golden olive damsel i also Caught a couple of double figure rainbows that weekend, it was probally one of the best weekends fishing I have ever had. Jamie the owner of garnfrwdd has a good stock of fish at the which include a monster brown called DONK which was landed a few weeks ago and is in Awsome conditionand weighed in at 18.4 lb which suggest that there is a mass of natural food in the lake fo support such a big fish proving that the lake is vey healthly.

King off the egg flies

This is andy griffin he is king of the rhubarb and custard egg fly
He caught 23 last Sunday. I think ill have to ask him to tie some up for me I don't know wot he does different but his do really hit the mark ill have to take a photo of the famous egg and get it on here

Tiger trout

This is a tiger trout 1 of 2 caught by alan martin on sunday 9th of december at garnfrwdd trout fishery.This was alan first tiger trout he has been trying to catch one for ages and was over the moon .

Dai jones

this is dai jones another fishing companion we have fished together since we were kids and had some good laughs and some memorable trips. Me him and alan are going to be heavly featured in this blog as we always go fishing together and hope to try some different things and places next year with a bit of luck i have also been trying to get them to try a bit of river fly fishing, but they aint having none of it

alan martin

this alan martin he is new to fly fishing and has taken to it like a duck to water and is showing me and the boys up lately this is at garnfrwdd trout fishery. oh and alan loves christien breakfast to

fishing the bung on sunday 9th december 2012

Fly fishing

 

This is canada lakes this is a nice place to fish but i must admit the water was very dirty on this day but i managed to catch a few on big black buzzers and a few on the top with an #18 adams

i have fished this place a few times in the past and its not a bad venue and its only about 20 miutes drive from the house

Fish pictures

 

this is one of many tiger trout that are in garnfrwdd the are a beautiful fish and like a good scrap. i caught this fish on an olive spanflex buzzer with orange spanflex cheeks

 

this is the place that i do most of my fishing and love to visit garnfrwdd as much as possible it is one of the best places in south wales and offers some good sport all year around . they also have a cafe on site and also offer a place to stay check out their facebook page for some information .

i will up load some pictuers of of fish that me and a few mates have caught over the past year some.

We have fished in other places but nothing compares to garnfrwdd

Fly tying

This is one of my other diawl Bach pattern

 

this is my hares ears diawl bach

hook:- hanak barbless

tail and beard:- ginger cock fibres

body:- hares ears

rib:- fine utc gold wire

cheeks:- split jungle cock

 

Jungle cock eyed buzzer

 

the picture is not very good quality but it will have to do.

hook:- hyabusa heavy grub #12

body:- just built up thread i used utc black

cheeks:- small junglecock feathers i attached these with a smal

dab of super and then i varnished over the top

 

Fresh off th vice this week

These are my first pictures of my flies fresh of the vice this week

 

this is my split cheeked jungle cock diawl bach

 

hook:- hyabusa heavy weight #12

tail and beard:- black hen hackle fibres

body:- a quill from a natural peacock eye

cheeks:- i split a small junglecock feathers and divide them on each side

 

wot i do with the body is catch in the quill then i put a coat of super glue

on the body and then wrap the quill this gives the body some strength without

a rib

my first blog

this blogging stuff is all new to me ive been checking a few out over the last few months and have decided to give it a go. im not quite sure wot route i am going to go yet but there are a couple of options an everday blog of just pictures from my day to day life or just a blog of my fishing trips through the year.
does anyone want to give me some advice