November

Well its been a good month so far and i cant complain. Start of the month was god as fish the welsh still water trial to represent my country in the international stillwater competition.
They day started with a bang for me as the first peg i drew saw me land 4 fish in just as many cast so i was off to a good start 3 fell to a white humungus and the forth came to a bloodworm pattern that was given to me my fishing pal Dai Jones oneme fish and i would have caught my limit on the first peg.
Than the day gradually got worse and worse and the fishing dried up a little with very little fish being caught i couldnt wait for the half time interval.
The afternoon session sarted as i ended the first and blanked on the first two pegs. The next peg i was on was one of my boogie pegs and i really dont like to fish alot but i could see a few  fish feeding in the margins so i tied on one of my spider patterns that  have been catching me alot of fish lately and low on behold fir cast as the fly was dropping through the water a cracking brownie came and took it so my long wait had been worth it.
after i landed the fish and it was measured i could see that there were a few rainbows hanging around so i targeted a few but there was no interest so i chucked the line out to reel in as as the fly hit the water BANG some dull rainbow took it.
Landed the fish measured it and the klaxon sounded to move pegs so on to the last peg and i was getting a little nervous at this time. The Marshall that was controlling that peg was a chap called Malcolm  Edwards
great guy and a few words of wisdom and i was off BUT no fish on the peg.NERVOUS
So we all handed or score cards in and waited for the results. Hywel Morgan read out the results and I could not believe it when he called out my name first as i didnt expect to get in to the team let alone Win the trial so as you can imagine i was over the moon
Here is a photo of the New 2014 WELSH INTERNATIONAL BANK TEAM and a photo of the fly that saved the day.

Garnffrwd sheild final 2013

Well last sunday saw the end of the Garnffrwd sheild come to and end and it was very close at the top.There were just a few points in it. Running up to the comp i have to say that the fishing hs been very tough and challenging to even the accomplished angler i put this down t the weather we have had over the last few months.
After our stay at Garnffrwdd the weekend before last which i have to say was an absolute briliant weekend and we cant wait to do it again soon we thought that we were in for a tough days fishing but as the week progressed the fishery was getting better by the day.
So sunday in the car me and dai jones were very pumped up and talked tactics and flies all the way to the fishery. So first things first was a bacon bap form the cafe which as always was awsome picked our pes then set up our tackle.
Im not going to give you a low down on every peg as this would bore you but what i can tell you is the pegs i had in the morning fished really well i landed a few and dropped a few aswell which was a good start for me as i was in second place overall on 18 points and had to do my everything i could to clinche that 1st place.
I fished my sock of all day and was rewarded as by the end of the day i had 6 rainbows and 2 brownies under my belt but due to chris who was joint 1st with dai on 24 points catching to late fish he managed to keep me from clinching that 1st place. Unfortunately dai only manged 3 rainbows and  it was enough to keep me from taking second place.
The most productive fly for me on the day was a black spider with small pearl bead for a little weight i landed 2 rainbow and 2 browns on that fly and leading up to the comp this fly is what i have caught all my fish on bar one the other 3 where caught on a damsel pattern i will post picture of these flies.

the final results for the day where s follows

1st on the day and second overall Matthew Pate (me)
2nd on the day and first overall Chris Jones
no placing and third overall Dai Jones

Here are a few photos the the fishery owner James Miller took who i have also got to thank for giving us such a welcome i would recommend this place to anyone.
here are a few pictures taken by jamie from sundays comp