Barnsfold Session April 2015

Kindly sent to me from Club Chairman - Steven Moffat

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Despite the weather forecast four hardened soles decided to brave the elements and fly the flag of the North West Nomads at Barnsfold fishery today .
These four soles who after today’s weather should all have Schools named after them were Jim McGinley, John Burrow ,Mark Clayton and Steve Moffat .
We all arrived for a 8.00am start and as he wind was blowing towards the main building we headed off along the walkway with Mark taking position half way up and myself, Jim and John starting with the wind on our backs.
Within a couple of casts both Jim and John were into fish , John on a buzzer and Jim on a Green Snake.
Although we were all battered by heavy rain and Artic conditions we all persevered and after 5 fish and a couple of snapped lines a break was called for back at the cabin .
A massive thanks to Jim McGinley or should I say Bear Grills managing to get the fire started out of some bark,tops of waste bags and some Yak Hair !! Soon the log burner was working its magic warming us up and drying us off with steam everywhere ( see the pics ) it soon looked like a Chinese laundry. As the rain was really heavy at this stage we elected to have an early lunch waiting for the Rain to stop. Dried out fed and watered we ventured out again assuming positions at the back of the lake.
No sooner had we got a few casts in the wind really took hold gusting to over 50 MPH , at this stage It was too much for me and becoming dangerous so Myself and Jim decided to call it a day, however, both Mark and John managed to find a more sheltered spot and tucked in at the bottom end of the lake with a truly concerted effort to catch more fish.( proper men )
I have to say, even in these conditions, we all had a great laugh and were unanimous in the opinion that we’d rather be out there having a go than stuck in the house wondering what if."

A few photos to accompany the blog....

Tightlines Folks!

See you at our next session!

All details can be found on our website calender 

www.northwestnomadsflyfishing.co.uk
 

Arnfield Reservoir

Morning fellow Nomads!

Now i have some time to myself, im going to release a couple of blogs, although this actual session took place last month. I can only apologise for this but unfortuneatly its a case of better late than never!

Big thanks to the members that have contributed to the NW Nomad blog so far!
This specific one was sent in by our Club Secretary - Steve Elliott - so a big thanks is in order!

"BIG THANKS!"

The travelling Nomads were welcomed to Arnfield fishery to the first proper spring day, offering hope and a feel-good factor to what all hoped would be a cracking return to the fishery.

 

 

Into fish almost immediately was our new member Graham Barton with Nick Woodward, the only two to tackle fishing from the café-bank into a slight head-wind, both chaps found the fish to be close to the bank. Using a variety of different flies both had a good return of 11 fish between them.

Out in the boats our secretary, Steve Elliott, partnered another of our new members, Mark Clayton, and started out drifting from the damn but found it tough going with neither finding fish until dropping the anchor close to the tree-lined North-West bank. It was here that our secretary bagged a brace and lost a third thanks to his top-dropper snagging the anchor rope.

After another drift over deeper water, and no further sign of fish, the pair anchored-up close to first clump of trees by the jetty and  perseverance paid-off with 7 fish coming to the net. Steve ended the day with 5, Mark with 2.

In the in-let bay, Jim McGinley, The Moff and Mini Moff also found the going difficult. However, Mr Chairman found a few fish close to the shore and ended the day with 6. Sadly Mini Moff and Jimbo both blanked.

After a couple a dead-drifts Gilly and John Burrow dropped-anchor at the far N-W corner of the reservoir. This proving fruitful for Gilly and three fish were caught in quick succession. Following a venture over deeper water the pair returned to the shallow where Gilly netted a further 6 to end the day as top rod with 9. Try as he might JB ended a trying day water-bitten. Unlucky JB!

I’m sure that John, Jimbo and Katie will end this run of bad-luck very, very soon.

 

Thanks to Mini Moff for the cakes – Mary Berry better watch out!!!!

Grayling Hunt on the Hodder

We arrived at the secret parking place for our trip down the River Hodder. It was an organised guiding trip with fellow Nomad Pete Scholes from Bowland Fly Fishing. After discussing various tactics and set ups we were advised by Pete to use the Czech Nymphing method. Not everyone was familiar with this method so discussions about nymphs were quite interesting and so the tone was set for the day. It was a very cold start to the day as predicted by the weather men and unfortunately their predictions continued to come true. Eight Nomads attended and following a quick briefing, took the incredibly long walk from the car park to the river (all of about 20 feet)

We all split up and systematically made our way downstream.

I was surprised at how low the river was due to the amount of rain we had had and that the River Ribble was close to overflowing on the previous day.

Pete was the first into a fish in the top pool and a lovely lady of the stream was returned to the clear water. The later the morning got the colder it became and with only one other fish from the Nomads we were looking forwards to the lunch which was kindly prepared by Pete’s other half. At 11.30 several Nomads past me heading back to the carpark. By this point the snow was coming down quite fast and we were struggling to feel our fingers. On arrival back at the car park lunch was just arriving and what a lunch it was. Hot pizza & sausage rolls, steaming flasks of coffee, stuffed rolls and some of the best flapjack I have tasted. This was all consumed around Bobby’s knob (sorry if I have got the name wrong) No it’s nothing rude, it a small stone monument  / erection (stop it and yes the innuendos were flying thick and fast by this stage) near to the village hall. I do think the locals thought we must have been a bit mad standing there eating lunch in the snow.

After a belly full and a second mug of coffee most of us decided to call it a day (a good job really as the road back over the tops was really bad and several vehicle had already collided with things or each other) Only Gary & Pete were brave / mad (delete as required) to continue fishing in the afternoon. Not sure how they got on as they haven’t been heard from since. Only joking.

A great day was had by all. Pictures are on facebook and all Nomads said they were looking forward to fishing here with Pete again (but in June next time)

Written by Nomad Member Paul Kuczera

Tightlines,

Nathan Jones

Nomad Online Coordinator 2015

www.northwestnomadsflyfishing.co.uk

For all future events please see website calender, which will soon be updated with x12 additional new venues.