Want cream on it too?

Had a super day on Malham Tarn yesterday with Stuart Llewellyn. Light winds and bright sunshine early on, and no fish showing gave us something to think about with fly and line choices, so I put up two rods: wets on a fast glass, and nymphs (crunchers, diawls) on a floater. Stu opted for wets on a Di3.. and more wets on an intermediate. I fished the first drift on the floater & nymphs, and was encouraged to see a few good sized buzzers trickling off in various colours... Obviously then, Stu was first with a wet net, taking a nice 2lb + fish on his intermediate set-up...

I went on the wets/fast glass for the next drift. Having noticed a few Hawthorns floundering on the surface, and also having taken a 4lb fish on a Crow Winged Bibio a couple of weeks ago, the CWB got the nod again, taking up position on the tail.. half way thorugh the second drift.. fast figure of 8.. lock-up...

We both chopped and changed between the Di3 and the intermediates thoughout the afternoon, trying to decipher the very long, dour spells - with or without the conditions, Malham fish have a habit of shutting up shop for hours on end, especially if you're expecting them to look upwind and into the sun, which was high and bright by now. I had another drift with the nymphs, as the buzzers continued to trickle - nowt doing. Stu grafted away like a goodun and winkled out a couple more fish in the 2 to 3lb bracket before we decided to beach and prepare our cream tea of scones, jam and cream whilst giving the sun an hour or so to swing to the west a little. Stu enjoyed the change from Bara Brith and Lava bread.. didn't touch the sides. Back on the water, and sure enough, with the sun out of their eyes, Stu latched on to another beauty..

Nothing much else for a couple of hours other than a missed offer or two, until the wind dropped off completely and a few fish started to rise.. probably to the buzzers that had trickled off right through the day, and continued to do so. I opted for three snatchers on the floater.. dry.. damp.. fig 8.. nothing. I removed the tail snatcher and popped a size 12 hog in its place.. idea being to 'washing line' the two snatchers in the middle and tail positions. A couple of casts with that, and a fish came for a real close look - and no doubt a laugh - at the hog. The last laugh was mine though, when I began to fig 8 as she turned away from the hog and just couldn't help snatching the snatcher...

And that was that. The better fish seemed to go off as the light faded, but a few wee ones continued to dick about in the gloaming, practising back-flips and wot-not, and generally staying out late for the sake of it. We knew that even they were soon to be called to bed.... ''Awww.. five more minutes?'' ''No! NOW!''. They needed their sleep - next years 2lb fish - and so did we..