Don't Stop Me Now

I spent yesterday guesting an amazing gentleman who at 81 years young had my mouth watering at the prospect of possibly another 36 years fishing left for me, well you never know do you. Let me start by letting you know Alan Shufflebotham (81) has fished all over the world catching large salmon among other fish so at most, all that was needed was a little tweak here and there to suit the Home Of Flyfishing's Derbyshire Wye. We fished from lunch around Sheepwash were Alan got a bashing from a fine rainbow holding the fast water. There was little fly life but my deadly sedges soon brought the fish up. After a kelly break we ventured through Scots Garden/Meadow where at one point me and Alan sat chatting on a bench when a fish gave itself away just a few metres away. Alan pulled of a little line cast above the rise and wallop! a lovely wild brown shown below and with me landing it he never had to move is backside, get in there! thats a first for me. This relaxed approach was followed by a superb cast to the far bank resulting in a much bigger 2lb brown,one of the finest lookers I've ever seen, I hope Alan sends me the pic.

After a fish and chip tea we fished the last couple of hours around town and before long Alan was playing a monster 10lb rainbow which snaffled my sedge. Alan displayed his skills well, playing this fish for around 20 mins, getting pulled all over the place but no probs for this 81 year old. Although Alan held his specimen flat for fear of damaging/dropping the fish, I believe the picture still shows how huge it was. After a short break we had a few more bigguns before moving down the beach after swarms of spinners took to the air creating a couple of hotspots for the PPS. I like to think I added a little something to Alans day, sending hime home happy and now I look forward to spending a grayling day with hime before too long.