2012 What a Year!!!!!

Well what a year, early on  we were faced with drought and hose pipe bans with most reservoirs down to bare bones and jetty's being moved on a daily basis just to keep the boats in the water as the level dropped. Boy that seams such a distant memory. Then came the floods that have devastated communities and people that were flooded earlier on in the year have still not got back in their homes.!!!! Seems wrong to complain about the fishing when you think of it in the wider picture but I'm a fisherman and that's what I do, I go fishing. So please stop raining we've had enough.
All river anglers have suffered, finding the river has been the biggest problem at some times let alone wetting a line. Next year all of us will be faced with the challenge of re-learning the rivers we fish with different runs and pools that will have been created by the floods.

Floods in Aberystwyth Playing fields


The reservoirs have been a bit better but the high levels have upset the fish and fishing has been challenging. The high levels over the winter boads well for a great opening day in 2013. We have also seen a major change with Bewl water following Hanningfeild and turning into multi-method. This has been the case on many lakes in Wales for years and has worked well. The change in Bewl was met by  huge opposition but if this means that the venue stays open to fishing then I think this will be a road that many more reservoirs will have to follow. I fished Esthwaite a few years ago while filming the Pike DVD with Ant Glasgow and it was fantastic to see families fishing together some children were worming while their Dads were fly fishing, No snobbery, No stigma just everybody enjoying being on the water and catching fish.

Now to my year well the highlight for me was signing for Daiwa as a Consultant and working with the engineers in Scotland has been a delight. I have been working with them all through the year developing and fine tuning the New Era range of rods which were launched to the trade back in October at T&G show and will be in the shops end of January. These rods are the beginning of Daiwa's new game range with a lot more exciting things to come. Above you can see the 9ft 6inch 8wt being put to the test on Draycote water.

Fishing
Fishing wise I did a lot of guiding on small still waters and reservoirs but not as much as I would like on rivers as most of the time the problem was finding a river which was fish-able. Rutland proved very challenging for me and location  was key- just proves that the more you fish it the better you get to know its moods. Draycot proved the best venue through the year with fish feeding well on buzzers and nymphs.
One of the highlights was taking Callum Smalley out on Pitsford the day before his England eliminator and the way he fished in practice I knew he would win the event even though I did not tell his old man as he was nervous enough as it was. To cut a long story short not only did he win he walked away with it and was the only one to bag up with 8 fish by approx 2pm. Well done mate, showed your old man how to do it. Then Steve went and qualified for England on Bewl in September so Son and Farther won their caps but junior was National Champion!!!     

Callum with one of the fish he caught during practice all on a midge-tip Well done and good luck in the International next year.

One of the competitions I fished this year was the Home International Bank Championship which was held at Garnffrwd in Wales. I was the Welsh team manager which meant I had to organize the event as well. I am so grateful to everybody who helped and made my job easy, but a special thanks must go to Jamie the owner of the fishery, nothing was too much trouble and everybody enjoyed their visit to Wales and loved the fishery and the results, well Wales were 3rd!!!
The second was the Grayling Festival on the river Dee in November and once again we were beaten on countback. We had the same place points as the winning team but they just pipped us by fish points but they were from CZ and they have some of the best river anglers in the world.

 Above the winning CZ Team with the New Grayling Trophy presented by Ken Bathers.

Shows
This has been a year of contrasts with a lot of shows trying to go ahead then cancelling at the 11th hour or after a day due to the weather. The major set back to all country folk was the cancelling of the CLA Game Fair but after seing the pictures it was the correct decision much to everybody's disappointment, roll on Ragley next July. One show I have to mention was the Welsh Game Fair who firstly changed the venue and if they had not then there would not have been a show at all. Secondly for all the hard work that was carried out on Thursday and Friday to make sure the show went ahead a mammoth task but well done!! 

 
Just to prove we did have some good weather this year here are the girls practicing the day before the Royal Welsh show in July!!
The season started early for us with the first show in Dublin and we will be back there in less than 6 weeks and look forward to seeing all our Irish friends. This year the whole Morgan clan went and Yasmin and Tanya stole the show with their demonstration on the indoor pool.

Then it was Glasgow Angling Centre and as usual Paul and his team put on a great show. I spent the weekend interviewing all the personalities all of which is on my you tube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/HMFlyFishing
I went to Norway twice and the shows were fantastic and its nice to meet different anglers from other countries and share experiences.
Fenland Fair added another day to the show due to the cancellation of the CLA and it proved to be a great success. This is one of the oldest Country fairs in the UK and still has the feel of a proper country show. On a very sad not Joan Hall one of the organizers passed away and will be greatly missed by all who knew here and all my thoughts are with Malcolm and his family at this difficult time.
The Midland Game Fair proved a great crowd pleaser once again and this year saw fisherman's row well supported by the public with every stand holder going away with a smile on their faces.
This year my great friend Stevie Munn decided to pick up the batton and organize the Irish Fly Fair after Mara Media had decided to withdraw from the event. This was a great gamble for him and I am pleased to report that the show was a great success with everybody having a great weekend and the best thing Stevie is not bankrupt !!!!!!

Filming

This year Bearleft and I have been busy first with the you tube clips we filmed at GAC Open weekend. Then we produced two  DVD's on fly tying, one on Stillwater patterns and the other on River Patterns which are now available from my website shop. We have also been filming a year on reservoir boat fishing. This is always challenging as Aaron ( director!!! so he says !!!) hates boats and they never drift properly and he cant get the correct angle and shot.  

You will not believe it but the shot above is the Spring shoot!!!!! Look out for this Boat 4 Seasons coming out in the New Year. I would like to thank both Aaron and Alan for there patience and hard work through the year and most of all in edit that makes me look good in front of camera!!! Now that is a tough job!!

Another year gone another year older can I take this opportunity in wishing you all the very best for 2013 and hope all your dreams come true.

Tight Lines

Hywel

 

Fishing round up

Well its been some time since I sat down and wrote something for my blog but I have been busy teaching, doing demos and shows. Due to time constraints I am going to skip through some of the highlights of the last few months.Above you will see Yasmin waiting to get onto the Ferry to Dublin to do the Angling Ireland show. This was the first time the Morgan clan had all gone over and a big thank you must go to Mara Media for making the girls so welcome. Both Yas and Tanya were fantastic and it was the first time they have done a demo indoors with the audience so close, but both of them enjoyed the experience.
Glasgow Angling Center weekend proved to be another fantastic success, Bearleft and myself were there filming for my YouTube channel  http://www.youtube.com/user/HMFlyFishing. If you have never been to the Open weekend check out you tube and it will show you what you are missing.
After a few shows it was back down to do some filming so Bearleft and I rocked up at Draycott to do a Spring early season fishing section for my new DVD but what a day 25 degree heat and everything looking like a summers day. The lake was very low but at least the fish started co-operating after a while!!!

 One of the highlights this Spring for me was being guest at the Help for Heroes charity match on Llandegfedd- congratulations to everybody who organized and fished this event as nearly £4,000 was raised for the cause.

Above I am doing one of my distance casting demo's at the Dutch Fly Fair. It was fantastic to return to this show after not being there for years. Great to make new friends and catch up with people I have not seen in years. I would like to thank Caveman and Jo for  the invitation and congratulations to you both for such a successful show.

The day after Dutch Fly Fair I was off to the Lake of Menteeth in Scotland to help the wife fish in the Ladies International Match.( Above Debs adopts a relaxed fishing position for the practice day !) We had one days practice and the fish in the lake were turbo charged bars of silver. Tested both fishermen and their tackle!!! To be honest every woman that fished the competition deserved a medal as the lake was flat calm and 30 degrees !!!!!!! Not good for fishing but great for a sun tan!!!! Congratulations to Scotland who were worthy winners.
There are many more high lights but unfortunatley I have got to go and do some work!!!! I am now working on some new fly selections for next years Daiwa's game range.
Tight Lines 

Where does time go!!!!! well its now 2012 and already February !! January was a good month, first, we finally finished my stillwater DVD http://www.hywelmorgan.co.uk/shop.html
this was a 12 month project where I fished on small and large still waters. Even if I say it myself this is one of the best we have ever produced and a big thank you must go to Bearleft.TV for filming and putting together this 2 disc set. It has just received a fantastic review in this months Trout Fisherman. Here is a link to the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wKyDZaYSQs&list=UUIoemlueA_7qTC3PZEihokA&index=1&feature=plcp
After that I went fishing and my first competition of the year was The Colin Miller memorial match at Garnffrwd fishery and as you may be able to tell from the picture above I managed to win it. Great start to 012!!!
Next was the first show of the year http://www.britishcarpshow.co.uk/ yes I know what you are thinking Me in a Carp show well not really as it was Carp and Angling and I was quite busy teaching fly casting to Carp and predator anglers who wanted to give fly fishing for their respective quarry a go. It was held at the Norfolk showground and if this year is anything to go by look out for next years show as it will be bigger and better.
The biggest news I have to share is that I have joined Daiwa as a consultant to work on their game range. I have already tried some of their prototypes and believe you me there are some new and exciting things going to come out of Scotland in the next few seasons.
I am now packing and getting ready to go to Ireland for the Ireland Angling show in Dublin and this year both my daughters are going to feature in the demonstrations so the whole Morgan clan are off to the Emerald Isle