This past weekend I had arranged to introduce my friend Stephen Cheetham to my local river, the river Calder.

Our plans to get out on the Saturday were washed away with two days of heavy rain, so we re-arranged for the Sunday. The recent rain had put plenty of fresh water in the river and washed away the majority of the fallen leaves.

Weather conditions on the Sunday were far better. The river had dropped over the previous afternoon and over night. When arrived after a catch up we were tackled up and ready to go.

I set up with a leader of two fresh jigs just off the vice the previous night. One a silver tungsten and the other gold and a green hot spot on the but.

As we walked up to our starting point I pointed out to Steve where I’d been catching fish, he was eager to get going!

Steve’s set up was a three fly leader, on the point he had gold head jig, on the middle dropper he had a partridge and orange (P&O) and on his top dropper he had a snipe and purple (S&P)

Fishing my way up stream and Steve fishing down I managed to temp one fish that took my green but jig, steve had had a little interest but no fish yet. He changed to two s&p and eventually swapped the one on the point to a small black fly, recommended by Jerry Lee.

We jumped out of the water and had a walk further up stream where steve fished a run of fast water. Eventually we walked over the bridge to fish the other side of the river.

I fished a pool just below the weir and pulled an out of season trout from it while Steve was talking to a fellow angler. Once we had fished what was accessible on the top half we went on to fish a a little more down stream with some slower running water.

It was here where Steve got the majority if his fish. Not big ones however fun to catch! Most of the fish were taking the s&p near the surface as the fly was rising through the water.

As the afternoon was drawing to an end. What would a fishing trip with Steve Cheetham be without a little introduction to Tenkara style fishing?! It’s something I had never seen before but I was eager to give it a try, once he had shown me how you set the rod up etc… It was time to cast! It was a little strange at first, having no reel or line to hold. So I didn’t know what to do with me free hand. After a few casts I caught my first fish on a tenkara rod and on my own snipe and purple!! A three inch long Grayling!

They say time flys when you’re having fun. It was time to pack up and get back to car park. But what a cracking day. I ended up with 5 grayling and 1 trout while Steve had 15 grayling. I’m already exited for our next trip!

Here are a few photos from the day.