We had a fantastic day on the mysterious Malham Tarn at the weekend with friends from the Leeds Branch of The Fly Dressers Guild. It’s not an easy place to fish but the wild brown trout are very special indeed when you find them. It was very misty with a few showers but in general the weather was good.

We didn’t get many trout with only 3 caught from 5 fishing but there were dozens of perch to keep boredom at bay. David Hild had two 4lb trout and Melvyn Wood had a stunning 6 pounder on a sedgehog as it hit the water. Jerry Lee and Jim O’Brien were pulling perch out like strings of mackerel, two at a time.

We were mainly fishing loch style with traditional wet flies, dragging large bushy flies on the top dropper through the ripple to attract the fish. You will never catch many trout here but when you do it’s spectacular.

There were so many perch but mainly small ones – we didn’t find the big ones that are in there. I can’t wait for another trip, it really is a beautiful and truly wild fishery.