Fantastic fly fishing

• I spent yesterday up at Blakewell trout fishery, near to Barnstaple in north Devon, photographing with Nick Hart for Trout Fisherman magazine. It is a stunning place - really well-kept and full of great conditioned rainbow trout. As per usual, Nick did his part seriously well and nailed a few nice fish for my cameras. The light was up and down (mainly overcast), but we got a good looking feature out of it. Above you can see my attempt to make the landing of a fish look somewhat different - has it worked ? I reckon so, but we shall see what appears in the feature.....

• When the skies are grey, it somewhat cuts down your creative options, but I hate being dictated to by the weather and I am always on the lookout for some different angles to spice the day up a bit. I asked Nick to push this rainbow trout above right into my 16-35mm lens, and then I focused on the fish's eye and used a large aperture (f4) to blow the rest of the photo deliberately out of focus. Note that I am standing above him to make this shot jump out a bit. The other fishermen on the bank must have wondered what on earth we were up to !!

• Blakewell is a great place to fish and photograph, and I really like the way that the whole set-up is so well maintained and cared for. Above you can see Nick Hart pushing out a long line across the top part of the lake. There were some real bruisers moving around and chasing Nick's flies, but the monsters were resolutely refusing to be caught. Nick got some nice fish though, plenty enough to make a really strong article for Trout Fisherman.

• Below is Nick landing another hard scrapping rainbow trout - at this time of the year the fish are fighting fit, and yesterday the conditions were for fishing. Nick and I are out again tomorrow to photograph another stillwater feature. Gotta keep at it....

• I have just got hold of another great extreme metal release that you need to add to your collection if this is your kind of thing (check out the cover below). The UK band Cradle of Filth have always made good albums, but some have been better than others - I still rate their classic "Cruelty and the Beast" as one of their very best, but this new one called "Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder" is awesome, and it is really growing on me. Gloriously over the top as usual (come on, it's Cradle of Filth we are talking about, what would you expect ?), and with masses of proper metal riffs that get in your head big time. Listen to a few tracks here. Rest assured that this CD will be blasting out at proper volume early tomorrow morning as I drive to this trout fishery that Nick and I are going to be working at.

• And on the subject of metal, I posed the question the other day (see here) - is the new Enslaved album "Vertebrae" the greatest metal release of the year so far ? Well I can answer my own question with a very firm YES. This is a truly outstanding album that goes way beyond the confines of the term "extreme metal". I have listened to this immense CD I don't know how many times, and every single listen it grows on me more and more. Every single person with any interest in proper music should get "Vertebrae". We are not worthy.......