River Chew - Mayfly on the usual beat.

Got home early and headed off for my 'local' stretch on the lower Chew. Another lovely Spring day with a bit of a southerly breeze. Loads of fly life today Mayfly's in drifts above the corn fields. Red Campion and Field Buttercups in full bloom. Started with my own Parachute Mayfly pattern with a little Goldhead. Tempted a couple of rises in the first pool but did not connect. One a small Brownie and the other a decent Grayling. First fish to the net a medium sized Grayling on the Goldhead. Next pool surprise, surprise a couple of Dace falling to the Goldhead. Fished the big pool at the end of the first field and despite three or four rises to my dry could not connect. Clipped the tail of the dry. Crossed the river and moved a couple of fields down. Picked up a couple of good Brownies on the Goldhead and one on the dry. Had a Hornet  for company for a while! Could not believe how the vegetation had taken a hold and covered previous tracks. Fell numerous times as I tried to locate firm bank beneath the nettles and balsam. This stretch is like a jungle now and not for the faint hearted.

 In the last hour between 6:00 and 7:00pm I must have caught ten or more Brownies on the dry. I had removed the Goldhead on the dropper and the trout were aggressively taking the dry within feet of my rod tip.  A few other fishermen around today both on KAA and on Bathampton stretch on my return to the car.

Upper and Lower Chew in one day

Today did upper beat on Upper Chew and Lower Chew at Bye Mills with Red. Another sunny breezy day. A fair number of Mayfly coming off today especially on the Lower Chew. Caught a small Brownie and then a nice 2lb Rainbow on the Klink on the Upper Chew. The Rainbow just sipped the fly in and took some time to register it had been hooked. I was determined to net it after loosing one a week earlier. The rod was bent in right angles and thankfully the 4lb fluro stayed in tact. We then moved to Bye Mills on the lower Chew. The river upstream is shallow but heavy clay was making any wading extremely difficult. Lost two good Brownies of around a pound and netted a small one. Red caught a decent Brownie on the dry. Loads of Mayfly coming off but only a few fish rising. Downstream the river is deeper and less accessible but there seemed to be more rising fish. I managed to drop my fly on top of a beauty which took the Klink after I'd crept commando like along the side of the bank and just dropped the fly just under my feet. It was about 1.5lb but somehow got my nymph snagged on a tree root, I didn't have a long net and was unsure how deep the river was so felt pretty helpless. After lots of  scrambling the fish broke free  - damn another lost fish! Probably the most skillful fishing I have done to date it was just a shame I didn't get the fish on the bank. Finally caught a nice Brownie of about 10 inches on the way back to the car in a shallow run on one of my Parachute Mayfly's.

Chew Magna and Publow visit

Had day off work today as I had leave left and had to take my lad to Bristol City coaching session at Failand in the afternoon. Decided to try Chew Magna for some sedate lake fishing. Fished the right hand bank, weather warm and bright with light winds. Fished intermediate line with Goldhead orange blob as no visible fish. Talk of not stocking for a while, lots of blanks in the book and no pulls raised doubts over my optimism for a fish. Suddenly a few fish started to move a third of the way out. Buzzers started to dimple on the surface. Time for the suspended Buzzer beneath the Klink on the floating line. Three fish (two 2lbs+) in less than hour, one snapping my 4lb leader unfortunately.  Three fisherman around lake had not caught so left pleased. Thought I'd try for some Carp on the surface at Publow but they just weren't interested in surface baits/flies. A few trout rose so on went the Shipmans and I immediately caught a 1.5lb Rainbow safely returned. As usual Publow was empty - a lovely little lake that is somewhat neglected compared to other lakes on the ticket. Left feeling confident about my lake skills.

Upper Chew visit number two...

Feeling a bit groggy, after a good night out in Bristol watching one of my rock favourite bands of the 80's Magnum, I headed off to the top beat of the Upper Chew on another glorious morning. Red was already on the bank. A bit warmer and sunnier than the last visit but a strong easterly wind. Loads of life with lots of female Beautiful Demoiselle damsel flies on the wing. Finally located where the Kingfisher was nesting high in a north facing bank overlooking one of the most productive pools. I caught a small wild Brown on the Klink and then a sizeable 1lb+ fish from the tail of one of the pools. It took a Brassie suspended beneath the Klink. I was waiting for it to really come to life but after a couple of surges it came to the net quite easily. My guess was that this was a stocked fish but nice nevertheless.

 After a few hours I then moved to the lower beat below the road bridge. This beat was more open and the wind was creating havoc with my line and some of the trees at times with debris flying everywhere. After a frustrating start caught a couple of small Brownies and a nice little Rainbow on the Klink. Despite just being 8" long max it put up one heck of scrap jumping clear of the water several times. I can only assume Rainbows must spawn on the stream. All fish returned.