September Surf - Woolacombe

Surf trip to Woolly today with bro Rich and Tom. Had two sessions one over low tide in the morning and a second on incoming tide in the afternoon. Swell was at its peak in morning and wind was light SW. About 5' on the sets with some good rights coming across. After about 1.5hrs the tide had ripped it to shreds and getting a wave in was tough. Really got to grips with my new Firewire Firefly today which seem to race down the line on some nice rights across the middle of the beach. Afternoon session a bit less in size and chopped up by an increasing SW wind. Still had some OK waves in the sunshine. Nice day out - mild and sunny with relatively few in the water. My wife's good to me - thanks for the weekend!

Upper Chew late September sun..

Fished Upper Chew lower beat with Red. Another fellow angler Nick was also on the beat but we failed to meet up - its easy to pass each other as the stream is hidden in a tree canopy and stealth is the key to success. The morning had stated rainy but cleared up to be a pleasant late summer day. Slow day with still a very low flow coming down from Litton.  Crane flies in abundance. A few rises to the dry, most I missed. I also hooked and lost several fish on nymph. I was using size 14 or larger and assume most of my missed fish were small. In the end finished up with a couple of small Brownies and Rainbows both taking nymph and dry.  One small Rainbow was particularly striking in colour. Red caught a wild Brownie of about 1/2lb which is good wild fish for this section stream. No sign of any adult Rainbows. Nice day for some scenic shots of the stream.

Bristol Frome rising water gives up some big wild Brownies

Spent last couple of hours of the day dodging heavy showers on the Bristol Frome. This time up from the dog beat - only the occassional passer by and camo guy regularly shooting beer cans under the carriageway bridge on this stretch - I am assuming I am safe if I remain on the west bank! I have also seen some 'different' individuals wild camping in the caves further downstream from this stretch and groups young men clearly intent on taking home supper home if they can catch it. The delights of fishing beneath the urban sprawl. Tonight only the shooter to contend with - I just keep my distance. Anyway two Roe deer hinds startle me just 10 yards away on the opposite bank. Kingfisher and Grey Wagtail don't disappoint also passing me on my way downstream. The water is rising and slightly coloured. This river moves up and down like a drain - I suspect in all reality it is with all the tarmac above. After loosing 3 fish on the dry I finally hook a beauty rising under a tree - my best ever Frome Brownie. I follow this up with another good sized Brownie just a few yards away. I move back upstream and tackle a fish I missed on the way down this time persistence pays off after covering the fish six times it finally takes the Klink. Three good fish in the net and safely released I go home a happy man. This Bristol Frome really is quite a good little trout stream.

My best Bristol Frome Brownie to date of over 1lb

Who said it looks like the North Bristol drain?

Nadder and the last Mayfly on the last day of summer?

Took a days leave today and met up with my bro Rich today to fish the Nadder at Salisbury. A beautiful sunny day with some light cloud and hardly any wind. The river looked beautiful almost gin clear with sun glinting on the boils and turbulence of the riffles and runs. We both started to work our way up the beat and immediately Rich hooked into a Chub under some Willows. After a bit of struggle he'd netted a good fish of at least 2lb on the dry.


First take of the day resulted in this lovely Chub.



I hooked up with a nice Grayling on the nymph but failed to net it. After a quiet next few hundred yards I found a great little run where the river kinked around a small bend with a little Willow tree just breaking the flow. In about 30 minutes I managed to catch 3 Grayling, 3 Brownies, a 2lb Chub and a nice Dace. Some of the Grayling on the dry and all the others on the nymph. Its amazing how the feeding fish congregate in such a small area when large swathes of the river fail to produce any response.

My 2lb Chub

Ended the mid day session with some hand size Brownies near a confluence with a feeder. Rich netted a Brownie and another two lovely Chub. The last one put up one hell of scrap and took several minutes to net in the fast flow.

Rich plays another Chub to the net.

After a couple hours break to do the school run we popped back for an evening session. The dropping temperature had obviously put the fish down despite a few Mayfly still coming off! I did net one fish, my best Brownie of the day on the nymph, and Rich caught a small Brownie. Still Rich had bagged up on all the Chub earlier in the day so I didn't feel too bad. Lovely sun set whilst leaving this little Nadder oasis in Salisbury. Known as a coarse stretch this section of the Nadder can still provide excellent sport on the fly for a very reasonable day ticket price.

Fishing for dogs on the Bristol Frome

Spent a couple of hours this morning on the Bristol Frome between Frenchay and Oldbury Court. Lots of fish about but these fish are wary and difficult to catch on the fly. Immediately caught sight of lovely trout - looked at least 2lb and some Chub between 1-3lb. I thought I'd start downstream and work my way back up. Loads of Dace just breaking the surface. Ended up catching quite few Dace on the dropper and the dry, lost a good Brownie of about a 1lb that jumped and shook the hook, a number of record breaking minnows on the nymph, but failed to tempt any of the Chub or the big trout I'd clocked. Next time I'll take a freelined maggot! Note to oneself never fish here on a sunny Sunday morning - more dogs than crufts and half were taking a dip. No wonder the fish are wary. Lovely views of a Kingfisher taking Minnows below a fallen tree.

Best Dace of the day - on the dry

Upper Chew ...last visit of the season?

Friday afternoon fish with Red on the Upper Chew. Tried the lower beat downstream of the bridge. Quiet and from the book infrequently fished with not many stocked fish being caught. Had a mare of a start - obviously out of practice in confined spaces put that together with some Airflo leader that was some years old and I had created some lovely crochet patterns in the line. Once I got my act together managed to catch a few wild Brownies - most on the Brassie in the deeper pools but the best coming on the dry. Interestingly enough caught three Rainbow parr all about 5 inches. Had a real suprise in one pool where I had solid resistance on the nymph under the bank and the fight was deep and sluggish. I never saw the fish before it shook the hook but am convinced it was not a trout - eel? Saw one Rainbow of about 1.5lb jump clear of the water but it was not tempted by what I had on offer. Still low flow of water comming through despite some rain over last few weeks. Tawny Owl and Kingfisher interesting distractions from the fishing. Also found a dead Brook Lamprey - pretty intact so did not look like result of predator.

River Chew and then matching the batch..

Fished Chew at Compton Dando with Red. Warm and muggy but generally overcast. Banks massively overgrown with Himalayan Balsam and low water. Although the amount of debris on the banks gave away what must have been some high water a week or so back. Fish were difficult to locate and missed a few takes both on the dry and nymph. Ended up with a small Brownie and Chub both on the goldhead. Talked Red into a couple of hours carp fishing on the fly which was a laugh as we watched numerous double figure carp either nose or half heartedly take the fly without success. We both caught good sized Rainbows on the top and I managed a 1/2lb baby Carp on the bread fly.

The Carp like it hot..

Evening session. Increasingly darker nights now mean evening is restricted to a couple of hours. Relatively busy tonight with two others around the lake. The carp seemed to come on the feed after a warm late summers day shutting off at about 8.00pm when the trout started to rise. Takes were more positive and a wide gape hook with thumb nail sized sponge fly doing the trick. First fish I lost and then a beautiful 1/2lb common carp came to the net after being somewhat bullied to the net on my 9wt rod. This was followed by my best carp on the fly to date at around 8lb. Finished up with a nice little 2lb common. No trout tonight despite several rising to free bread offerings.