It's a waiting game but I find a few fish between the April showers..

Fished Upper Chew today. The rivers have just been too high of late but this morning saw a clear sky start and there had been a good 24hrs before the last heavy bout of rain. Was hoping to fish the Wellow on Friday but it was just too high and coloured. Today I visited the Lower Chew but it was holding too much colour for my liking so moved on upstream. As ever fished NZ style and caught a nice little Rainbow on the first undercut bend. As it came to my hand a much larger Rainbow followed it in. I cast several times to the same undercut and my Klink sunk away. I hit solid resistance and struggled to hold what looked like monster Rainbow dashing for the roots of a nearby tree. Unfortunately my 3lb tippet broke leaving me cursing. I deliberated for a while and upgraded my tippet to 4lb and this is the minimum I will go to now on the Upper Chew. I went on to catch seven fish. Some nice little Brownies and a few smaller wild Rainbows to half a pound. They all fell to a Goldhead Hares Ear type nymph. I had one tentative rise to the dry but did not connect. At one particularly productive pool I set up my little camera on video in the sunlight and managed to net a nice wild Rainbow in the moment.

Lovely morning while it lasted with Lady's Smock flowering profusely in the meadows and Wild Garlic just coming into bloom on the banks. Within a couple of hours the rain had started to fall and the fish just did not want to play ball. Another wet week ahead!

Friday Fish is back on the River Chew

Early finish got me out on the River Chew again today. For whatever reason fishing on Friday just seems to have an extra kick for me perhaps because I feel I should be at work! Met up with Keynsham AA President Rich Denning and Red to fish Compton Dando. Sun was out with quite a lot of fly life coming off and a tint of colour in the water which was up a bit from two weeks back. I got there early and watched the Dippers nest building by the bridge presumably the same pair from last year. In the first run I connected with three Grayling on the nymph. I missed one take on the dry and that was all the surface action I would see today. The Grayling were not quite what I was looking for but enjoyable nonetheless with the bigger fish making use of the fast water to test my little rod. Second stop and another good male Grayling giving a definitive tug from depths of a small pool. In the end I finally hooked a few small wild Brownies in one of the deeper pools downstream.

Red and I parted company with Rich and headed for the Upper Chew. By the time we got out the car the second time the rain had started to pour. Undeterred we fished on. I was pleased with a couple of really nice wild Brownies, one pushing 0.75lb mark, and a spirited nice little Rainbow. Great start to the weekend.

Easter in Cornwall - trout, walking, surf and skatepark.

Tried a couple of streams just 10 minutes from our base in Cornwall. Both times just fished the dry. First stream meandered through thick woodland no larger than a meter across in most areas but plenty of small Brownies particularly in the deeper pools. Technically it was near impossible to fish as to get a cast in meant spooking fish. Suffice it to say I failed to catch. We didn't blank altogether as my eldest son managed catch in his hands a Brook Lamprey which was good to see again. Most eventful moment was me careering down an ancient stone wall and ending up thigh deep in peaty mud with nothing but pair of jeans and walking boats on - luckily Rich W was on hand to haul me out. Second stream is one I've fished a number times before and is fairly open to allow a full overhead cast which you need to avoid spooking fish as it too could barely be classified as a stream. Plentiful trout though which will rise to almost any dry fly. In an hour my son and I handed in at least 10 spirited little fish - great evening.

Although we had some sun, and one particularly nice day on a secluded cove at St Anthony's head, the weather wasn't great. We had a nice family walk to Polly Joke where we saw Raven, Wheatear, Skylark, and Merlin. Surf when it arrived was marred with strong Westerly winds. I had couple sessions with Rich W on Fistral and Great Western but nothing too memorable. Mount Hawke skatepark was good value with the kids, even made me want to dust of the old skateboard and have a go myself. 

Day two and on to the Upper Chew

Day off saw me fishing lower beat of Upper Chew after a pleasant family morning watching my son playing football at Cleeve for South Gloucestershire. Water very low and clear with just the pools holding fish. Yet another lovely  spring day. Spent some time out just observing and photographing the Brook Lamprey spawning and also noticed a good number of Bullheads in the clear water. Saw some big Rainbow's and they really do look out of place in this little stream as they speed torpedo like up and down the shallow runs. I ended up catching three Brownies and one nice wild Rainbow all on the nymph. Had a couple of half-hearted rises to the Klink but did not connect. Saw three other anglers on the beat. Looking at the weather for Easter and we appear to be heading for a month of extremes - we need rain not snow!

Brook Lamprey spawning in the gravel

Wild Brownie from the Upper Chew

Nice wild Rainbow

River Chew for the first day on the rivers 2012

Fished my local stretch of the Chew today with Red and Dave, who was on his way down to Dorset. A light frost gave way to a pleasant spring day that although brought glorious sunshine was a good 5 degrees centigrade less than the earlier week. The river was fairly low and clear. Dippers on the water and a pair of Roe Deer scampering along the steep banks. Fished NZ with a Klink and Copper John about 24" below. In the first run a small Brownie came to hand and then a decent sized Grayling. I then moved downstream and hooked another better sized Brownie. Nothing was being persuaded by the Klink in fact I am not sure I saw one fish rise all session. I ended up with four Brownies and the one Grayling all to the Copper John. On some of the deep pools I extended the dropper and weighted the line but never had a pull taking this approach. Great to back out on the rivers with dry waders!

First fish 2012

Best Brownie of opening day

Dave casting to what I call the telegraph pool.