Wellow nymphing

Met up with Red and fished Wellow for a few hours. Stream in good shape with a healthy flow and crystal clear. The fish I caught were deep and getting the nymph down in the fast flow required some additional weight. Caught about a half a dozen fish, beautifully marked to match the gravel substrate.

We then fished one of the local lakes for carp on the fly but those fish have either become very wary or are just not interested in surface food. Last year tempting them was but this year it has been anything but. I had a few half hearted nosings but that was about it.

Bristol Frome Friday fish produces some late summer sport

Fished my local stretch again. The water like the Chew the lowest it has been all year and very clear. Reminded me of the early days of spring as I was greeted with both Dipper and Grey Wagtail. It had been a lovely day and at about 17:00 when I got to the river the temp was dropping dramatically. At my first pool I saw couple of rises from the resident trout. Second cast on the Goldhead and I had an average sized Brownie in the net. As I made my way up the pool I hooked a second fish on the retrieve. As I brought it to the net I thought it was a Chub but as I reached down I realised it was a big Dace. This is the best Dace I have had from the Bristol Frome - I would say at least 10oz so a good fish by any standards.

Big Dace from the Bristol Frome

Downstream I picked up another small Brownie under the carriageway bridge section. Then whilst searching a deep pool in the last knockings of daylight I hit solid resistance as a good fish took me from bank to bank. After several skyward launches I netted another fantastic wild Brownie for the Bristol Frome, perhaps not my best but certainly near it. The fish looked familiar but I have referenced it against other big fish I have caught here and it is not one that I have in the net before. It never ceases to amaze me after being so familiar with this small river/stream it still produces some great surprises.

Another cracking wild Brownie.

Some late summer surf and back on the Chew

I haven't been fishing a great deal of late due to other distractions and commitments. A few weeks back I had a lovely few sessions surfing at Penhale in Cornwall in the late summer sun with my brother and few friends. Small but beautifully formed little swell that we surfed in relative solitude. The Haven holiday park at the top of the dunes is enough to send you packing but break through it and you find a wonderful pocket of Cornwall away from the crowd.

Back to the fishing and finally got back out on the lower Chew after what seems like an age. The water as low as I have seen it all this year. Very few fish rising and the two I did see, a Grayling and a Brownie, I caught. Netted a few more on a weighted nymph fished in the medium depth runs. The big pools surprisingly failed to produce. Ended up with three small to medium sized Grayling and two Brownies. Still eerily quiet compared to previous years. Amazed how dynamic the river is with changes in depth and substrate from earlier in the year. The rains have certainly mixed it up a bit. 

Wellow inspiration - fish on the dry, well not quite slightly wet but dry!

After Red had tipped me off the Wellow was fishing well we agreed to meet for an afternoon on this lovely little river. The water was high but clear and the bottom had been cleaned and scoured to perfection. Some runs almost chalk stream like in nature with the mottled pebbles and sandy banks giving way to beds of Rannuculus. First fish came to nymph which was immediately taken after it had risen to the dry.

Very few rises lead me to use a weighted nymph at one deep pool. I put a shot between the dry and nymph and let both sink on the dead drift after casting to the head of the pool. As it reached the deepest part of the pool my leader loop shot forward into another good fish. To my surprise it had taken the sunken Klink. I repeated this method to good effect with another two fish from within a meter of the first all taking the sunken dry. Clearly it was drifting enticingly just a foot or so of the bottom. Ended up with about a half dozen feisty wild fish of a good average size. The village of Wellow was buzzing with the flower festival, ramblers and cyclists.