River season starts with a bang, perhaps more of a puff, on the River Chew!

Cold easterlies and an overcast day constrained me to a few hours on the opening day. Fished my usual stretch of the Chew. No sign of any rising fish although I did see one Large Dark Olive come off in the 3C heat. The river was lower than I 'd fished it all last year. First fast run and caught a spirited little Brownie on the nymph, this was quickly followed by a small Grayling and then I lost a good fish in the current. Next deeper pool caught a palm sized Brownie. I was amazed how the river had changed: deep pools were now sandy banks and where new tree branches had obscured the flow deeper pools caught me out. I did feel that the river lacked large wood debris as I did not have to negotiate one fallen tree on my visit which is unusual for this stretch of the Chew. This lack of cover and weed growth made fish hard to find. I went on to catch a couple more mid sized wild Brownies in the deep pools on the bends. One downside was that I had to report to EA sewerage seepage from one of the banks from an area I'd reported before. Funnily enough on my return home the sun came out for the last few hours of daylight but it was too late.