Lacock trip with no bait just fly.

Spent an evening fishing Lacock as I had the season ticket. Surprised the Upper Bristol Avon still held a fair bit of water although the weed growth was impressive with cabbages and rannuculus everywhere. I searched an eddy under a Willow with a small pink Grayling nymph and hit stiff resistance. The fish hugged the bottom and embedded itself in the weed. I had flashes of gold and hoped, just hoped it might be my first Barbel on the fly. After a colossal struggle on my 3 weight with 3lb tippet I managed to get the fish in the net. It was no Barbel but a lovely Chub which I conservatively guessed at about 4lb. After that things slowed down until the final hours of daylight when on a shallow stretch I caught a plentiful number of Chublet and Dace on the dry. Disappointed by the rubbish on the bank and a persistent scrambler/quad biker in the field - why do people want to spoil these nice stretches of river and countryside. I was concerned I might disturb the hard core bait fisherman but as I came across no one I am keen to return.

Cam Brook swim...

A few pleasant hours firstly cutting back excessive cover and then fishing a second stretch on the Cam Brook. Don't get me wrong I love cover but there comes a time when you need to get a cast in and a light bit of  low branch removal can open up pools that just need to be fished. Amazed I actually went for a swim at times despite the low water much to the amusement of the rest of the Cam maintenance team. It just goes to show even the little Cam Brook can surprise you and we all need to take care when wading. The fishing was slow but I found a few on the nymph and missed several to the dry probably due to fishing the duo. You might have noticed not much blogging of late - I have been out but busy with the family at all other times in the summer we finally deserve. Incidentally dry fly Dace fishing on the Chew has been great with some fish approaching a pound.

Southbourne Kayaking

Lovely Friday kayaking out of Southbourne with my bro and a friend, Pat, from his village. We set off with feathers, lures and a bit of squid I had left from an unsuccessful boat trip out of West Bay. Is it me or are charter boat trips just an excuse to fill small boat full of fee paying punters putting them on marks which are fished day after day just on the off chance someone on the boat might catch something half decent? Every time I go out I come in disappointed and really wonder whether the skipper has actually made an effort to put you on the fish. Anyway enough of the whinge back to kayaking where even if you don't catch fish its a wonderful experience and bit of exercise chucked in. We fished just a half a mile offshore. Rich picked up a Black Bream immediately. I had many tentative bream plucks and wished I'd taken my coarse hooks or fly hooks. I changed tactics and went onto a weighted eel and on the first cast hooked into nice little Gurnard. Rich and Pat went on to catch some Mackerel and I ended up with a second Gurnard. Not quite enough to feed the family but a pleasant day on the ocean nevertheless.