Wellow on the dry.. lots of birds and bees going on.

Colder but the odd sunny interval following a bit of rain and a period of unseasonably strong winds. The Wellow remained fairly clear and as I slipped in the water I could see rises ahead which gave me hope. I immediately put on a dry and started to cover fish. Predominant hatches were Large Dark Olives. Within the first few casts I had targeted and hooked several beautiful browns on the dry. Although there were head and tail rises most were just sips creating dimples as the flies emerged. My go to dry is the klink and delivered today tempting 80% of the fish I targeted and bringing rises from blind casts in likely runs.

Lots of breeding birds today with Green Woodpecker nesting in an Alder above, another pair of Mandarin Ducks looking for hollowed trees and Kingfishers nesting high in an earth bank above a deeper pool. I settled on a log further upstream and a metre to my right was alerted by a Robin feeding its young between nettles in the bank. I am acutely aware of disturbance so never stop long to ensure the parents are not adversely affected. What surprised Red and myself today was the changes in the river from last season. Some new pools had been created where banks had been undercut and some old pools had now become runs where deposits had changed the river direction.

 

Pleasure to be out today with Red netting at least half a dozen trout obliging to the dry. First Mayfly also clocked drifting through the shady sunshine.

Early trout on the Cam

After a blank first session on Wellow I was keen to use the warm spell to open my account. I'd hooked several on dry and nymph on the Wellow on the first Saturday in April but for whatever reason I could not get them to the net. The Cam meanders through wooded glades and is generally siltier than Wellow and harder to wade so care is required particularly when water clarity is not at its best. The fish appear to be more localised in pockets but are quite often a larger than average size. I love this stretch as it is partially covered in mature woodland offering a cacophony of bird song in the spring.

After a an hour of not locating fish I finally found a section of 30 metres or so where I hooked three lovely browns on the nymph taking Grannom emergers. My final fish was a bit of surprise, a large Rainbow in the shade of a usually unproductive run. It rose in front of me just 10 yards ahead. A trusty Klink delivered a yard ahead of the rise and it was on pulling me all around the little river. I was pleased that my 3lb leader remained intact. Fish are not stocked here so it must have travelled some distance from the Midford.

A pair of Mandarin Duck where on the river looking for nest sites in the hollowed trees. A lovely session in the spring sunshine not seeing another person in three hours.