Evening sessions on the local rivers - River Chew and Bristol Frome

Had some lovely late afternoon/evening sessions on River Chew and Bristol Frome. The Chew was incredibly low in level. I wonder whether Bristol Water are managing the flow in this way but question the impact on the fish who are struggling hard to find deeper pools. Nevertheless I found some good spirited mid sized Brownies falling to the dry as Mayfly were steady in coming off. No big fish though but lots of parr which is a good sign.

Meanwhile the Bristol Frome babbles away beneath the busiest of Bristol roads harbouring some wonderful fish. So far on the dry I have netted Dace getting on for a 1lb and some really solid Browns still managing to sustain a reasonable population. 

River Chew evening on the dry

Wonderful evening on lower River Chew. I fished a long section that a fellow fly fisherman, Charles Fishwish Halliday, and I had tended to on the weekend before. We had made some access points, unblocked some tree falls, undertaken some sympathetic pruning to open canopy and positioned fallen branches to increase flow. It was remarkable how much work we had done in a day. Today I was reaping the benefits casting to the pools I had planned and yes they were full of rising fish. Mayfly were starting to trickle off and the fish were sipping and hitting my dry with enthusiasm. A nymph never left my box. The other good thing was the variety in size from small par just a few inches to really good wild Browns of over a pound.  

The best of the bunch in the net was a good 14" fish and this was just after a colossal struggle and line break a few casts before. Weather getting warmer in late teens with the odd light shower.

Teifi trout again but no Salmo

Spent a few days of May bank holiday weekend being hosted at Red's Teifi retreat on a caravan site in the middle of the Welsh hills. The nights were blooming cold dropping to near freezing and I had leaky waders so I don't think my feet really felt comfortable at any point in the 48 hrs. We were spinning primarily using Mepps or I occasionally tried a Black Minnow. Our target species was Salmon or Sea Trout but I was happy with some good spirited nice sized wild Brownies. Just one day I will buy that lottery ticket and cast to a pool that contains a responsive migratory fish but not this weekend.

On the last day Red had a few casts with the fly rod while I spent an hour just taking in the scenery.