Summer day at Ringstead Bay

Beach day with family at Ringstead Bay. Managed to get a few hours in searching for Bass. Just one Bass and a Wrasse  after covering a lot of ground. Nice paddle though with light winds.

My unsung special place that gets me through the week..

How lucky am I? On my doorstep I have an urban river that fills my summer evenings with joy. It’s so easy to tap into something like this but the world of North Bristol spins around it. A beautiful Roach and glorious wild Brownie on the fly all in one evening..

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.

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.