Day out on Avon and Nadder

Crisp cold morning for a days fishing in Wiltshire. On the way stopped off at the canal near Seend to take a few shots. Mist was lifting off the water and the early morning sunshine was wonderful. Arrived at my brothers, Rich, to discuss the options for the day.

First stop Hampshire Avon North of Salisbury. Not much rising so fished a nymph under the dry. First few runs nothing doing but managed to spook a number of small Pike basking in the sunshine. Found a nice deep bend where Rich caught a lunker of a Brownie. It must have been all of 2.5lb. On its return I managed to get some lovely underwater shots. From the same bend we both caught Grayling and Dace on the nymph. On upstream and a tightly packed shoal of at least 20 Grayling, some in excess of a 1lb, outwitted us but I managed to hook into a decent Brownie of about 1.5lb in amongst them.

Next stop the Nadder in Salisbury. The usual shallow runs failed to produce so moved downstream to the deeper holes. Between us we caught a mixed bag of small Brownies, some reasonable Grayling and Rich had some chunky Chub. Most fish falling to the nymph but an occasional rise to the Klink. The cold weather had certainly kept the fish down but it was an eventful day nevertheless in the glorious Autumn sunshine. Water levels were about the lowest I have seen it.

End of season River Chew

Thought I'd return to my favourite little River Chew for an end of season fish in the hope of some Grayling and maybe the odd Brownie. The river was coloured which surprised me as the levels weren't high and we hadn't had a huge amount of rain. I could only deduce that work or a disturbance upstream was causing the clay to discolour the water. I fished below the bridge which early in the year holds a small shoal of Grayling. No Grayling but a small Brownie fell to the nymph right in the rapids where I was expecting the Grayling to now be taking position. Next stop a pool I often miss but thought I would try. Not a big pool but a deep drop off from a shallow sandy riffle. Its easily accessible and therefore I normally ignore it. Anyway heavy nymph cast into the riffle and let drop into the cloudy pool. As I retrieve it from the bottom a solid resistance is felt and my best Brownie from Chew that season comes to the net after quite a struggle. I move downstream and fish a great glide canopied in Alder from one of the deep pools where I know the Grayling will be. After loosing a decent Grayling, the first Grayling that comes to hand is tiny but shows the fish are thriving here. This is followed by couple more Grayling each around 6-8 inches in length. I finally end with a nice little Brownie on the nymph from a deep pool on my way back upstream. A couple of fish were rising but I couldn't tempt them with the dry. All fish today came to various weighted Goldheads.