Wellow and Chew back to back

Beautiful weekend saw me fishing Wellow on Saturday with Red and on my own at River Chew on Sunday. Both days despite warm weather proved difficult with no Mayfly yet and just a few upwings coming off with very few rises. Masses of Chronomids in swarms over the rivers. After frustrating few hours on Wellow, with just one tiny par on the nymph, walking back to car a rise was spotted. Red handed me his rod all loaded up with a small dry black knat pattern, scramble down the bank, and a few casts later a lovely little brownie in the net. Stalking a fish like this makes it a special.

Sunday similar situation on Chew. Really difficult with few fish. Managed a couple of Grayling from fishing heavy nymphs in faster flow and a couple of small Brownies all sub surface. The Balsam seems to be less prevalent this year with the banks well covered in nettles. Hardly any sign of other fisher folk as I was cutting virgin trails through the undergrowth. Managed a swim in one pool which I was convinced was wadeable from previous visits, lesson learnt always be wary where you can't see the bottom as contours change dramatically each year.

Hazy summer day on the Upper Wylye

Spent glorious Friday on Wylye Salisbury beat. Exceptionally warm but a fairly stiff breeze. The beat was dry fly only and no wading so accurate casting from the bank was required. In the breeze plenty of flies went astray and a found it tough to calibrate an effective leader length on such a small river. I found 7-8' was about the optimum on my 7'6" rod. Just the odd rise and most fish I targeted I either got a rise or hooked. Other than that I often saw the flash of a fish just sub-surface and tempted it on my old faithful olive Klink.  Caught 4 Grayling and 3 trout, one a really nice size that I thought might be stockie but with good fins had obviously been in the river some time. No Danica but just the odd Yellow May dun. Really pleased, despite the difficult conditions, to have netted some fish.

Chew preparing for Mayfly madness

Spent a few hours on River Chew. The water was low although at the time of writing we are expecting some significant rain over the coming days, so good news. The river did look good though with good water clarity and some lovely clean gravel runs. Luckily the stretch has some fallen tree cover or else it would be tough finding cover in the majority of areas. Bird life busy with Great Spotted Woodpecker, Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, Whitethroat, Grey Heron and good numbers of Song Thrush. Surprisingly I have not seen the Dipper family on this stretch so far this year. The trout were now well and truly dominant over the Grayling rising into the evening taking the early trickle of Mayfly. Caught on the dry a number of  WBT, one Grayling and a few Dace that looked tired and worn out after spawning.

 

Tough day at the office Wilts Avon

A few hours on the upper Avon in Wiltshire. One of my favourite Salisbury beats  - a nice long wild stretch which despite being next to a fishery is quite lightly fished. Even in the mild conditions and with numerous visible rises fish were hard to tempt. Eventually picked up a half a dozen wild ones and one stockie on the nymph. Grayling less conspicuous this time. Fishery packed with still water anglers but no one on the river.

Spring has sprung on the Nadder

Lovely day on Nadder today with Red. Started on nymph and it was slow going to start but once I got the fly down in the fast runs I was starting to connect. Using my 8'6" today and I'm not sure whether I was rusty but I lost several fish not hooking firmly enough. The bites were incredibly quick and were without doubt the abundant small Grayling. As the day warmed up to a balmy 20C the odd wild Brownie start to take the fly.

Lots of Grannom were coming off by the early afternoon and little patches of river began to come alive with rises, mainly from the Grayling but also the odd trout. I soon switched to the dry and had much more positive hook ups catching half a dozen fish off the top. Nice stretch of river with a variety of pools, runs and riffles although lower section had the odd paddler and dog walker.

End of day we headed to Wylye which was incredibly quiet and running quite cloudy. Dry fly only here and with hardly a rise to be seen, or Grannom for the matter, our efforts were fruitless.

Opening day on the upper Wilts Avon

Well its been a long time but worth the wait. Opening day I set out to spend quite a few hours on the upper Avon in Wiltshire on the Salisbury ticket. One of their few beats that allow the use of nymph early in the season probably when you most need it if you want to tempt a fish. Anyway it was a lovely day light breeze but relatively warm, about 15C, and the river was running well, not gin clear but pretty clear. Walking the freshly mown paths a Stoat ran across into the woodland just five yards ahead of me. The bird life was in glorious song and I watched a Sparrowhawk dash through the trees with a Blackbird precariously held in its claws. I had missed these moments of nature, almost as much as the fishing, and it was great to be back. No one on the bank except those looking for leisurely stroll round the stocked lakes.

  
From the bottom of the beat I made my way upstream casting the nymph at fairly close range as the river is quite confined here. the first few runs produced nothing so I downsized the fly and leader and as if by magic my first wild trout of the season came to hand. I stuck with the little brass nymph and then I hooked a solid lump. After a battle which I initially thought was a stockie I just about netted a beast of a Grayling. I estimated it at near 45cm and over 2lb. Without too much fuss I gently held it in the flow and watched him swim away all coloured up and in the throws of spawning. Needless to say I felt guilty, but privileged to have held such creature in my hands.

I went on to catch many more Grayling, some big, some small, but tried to avoid any shoals I had clocked moving upstream. I caught a handful of wild Brownies and the odd obvious stocked fish. In the moments of real warmth in the sun small upwings began to come off and the odd rise materialised. I immediately switched to the dry and although not connecting tempted several rises from small fish.

 

Stockie

At the top end of the beat I was snapped off by a very large Rainbow and watched with curiosity the unnatural behaviour of the stockies ignoring the nymph on the dead drift but chasing competitively in shoals as soon as I imparted any movement. For one moment I tempted myself with the thought of a Damsel which would have cleaned up, luckily for them the biggest fly in my box was a Size 14 Hares Ear. Exhausted but fulfilled I return home, I know its trout season but a PB Grayling can't be ignored!

Day on Midford Brook with the ATAA

Glorious August day saw me guesting at Avon & Tributaries Angling Assoc. (ATAA) Midford Brook with Red. Started day with some kick sampling, something I have never engaged in before but quite addictive. Took me back to my pond dipping days, I was soon getting my eye in on the invertebrates that were turning up. The catch included Maylfy nymphs, Stonefly nymphs, Caseless Caddis, Cased Caddis and large amounts of Baetis together with numerous Bullheads. I have to say it made me wonder what the fish saw in my nymphs as most in the bucket would look dwarfed by my standard Size 14's. Met a good bunch of guys all keen to keep their special piece of the environment in the best possible condition not only for the fish but for all the other wildlife of the valley.

Afterwards Red took me a mile or so downstream and we made our way slowly upstream fishing likely pools and runs. Red in what seemed like his first two casts caught Grayling, one a particularly nice fish for this brook.

It took a while for me to get a fish in the net, after a few missed rises and hooks shaken, I finally broke the duck with a nice wild Brownie. From then on it was Rainbows all the way running us up and down sections of this little river. Most of my fish came to a GRHE although I had several rises and lost fish on the dry.

 

Great day out with some good company and good fishing.

A few hours on the upper Wylye

Fished a few hours on the upper Wylye near Warminster which was gin clear with massive beds of Rannuculus . The fishing was tough despite seeing a lot of wild Brown Trout and Grayling. I managed a few rises to dry but did not connect. All fish in the net were caught on the nymph just sub-surface. Bank fishing only made discrete accurate casting a must. First trout looked like a Smolt with an iridescent sheen and pale/translucent fins. The fish were generally palm sized but the challenge of catching made it worthwhile.

Salisbury & District antics...

Well after years of waiting both Red and I finally got to the top of the list and offered membership to Salisbury & District Game angling. I was undecided however as had forked out for all my tickets this year in clubs around Bristol and wasn't sure I'd make use of the offer. However, I was persuaded and I am now really pleased. It has  miles of new chalkstream to explore and has re-invigorated my passion for river fly fishing. To date we have covered a number of beats including West Amesbury, Ratfyn, Manningford and Stonehenge all on the Hampshire Avon and all with a different feel. Manningford was similar to my normal west country rivers, further up the Avon it is a small meandering stream similar to the Wellow or Chew, it is clear but not quite a traditional chalkstream. Further downstream the other beats are varied with wide beautiful crystal clear glides to deep rannuculus laden pools. Despite the rain the river has remained clear particularly in the middle reaches.
The Grayling sport has been fantastic with plenty coming to the net some of a good size:

 

The trout have also been good sport with mainly wild Brownies being caught interspersed with some larger stockies. Mayfly has been trickling off but everyone we meet seems to be complaining that this year has been disappointing on the Avon. I guess it is all relative and I am content to just be out on such a great river. On the middle reaches the fishing is whole different ball game to what I am used to with fish as suspicious as they come inspecting and dismissing your fly out of hand if you don't match the flow or present your fly in a natural way. On top of that if fishing from the bank you need to keep low to avoid spooking whole sections of river. Nevertheless perseverance pays off and eventually a few trout are fooled by the newbies!

Devon excursion fishing the Batherm and Exe

Another longer excursion to deepest darkest Devon. The contrast of this weekend from last couldn't have been more stark, wet wild and windy with higher temps. The afternoon was forecast to brighten up but it never did if anything it got worse. I met with Red with first stop Nick Hart's fishery where we had chat and picked some tokens for the West Country Passport beats. Nick suggested we try the Batherm and offered us some time on the Exe adjacent to his stillwaters. We set off to the Batherm first expecting a sunny afternoon back on the Exe. The Batherm was a great little stretch with riffles and pools. I caught 3 out of season Grayling and 4 palm sized WBT. The first Grayling was a lovely male fish all coloured up - if only I could select the type of fish with a fly as I felt uncomfortable disturbing them at critical point in the year. At one point Red and I watched a group of about half dozen good sized Grayling  spawning in a shallow run quite oblivious to our attention.

 

 

 

 

After covering pretty much all the beat we headed back to the Exe. The Exe was a different beast all together. When you spend so much time fishing small streams its difficult adjusting to a wide fast flowing body of water. I just went bigger with an 8'6" 5wt and heavier nymphs under more buoyant dries. It seemed to do the trick as within the first hour I had netted 3 Rainbows and a WBT. All on the nymph. In the end the weather beat us as squally winds and incessant rain called a halt to proceedings. Fished out and exhausted we headed back up the M5.

An Exe escapee of about 2lb.

Early start to the river season on the Wye and Usk at Longtown

Red and I set off on a cool cloudy morning in Bristol to fish the Longtown beat on the Wye and Usk Wild Streams. Pleasantly surprised by this lovely little stretch of the upper Monnow. An upland stream cascading through the Brecon's with a beautiful backdrop. The river was gin clear and fairly low but steely cold topping out on the thermometer at about 8C. We fished plenty of runs but found it tough with the deeper sections only showing signs of fish. By midday Large Dark Olives were trickling off frequently but rises were scarce. We had a couple of tugs each from fish in the deeper pools and I watched a small WBT chase my nymph in fished deep. After a short lunch break in the glorious sunshine we set off again changing tactics to heavier nymphs. I was rewarded immediately with a good fish and to my surprise it was lovely Grayling at at least 15" and well over a 1lb which I quickly returned.

 

The afternoon wore on even with the warming sun but it still did not bring the trout on the feed. Despite the hard fishing Dippers, Grey Wagtail and Wood Anemones added to the ambiance and contributed to a pretty special place.

Red casts to likely looking run.