Teifi trout..

A few shots from weekend of fishing in Wales on the Teifi with Dave and Red. No Salmon or Sewin but some nice wild Brownies.

River Marden on the fly...

After walking through the main street of Calne some years back and seeing a lovely wild Brownie standing station between the high walls I had always had a yearning to try and fish the upper parts of the River Marden on the fly. Chancing upon the Calne Angling Association website I noticed they had short window for fly fishing for trout between April and 16 June at just £5 for a day ticket. The waters were just downstream of Calne where the river could only be classed as a stream. Walking the bank I was pleasantly surprised with riffles, runs and deeper slow sections. There was lots of cover but it was not unmanageable. I made my way about mile downstream of where I had parked and worked my way back up. I spooked a number of good sized fish whilst walking the bank so hopes were high. Within minutes of fishing I was into my first fish - a palm sized gem took the nymph.

A typically confined run holding fish but difficult to present the fly

 

 As I moved upstream it was difficult to stop spooking fish as the water was clear and casting was restricted to not much more than a rod length.  The middle section had what appeared to be a derelict mill with large pools and wooded riffles. In my limited time I did not fish them hard but could see they had potential to harbour some big trout. Large Dark Olives were hatching in profusion and I failed to tempt some large rising fish. Eventually I hooked a couple of good sized wild fish on the nymph which gave good accounts of themselves in the fast flow.

 

 

As the day wore on I probably netted about half a dozen fish and lost a couple a more. It was a good wild trout fishery and I saw plenty of bigger fish than those I caught. Fishing from the bank was difficult so wading was required and it is not for the faint hearted with clay in places coaxing you into the deeper holes. 

A nice open section that held some fish.

  

Well pleased with a good few hours on a new stretch of river

Upper Chew for a change..

Fished the Upper Chew. Book suggested fishing hard with little sign of life/fish caught and some concerning comments about water quality. Still another lovely day I walked across the fields with promise as this was my first session on stream this season. The water level was actually OK and the water was clear. I headed for a productive bend where fish often congregate. Immediately saw a few rises so was optimistic. It wasn't long before I was into a few fish on both dry and nymph. All small wild Brownies.

Further upstream I saw a group of fish dimpling in a pool. To my amazement they turned out to be Roach  - I caught two on the nymph nice little males with spawning tubercles. I left them to it a fair way up from the lake incidentally, they would have had to swim through some really shallow runs  to get that far up. Last fish of the day was 2lb+ Rainbow which lumbered in a deep pool and then shot off to quick for my reaction snapping my 3lb leader with ease. Lovely few hours on the stream which still produces a few surprises.

Spring day on the Lower Chew

Fishing of late has not been easy. I can't quite put my finger on it whether I am expecting too much, or that the water temps are still low despite the mild weather or whether the water levels are just too low. Most of the holding spots are the deeper pools with very few rises to target. Today was no exception although I did manage a few fish on the nymph. I had two rises to the dry but they were half hearted attempts and did not result in a hook up.

After catching a nice WBT I came across a group of trout behaving in an unusual manner - almost shoaling and unfazed by my presence. I ran the nymph through several times and they only showed interest when I imparted some motion and not on dead drift. Once I worked out how to get them to take I hooked three fish from a square metre. All fairly similar in size with a silver complexion with poor fins I guessed they were small stocked fish as they didn't exhibit the normal buttery colour of Chew's WBT.

Brown stockie?

 

Last fish of the day a Rainbow of about 2lb that run me ragged on my little 3wt jumping clean of the water several times. Bright breezy day with Blackthorn and Dandelions in full flower.

 

Dandelions perhaps not great in your lawn but they do have their place!

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.

Last few sessions of predator fishing on the Bristol Avon deliver a fine Perch

A quick few hours on the Avon with a duo approach of light spinning tackle and fly rod. I think the Pike must be a bit lethargic at the moment as I had some quick pulls but very few connections. Lots of follows by Perch in the 1lb range and luckily managed to bank my personal best stripey whilst jigging with a weighted black jelly eel. The fish must have been in the region of 3lb a great chunk of a thing - not on the fly but I was pleased and impressed the old Avon had turned up the goods.