Rain fell from the battleship grey skies, the day had been damp since early this morning. Leaden clouds poured pewter drops on me as I tackled up at the bridge across the river. Wet and cold before I even started, the day took a definite turn for the worse when I found there were no thick socks in the car. I normally have lots of pairs lurking in the back of the motor but I must have tidied them up at some point and now I was going to pay the price with cold feet while fishing. Note to self: Chaos is the natural order, DON’T tidy the car!
A new sign has been erected by the Fisheries board at the bridge, giving some very basic information about catch limits, seasons etc.
Across the way I spotted another new addition – a nice set of steps for access to the upstream part of the river. I have not fished this side of the river above the bridge as it used to be home to a particularly large black bull. Warning signs gave you notice not to enter the field but now the big lad was gone, perhaps to a new home or maybe he is now sausages on your breakfast plate. Anyway, the new ladder makes entry to the field and the river much easier and I look forward to giving that stretch a try out in May/June when good spinner fishing can be had on the weedy, slow-moving water there.
The farmer’s gate was in poor condition and held together with a piece of blue rope, delaying me as I squeezed through and then had to re-tie the rope to close the gate. Finally, I was at the waterside and ready to go!
With a pair of wets tied on I fished my way down the first pool without a touch. I was dismayed at the low water, at least a couple of feet below what I would expect at this time of year. Although it was raining today it will take a solid week of wet weather to bring the level back up to where it should be.
The fisheries board had also been busy on the banks too. The trees on both banks have been either trimmed back or even removed altogether. This is a very welcome change for the better as many parts of this particular stretch had become virtually unfishable due to overhanging branches. Well done to the board for all the hard work they have done to bring this piece of water back into full use.
A very short line, hanging the flies in the fast water at the neck of the next pool brought the first action of the session, a fiesty WBT ran and danced across the surface before shedding the hook just as he came to hand. Ah well………………..
Not long after that I had a solid pull and a nice trout came to hand. A quick picture and then he was back in the river again.
A solitary Large Dark Olive fluttered by but there was no hatch as such. I meandered down the river, casting into likely spots but there was no response from the trout. Flies were changed and different presentation methods given an airing but the fish showed no appreciation of my efforts. The rain eased of for a few minutes only to turn heavier than ever by the time I had reached the next pool. I was, to use a good Scottish phrase, ‘drookit’.
A small trout grabbed the passing fly just where the calm patch in the photo above merged into the faster flow. Again, very short casts allied to reaching with the rod to hold the fly line off the surface while leading the flies round was the successful method. A bit smaller than the first fella, I slipped home back int the water and he shot off, none the worse for our brief encounter.
I eventually reached the pool I wanted to fish most, an odd-shaped piece of water with a number of conflicting flows to contend with. It is not easy to fish but I have taken some good fish out of this area. Today was no exception.
A partridge and orange fished on a dropper fooled this one. The take was confident and he was well hooked. I could not repeat the feat though so I changed back to a pair of hare’s ear weighted nymphs and fished my way back upriver, retracing my steps to the parked car.
Today was fairly typical of early fishing on the river, with hardly any fly life the fish were dour and holding close to the bottom. I bit more water and higher air temperatures will bring an improvement in the fishing. It was just good to be out again today, rain or no rain!
Claretbumbler 