I am not sure what I was expecting but we walked to the start of the beat up to our chests in wet grasses and when there we still couldn't find an easy route through the trees into the river. I guess I was hoping for some open grassy banks but that's reservoir softies for you!
I wanted to fish the dry but hadn't seen any fish rising but Steve had and I took his word and started with the klink. 10 minutes in I walked up a gravel spit and a fish rose, I cast at it and it took but nothing there, i lifted off and put it perfect again and this time the splash it was on, it was going to be a good day!
Yes so it wasn't a whopper and looked like it had been held in my fingers too long but it was a very welcome salmon Parr.
There weren't many rising at all but I had decided to use as much stealth as I could so just settled back and watched. There was just one fish rising under the trees on the far bank but it was too far away. I had a number of casts but couldn't get close. I shifted my position so i could side cast down the river and with a full cast the fly just floated under the branch and bang it was on and off. This is fun and very rewarding!
Phil had settled into his nymph fishing on a bung and it wasn't long and he too was into a fish on a pheasant tail, his first on a river and just what we came for - brilliant!
It went quite quiet and I worked my way back to the car with my mind on other things. A kingfisher, banded demoiselles and mayflies were still around. Butterflies were everywhere and it was certainly a great natural environment.
Steve and I made it back and decided to fish the weir. I went in above the weir and Steve below. There were a couple of fish rising but I struggled to cover them and then out the corner of my eye another fish rose on the far bank and I put the size 16 klink right on its nose and splash it was on. This time it was heavy and fighting solid as I got it's head up it came in and was a chub. The first I had caught on a fly and it was great sport.
I moved up the mill race to another overflow and changed over to nymphs, the sport really started then and I managed another 5 fish on a pheasant tail and daiwl bach. I told Steve and he changed over and immediately he was into takes and then a fish but a few casts later he hooked into a better fish.
It was a grayling and and over half a pound gave a great fight.
Phil made his way back and had also had good sport with the best brownie of the day.
It had been a great trip with good fishing and nice surroundings - a pleasure!
No comments:
Post a Comment