River Test again

Yes what a luxury - twice in one year! This time we took 14 of us from MNTFA for the weekend - a Motley Crew! Although my motivation for fishing the reservoirs seems to have currently gone AWOL my enjoyment of river fishing certainly hasn't. What a fantastic location this is. The beat is situated just outside Wherewell - which quite interesting means bubbling streams - it has 11 beats on the carrier streams and 1 beat on the main river. It also has a small well stocked lake for those that can't catch and a cabin to use as a base, breakfast and tea and coffee on tap. I always think it is quite quaint with carefully tended path's, refuge huts, foot bridges, seats and a gently flowing green and white river - magic! Enough of the pre-amble but the first morning session Phil and i decided to fish the shallow carriers before they got too much disturbance. As I walked up the river slowly I kept to the far edge of the patch to avoid too much disturbance. There were quite a number of fish all holding in the current usually in the bare patch depressions behind a patch of weed waiting to ambush any fly that decided to hatch or drift past their window of vision. I had a couple of casts at a few fish but was amazed how skittish they were. Well it may have been me being a bit clumsy! However after only 10 mins I saw a fish rise under a tree on the far bank and then some others holding in the current behind that. So a bit more stealth required this time and i dropped to my knees and crawled up to the edge of the reeds, stripped the right length of line off and a lovely cast above tree to let it swing round underneath. I tightened up with a figure of eight retrieve and BANG it took and headed further under the tree. The fight was great and a few minutes later had slipped the net under a Grayling of just over a pound. What a great start - the rest of the weekend could be enjoyed. After another small Grayling and lunch it was my turn on the main river. I started down from the bridge and thought i would go down river on the nymph and come back up on the dry. There were loads of fish in the first pool but i couldn't tempt them. They seemed a little dis-interested but i guess it was that i didn't quite have the right fly. The second pool had a deep hole on the far side and i gave a great cast into the far bank with a gold bead little chap. I mended the line to let it sink for a second and suddenly wham this fish took it and came out of the water. It was a big brownie all yellow and buttery and in the sun looked fantastic. I played it out and just as I was about to net it, it came off. Ah well the photo opportunity was missed but as Mick said "proper catch and release. I went most of the way down the beat and headed back up but with no interest. As i got to the bridge Mick and Phil had settled in to try and tempt them on dry's but no luck yet. I kept moving up river and when I came to the pool above the weir with some others further up i thought i would settle in the deeper area and see what I could tempt. As i looked out across the water there were occasionally big fish rising but also i could see shapes moving across a bare chalk depression and knew there were fish out there. I struggled for a take until I put the little chap back on again and then i was off. In the next hour I took 4 brownies to 4lb and a lovely Grayling around a pound and a quarter. What a superb session! As i was just packing up, Phil came up the other side and nicked my water for a cast and he was into a sizeable rainbow on the last cast of the day. The second day Phil and I had decided to go and fish beats 4 and 5 by the side of the road where we hadn't fished before. I also had decided that i was going to try and get the duo working and master another technique. I set up a black klinkerhammer with a red collared size 16 hares ear 9 inches further down tied on New Zeeland style. I tried a few pools but the fish were again a bit wary. I paused on the bridge between beat 4 and 5 and I could see some fish holding on the far bank so crawling around behind them I set myself for a cast back to the bridge. It was quite tricky with the wind having picked up and changing direction but fortunately fo me the fish stayed around and after five or six casts I got the right one close to the reeds and as it floated down the dry popped under and I lifted into a lovely Grayling. As I moved down the pool there was one deeper run that seemed to hold a few more fish and i thought i would persevere here. I went over them for a good half hour but even if i disturbed one there was another that came to replace it in the lie. I kept changing flies and depth to no avail but at 18 inches deep I put a double beaded hares ear on to get to the depth quicker and as it floated towards the tail of the pool it went under and i was into a better Grayling. The pool seemed disturbed so i left it for 10 minutes and the fish were back again. I then managed to catch two cracking brownies but this time I pulled them quickly out of the pool and netted round the corner. What a cracking session and I felt great confidence in the method too. I gradually started to rain a bit more as early afternoon went on and by two it was chucking it down quite hard. however with a dozen fish already that was enough and without marring a cracking weekend we headed for home early.

River Ure, Hawes

I managed to find a few days to get up to The Yorkshire Dales with Phil and fish on the River Ure. A real unspoilt place tghat was made even better this year because of the numbers of wild flowers around. We may be moaning about the weather but it has done wonders for the spring flowers. The farmers here are leaving the fields and growing hay but the buttercups make it a very bright place. The water levels were a little low and there was not much flow but the warmer weather did create a small hatch and there were a few fish rising to duns and buzzers. Just my type of fishing at the moment as i walked up the river looking for rising fish but being distracted by wildlife sandpipers, flycatchers, oystercatchers and some cute fledgelings. My first fish i saw across the far bank under a tree rise a few times and i slowley got into position creeping up behind the bank and then kneeling a the side of a tree. It rose another couple of times while i was there and a black klink cast just upstream and the surface came alive as it hammered the fly, yes! As the evening went on it got a little quiet and after 9 o'clock i was at the bridge and ready to head for a pint. Phil came along about ready to go too when a fish rose and i cast and suprisingly he took, a lovely brown. We decided to stay and miss the fish and chips but i had another couple and it was more than compensation. The next day wasn't great as it was quite windy and cool and there were not many fish rising at all so we decided to try out the beck in the afternoon. At the top was this waterfall - what a brilliant place to fish, i can't beleive Phil didn't get one.

Kinder surprise

After trying a number of times last year, Matt managed to catch his first trout at Ravensthorpe. It was not a great evening as the fish had been on in the morning and the fishing was tailing off. However there were still a few fish rising taking buzzer off the surface. I had been looking forward to an evenings dry fly so that's what i would do. I had a few takes as we drifted on to the lodge so that was encouraging but over by the island the fish had definitely gone off. The wind didn't seem to be dropping so we headed off for Cotton end to see if we could get some quieter water. I was fishing a team of three dry's to see if i could get the colour and surprisingly a fish came up and took my carrot fly. Not only surprising it was a fish but also that it took red where i was expecting green. Matt put on a soldier palmer and after a cracking take got snapped up. Stronger nylon and a green tag sedge was set up and not too long to wait - another one was on. Nice and easy he took his time, a nice rainbow of 1-10 and well hooked, just what you want for your first fish. The wind didn't drop much and there were plenty of fly on the water but the fish were waiting till the next morning I guess. With the sun going day it drew a great trip to an end.

Bewl National

This weekend was the Barclays Bank National on Bewl Bridge and won by Steve Longhurst from Thames Valley who pipped my boat partner Phil Cross by 2 ozs. I am sure this was Phils first blue trout. The team prize went to Barclaycard who had 24 fish, my contribution to this was only 2 but a well earned 2. The practice day was hard work with intermittent hail storms. Matt irons came and joined Mike and I and as we worked our way around the water it was great to see places i hadn't been too before and Rosemary lane looked great, even a few fish rising. We didn't end up with many fish but had a plan for the next day. We headed straight for Canoe Bay in the corner of the Dam and too our surprise no one followed. As we settled in we were all in, except me! I was going to have to get used it. House Martins, Swifts and Swallows were skimming the lake taking the hatch of green buzzers as quick as they could. As they wizzed around it was quite remarkable how close they came and inevitable i suppose that we hooked one although that was me just the once. The hook had caught in it's wind but it didn't affect it as it kept flying. Phil did the un-hooking honours and it was amazing to see it sitting on Phil's finger before flying off. At half time we had a great BBQ and the AGM and a good time to warm up. By now it was chucking it down with rain and it never let off all afternoon. By 5pm we had enough and came in an hour early to get changed and dry off before driving home. An enjoyable couple of days with some good guys but it didn't fill me with enthusiasm to do more fishing.

River Test @ Wherwell

I was really looking forward to fishing the River Test. For many years it had been on my "must do before..." list and for some reason had never had the opportunity till this weekend. And it never let me down as with just an hour to go on Sunday afternoon I managed to land this 44cm Grayling from the main river. I cast across to the far bank and mended the line again and let the tungsten headed gold ribbed hares ear head for the bottom. As i tightened up i was in and it was solid. With the current pushing through that dorsal fin gave it extra fight but after a good fight wow, good fish! My first Grayling was not quite that size but welcome none the less. I had had 4 takes and fish on but they wouldn't stick. As i headed back to the hut Jim Collins was settled in his chair by the weir and said their a loads of fish in hear but i can't touch them, help yourself. It was only 3rd cast and as the fly came round I saw the flash of silver in the clear water and a welcome grayling brightened up the morning. I was not the only one catching good fish and everyone was having a few fish with Grant more than most as usual. Stuart had a good rainbow off the river but goodness knows where they escaped from. Even with it drizzling with snow and all the fields water logged it was still a lovely place. Manicured grass paths and neat river edges with close cut reeds, clear water and white chalk gravel bottoms - lovely. I kept thinking i should take my boots off on the carpet or at least repair any divots i made. A great weekend!