Feedback & Reports

Grayling up to 12 inches and oos trout up to 11 inches on mix of pink beaded nymph and spider. One taken on the surface. Water slightly coloured and 0.41m on the Byton gauge.

4 Trout, 6 Grayling

You’ve got to love the Lugg.

As with all the best beats, it’s not the fish or the fishing, but the being and the breathing. The valley through which the Lugg lightly roams is one for the memory. Sunlit, wooded hills rise steeply either side of wide meadows rich with grazing. A scene unchanged and unchanging.

Yet the river itself is fickle. Despite its timeless progress it behaves much like a teenager. Prone to mood swings, rising and falling rapidly with the weather. Left to itself at times it will just drift casually by, but when roused its pace alters and it races over well worn rocks, gouging out the pools where in quieter hours fish might choose to be.

You will try these pools if you see them. Some you might not see. Some you might not try. But try you must for it may not be the first or even the seventh cast that lures the lady of the steam from her lie. Look now as she tumbles your line and loosens the hook you thought was fast. And then she flies, a flare that first dazzles then dissolves into the depth you didn’t think to be there.

2 Grayling

pleasant day on the lugg 3grayling on wet fly

3 Grayling

access difficult due to rubbish stiles and too much barbed wire. Lovely day though and whilst it was hard work, it was good fun.
Don’t go if you’re not able to climb awkward fences!

1 Trout, 1 Grayling

A last trout session before the season comes to an end. Fished with micro streamers and nympths on a mono rig and caught fish with both methods. As ever such a lovely beat, good access, river in good order. KM

1 Trout, 7 Grayling

1 trout and 7 grayling. Trout caught on a micro streamer, grayling on nympths using a mon rig. As ever a wonderful beat to fish, easy access and the river is in good order. KM

1 Trout, 7 Grayling

After this driest of summers, the irony of finding a river which, while not flooded, was coloured and pushing through when I arrived de bonne heure this morning, was not lost on me. The river continued to rise and take on more colour during the morning, making presentation difficult but, using the heaviest tungsten nymph in the box and, by searching out the quieter water, I caught a couple of trout upstream of the bridge. Nothing downstream but, after an early lunch, with the flow easing and the colour dropping out, I picked up 4 grayling, on more or less consecutive casts, from upstream of the bridge from a run that I had fished, without issue, earlier in the day

2 Trout, 4 Grayling

River lower than expected. No fly life , hence no rising fish, which was a shame. Trout were in good condition and fought well. All caught on nymphs.

3 Trout

I fished Lyepole today for the first time. The river was noticeably low, with some shallow runs and exposed stones, so I decided to focus on the deeper pools just upstream of the bridge where there was still a decent flow and some good holding water.

The conditions were clear and calm, which made presentation quite important. I worked through the pool carefully, watching for rises but didn’t see much surface activity. I tied on an Irresistible Adams — partly because it’s a pattern I’ve been wanting to try, and partly because it felt like a safe choice when I wasn’t sure what else to put on.

After a bit of casting practice and a few drifts through the seam, I was rewarded with a lovely grayling. Not a big fish, but a real milestone for me — my first on this beat and my first grayling on a dry fly.

Although it was just the one fish, I came away feeling encouraged. The low water made things tricky, but the deeper pools clearly still hold fish, and the Adams gave me confidence. Definitely a spot I’ll come back to when levels are a bit higher, as I think it could really come alive.

1 Grayling

Very low water meant that a goods deal of the beat was showing no signs of fish but two deeper pools yielded the only four grayling of the day. Two good size fish and two smaller ones but all in fine condition.

4 Grayling