Feedback & Reports

Really enjoyable couple of hours fishing on this beat. Fish caught on both nymph and olive dry patterns with plenty of fish / fly life activity. Trout generally below half pound size although also caught quite a few smaller ones approx 3 to 6". All fish returned. Lots of Stonefly hatches but no mayfly hatch to report. The only disappointment was breaking the tip of my fly rod which has been with me for 30 yrs. Will see if Shakespeare have any spares!!

6 Trout

My first time fishing the Arrow as part of Wild Streams fishing day. Chilly at times but fish rising steadily throughout the beat. Really enjoyed the wild stream fishing experience and will be back for more.

Dry day with intermittent sunshine but a stiff downstream breeze. Steady stream of olives emerging and fish began to show in the afternoon. A drop in temperature in the afternoon shut down the activity for a while but it resumed in the evening. 4 fish on a bead head PTN during the lulls and 6 on an olive klinkhamer. All bright fish about 6 to 8oz. I believe that one fish was actually a salmon parr as the tail was deeply forked and the parr marks well defined?

9 Trout, 1 Other

A stretch of this lovely river I've ignored so far but I should have not done so for so long! I had a great day catching plenty of nice quality fish on a variety of fly fishing methods. Fish were rising between 10am and 4pm in all types of water on the beat but I was unable to determine what they were eating! Poor old chap with failing eyesight dredges up feeble excuse. I cannot therefore pass on any wisdom to those who follow in my footsteps other than I took fish from slower, deeper stretches on small klinkhammers (black), fish from broken water on elk hair caddis and some from both types on a hares ear fished Klink and Dink.
A lovely day on a nice stretch of river.

11 Trout

17 trout mostly 6-10 inches on a fairly mild and increasingly breezy day.
I started off with a "klink and dink" rig catching one on a small PT nymph before switching to a single dry fly after seeing a few rises and hooking and losing a couple of fish on the klinkhammer. 9 were caught on cdc dry flies in slower moving water (including 6 from the same glide/pool) with not much happening in the faster water where I was catching them here last year. After nearly an hour of being unable to rise any fish and the mostly downstream wind making casting difficult, I switched to shortline nymphing. 7 more trout were caught on heavy tungsten beaded PT nymphs, the majority coming from deeper turbulent water.

17 Trout

A wonderful to day to be out - a little too bright and sunny if anything.
It was my first time on this beat and it became obvious from the off that it was going to be a challenging day, as the first (of many!) Trout spooked with me still a good 5m from the river...and I wouldn't consider myself to be overly heavy footed or lacking in watercraft!
However, things looked much more promising after a lovely 10" WBT, followed by a considerably smaller specimen, in my first half dozen casts in the pocket water above Hergest Bridge. A couple more smaller WBT followed over the next few hours, as well as 3 better fish that opted for an early release (ahem).
Having reached Malhallom Bridge for a late lunch, I continued to the upstream section of the beat, where it appeared there was an intermittent hatch attracting a few splashy rises. Another lost fish was all I had to report though.
For my first time on such a small stream, I was very pleased with 4 fish caught and 4 more lost and would definitely book this beat again...but the sight of the numerous dark shapes bolting for cover that accompanied my day shows there is much work to do in my approach to small stream wild trout.
Aside from the fishing, this is a truly beautiful beat with lots of variety of water to tackle - pocket water, shallow glides, deep pools and no end of riffles. Just knowing I had a mile and a half of water to myself (aside from a pair of Dippers) made for a very relaxing day. The banks in Spring were wonderful; Wood Anemones lining the stream and a few Bluebells just starting to come through. Highly recommended.

4 Trout

Fish caught deep down on a nymph. Water conditions cold but good.

1 Trout

Had not fished this beat before. Parked just past the bridge half way up the beat. Fished the top half for about 1.5 hours. Should have started at the bottom but was aware this part of the beat is shared with local angling club. In future I would check here first (about 800 yards down from the bridge) as this part of the beat offers the better fishing.
Very low flow, water clear. 3 wbt to 10" on an emerger pattern. Lovely beat, easy wading, would occupy the small stream angler for about 4 - 5 hours of gentle fishing.

3 Trout

I took a gamble and booked the beat because we were staying in a cottage on the river. Lady Luck smiled on me for once, the overnight rain seemed to have refreshed the river without causing any problems.
I fished for a couple of hours in the morning, then returned in the evening for another three. Nothing happening on the surface. I tried dries to no avail. When I switched to a Klinkhammer Duo and a small gold headed PTN things stated happening. Nine trout to hand and as many lost - all to the nymph. The best fish were about 10" the smallest about 5".
The first part of the beat just above Hergest Bridge seems to be the most productive in low water conditions.
It adds to the experience knowing that you're fishing your way through what remains of a massive World War II hospital complex built by the Americans in readiness for the invasion of Europe in 1945. The story of Kington Camp is well documented in the town's excellent little museum.

9 Trout

6 x trout 10-12 inches, Rusty Klinkhammer. The Arrow is still very reduced in level, so it wasn't easy fishing today. Not much rising, so I mainly fished the likely water. One nice fish under Mallhollam Bridge. Great fun and I saw a sparrow hawk close up as it coursed down the stream.
Back at the car I was eating a late lunch and putting away my tackle, when a man with a few years under his belt came by on a bicycle with a little dog perched in the handlebar basket. He was apparently in a rather exuberant mood. He stopped, put the dog on the verge to make its mess, and told me he was celebrating retirement that very day. I told him I could recommend it. He said that he had been driving a truck for 30 years and dreaming of the day he could retire. “It came this morning. Confirmation of my redundancy, the letter said. I didn’t have any whisky in the house, so I celebrated with red wine for breakfast. Actually I’ve been celebrating all morning”
“Way to go.”
“I don’t think I’ll take up fishing though. Too slow for me.”
“Really? I find it nail-bitingly exciting.”
“No, no. Too slow for me.”
The dog was back in its basket now and he cycled off towards Kington and its pubs, wobbling rather precariously.

6 Trout