Feedback & Reports

Took a fair few to cdc emerger and size 20 nymph. Very weird, warm day with plenty of fly life, hardly any fish rising. What were i took, the bead-head klink and dink took the rest.

8 Trout

River rather too coloured for good fishing, following persistent overnight and morning rain. Nonetheless a sporadic LDO hatch and three trout (all returned): a 13" and two smaller fish. Quite a lot of fallen trees etc making progress up the river difficult; and a real shame about all the old car bits, gas cannisters, tyres and other rubbish - all rather reminiscent of a by-gone attitude to rivers.

3 Trout

Still a bit early for the Escley, with just a trickle of flies (grannom, LDO's and medium olives)and nothing rising. Armed with a 3 wt rod and plenty of food on my back I set off.
The first half of the beat has 4 or 5 fallen trees, making some of the better pools unfishable. It's worth persevering as the top half of the beat is magical. Persisted with dries all day, despite knowing nymphing would be more successful. Rewarded with 4 wbt, 1 tiddler, 3 around 9"-12". Successful fly was CDC emerger.
It took me 7 hours to fish the full length and yomp back to my car. At times a bit of a scramble. Hugely enjoyable, back next month.
Worth noting, parking is a about 400 yards from Longtown Post Office / Shop.

4 Trout

A few hours in afternoon. Water quite coloured. A few fish making splashy rises to something very small. Pricked a couple with tiny black klinkhammer and 16 tan klinkhammer at start of beat. As I made my way upstream, no fish rising, no olives hatching so fished light olive gammarus size 12 to good effect with three trout from 6 to 13 inches and two surprise chublets.

3 Trout, 2 Chub

Nothing much rising or natural fly life so used red tag to raise a fair few.

Water a bit coloured - no hatch to mention. I didn't see one fish! The winter has been hard on the trees and I found navigation difficult, making sure I was on the correct bank particularly around the big bend and where the minis are in the barn.
I also fished the Middle Escley on the same day.

Water had coloured from rain fall yesterday/last night. No sign of fish or hatch in the five hours I spent covering this beat, not all of it but quite some way off the supplied map. My efforts came to an end when trying to climb the bank (for a well earned rest!) my studded boots slipped on the wet clay. A momentary dislocation/relocation of my right shoulder, relocated I think by me grabbing at the the roots to prevent falling further! Not the best of days. Mind you when I looked up from my crumpled heap a Kingfisher perched quite close on a branch, great to see but I'm sure when he looked at me I heard him tut! Nil caught.

2 x trout 10-11 inches, Tungsten Hare's Ear nymph. A long walk on a cold day; trout hard on the bottom.

2 Trout

Too cold, no fish seen let alone caught.

1 x trout 13 inches, Tungsten Hare's Ear nymph. Not an easy afternoon of fishing, but a wonderful walk up a very beautiful valley. I didn't get anywhere near the top. A clear blue sky, strong but warm wind, rooks tumbling in the sky above their nests, blackthorn in blossom - sorry to wax lyrical, but I do like this time of year. After several hours, though, I had tumbled nymphs into various holes without any sign of life. Nothing rising. When the take finally came, I was caught by surprise and turned over one of the largest trout I have seen in a brook. It was only on for a couple of seconds, but I had a chance to see a giant spotted flank before it disappeared into murky depths again. Again, sorry to give you the "one that got away" story, but I was left slack-jawed standing on the pool tail for several minutes after this. There are some surprisingly big trout in the Escley. 5 minutes before I absolutely had to leave and walk down the valley (having promised to take my poor wife out for a drink) a much more modest fish consented to come to the net, so I don't have to record a blank.

1 Trout