Feedback & Reports

River at a good height so concentrated on fly fishing, however the only sight of a salmon came when one rose twice in the Vanstone Pool to a flying c. The first time I felt the slightest of bumps, the second time nothing, but with the water clarity good I could clearly see a bright silver salmon in the 10-12lb range. Had I not seen it I would have assumed it was a brown trout bump!

All 3 were fly fishing as deep as possible under the kind instruction of the ghillie Colin. Unfortunately nothing seen or touched. Wonderful day to sit on the bank with Kelly's kettle slowly coming to the boil & watch the passing wildlife. Caught in the sunlight on the far side of the river was a marching army of many thousands of unidentified flies heading upstream with the aid of a tailwind; Every 20-30 metres they would dip down to touch the water before continuing their journey. I was once told they do this to sense the direction of the current to ensure they are heading upstream to deposit their eggs later on well upstream?
WUF Note: the unidentified flies were almost certainly grannom.

A beautiful, bright Spring day with an intermittent easterly (upstream) breeze. Virtually nothing was hatching, just the occasional Large Dark Olive and the odd Grannom. I can’t have seen more than two fish move in seven hours fishing. However, a Klinkhammer Duo above a size 16 GRHE resulted in plenty of sport along the length of the beat. Nine Trout to hand and several more pricked. All were good fish with three over 12 inches.

9 Trout

No Salmon caught despite an excellent days fishing with both fly and lures. River conditions low and very clear so not ideal, however there were four 10 to 12lb fish in one pool that moved on as soon as I presented a lure.

Lovely time (although only had a couple of hours) as ever on this wonderful beat. Lost one fish. Lots of fly life about, which was great to see. Pleasure to meet David and his wife.

Water Level extremely low so had to go out into the middle to try and fish, the wind was quite strong out in the middle which made the fishing almost impossible, I did not like this river its to large I think it would suit Salmon fishers really.

1 Trout

2 x Common Carp 16lb & 13lb. Failed to land one fish appeared to be much larger. 6 small Roach.
All taken on bread.

8 Other

Tough conditions, river very low and cold overnight. One big grayling around 2.5 lbs in a deep pool and 3 small trout in the pocket water at the top of the beat.

3 Trout, 1 Grayling

First time fishing this beat and I must admit it's a cracking stream. Walking down to the start of the beat, I was unsure how the day would go as it was my first outing of the new season. Started fishing at 11am using upstream Baetis nymph, using a cut down 3lb tapered copolymer leader to 5ft and 2 to 2.5ft of fluorocarbon tippet (3lb) which worked a treat as I caught a few WBT and 3 OOS Grayling. A bit later on, moving upstream I then switched to the dry, as there were plenty of LDO's hatching and fish rising. Same leader set up but changed the fluorocarbon tippet to 3lb copolymer and used a cdc foam dun #17.
Good day had 11 WBT and 3 OOS Grayling. I will return!

11 Trout, 3 Grayling

Bright conditions with the river running low, most of the wadable stretches below knee height. Two small trout taken on a parachute adams, both about 5". Switched to a Goldhead PTN and bagged a brace of OOS grayling, the second a whopping 2.5lb must rate as a monster from this small river.

2 Trout, 2 Grayling