Feedback & Reports

Arriving at the river, there were only a few spits of rain in the air. Waders on, assembled the rod, and set up. Nothing felt particularly remarkable at that point. Then, as I walked down to the river, something changed. The breeze disappeared completely and an extraordinary stillness settled over the river. The sort of silence that makes you stop and take notice. Almost immediately, spinners appeared from nowhere, dancing above the pool in the calm air. Then came the flash of a fish rising at the head of the pool where the fast water poured in.

The first cast was in the wrong place. The second wasn’t much better. The third landed where it needed to. I dropped the flies (Wry fly setup) into the fast water and allowed them to drift naturally down into the pool. Wallop! The fish took decisively and tore off head down! On the 7’6” rod, every head shake and run was magnified. Despite not being a huge fish, it fought far above its weight and kept me occupied for several minutes before finally sliding into the net. A beautifully marked wild brown trout, somewhere around the one-pound mark, full of life and impossible to photograph properly as it twisted and rolled in the net. After a brief pause in the net, kept entirely in the water, she recovered strongly and swam away into the current. As if on cue, the moment she disappeared, the heavens opened!

The rain arrived in earnest and the spell was broken. I continued upstream and managed, still bewitched, and missed a couple more fish in unlikely lies, but it didn’t matter. The evening had already given me everything I could have hoped for.

Fishing often feels like a search for moments rather than fish. Most trips are enjoyable, some are productive, but every now and then everything aligns perfectly: the weather, the river, the insects, the trout and your own timing.

This was one of those evenings. A narrow window between the storm clouds and the rain, a rising fish, a perfect drift, and a wild Arrow brownie returned to the river.

The sort of memory that stays with you long after the details have faded.

1 Trout

Late afternoon/evening attempt. Plenty of Mayfly, but no rises or fish seen.

Fished 3pm to 7pm no signs of surface activity despite there being plenty of insect life on the water,
eventually found a few fish on Nymphs losing one good fish while trying to keep it out of tree roots and a couple of takes that did'nt stop connected for long but no fish landed. river beginning to look a bit low.

A bright afternoon & low water made for difficult fishing. A fair amount of fly hatching, including a few mayflies, but no sign of a fish, not even fry. Prospecting with dry fly & nymph brought no response. Copious amounts of filamentous algae lying in the margins & balsam on the banks. On the plus side I was greeted with a fly-past by a kingfisher.

Plenty of insect life including early mayfly however only one fish seen rising for the entire stretch. Had one take on a parachute Adams but no others. Highlight of the day was spotting a roe deer crossing the river from the upper wooded section! Some ranunculus crowfoot spotted in the river which is encouraging.

Lovely evening for fishing Not a very good one for biting trout Did see a couple rising on stretches that were very overgrown and missed one on size16 ptn of small variety One kingfisher spotted and saw first swallows Will try again later on in season

Apologies for the belated report - first day of the season for me but no fish caught. The water was fairly clear but still a little high and fast. No insects seen hatching and no sign of fish.

First time here, water low as expected, just on dries few fish seem rising manage to cover a decent fish alas poor knot tying....

Parachute Adams type flies, worked well but only in places where fish were seen to be rising. River clear and quite low. Beautiful sunny day, plenty of flies hatching but very limited areas where fish were active.

5 Trout

Caught nor saw any sign of fish River quite coloured from overnight rain tried a variety of nymphs Some lovely looking stretches of river though