Feedback & Reports

Poor day. Never seen the Lugg so low. Saw 1 fish rise all day, which I managed to tempt and the subsequently lost.
New fencing in place which keeps the ever curious cattle at arms distance. Couple of new trees down, one right in the middle of my favourite winter trotting run. Bah!
All topped off by the 1inch tear in my waders.

My goodness- Hot and still this PM- got my courage up and went for teeny weeny dries. So 3 to the net and 4 more where I let myself down. As mentioned earlier, Himalaya need their balsam back and the styles are getting tricky. Definitely worth a revisit but I will bring a bill-hook and a car mat to cross the wire. (Just fished upstream of the bridge- not sure of what it's like below. )

2 Trout, 1 Grayling

Lyepole continues to fish well - in spite of the low level and a hot, bright day. Steady progress upstream in the morning, with Grayling from most of the runs that I fished. Mostly fish in the 7 - 8" bracket, with a handful of bigger fish. Let's call it 2 dozen. A friend turned up at lunchtime with his gas cooker and lashings of sausages and bacon. Although the intention was to fish downstream in the afternoon, replete with a thoroughly unhealthy lunch, somehow I never quite got around to it. However, my friend - who is very much a 10ft 7wt Reservoir Man - did catch his first ever Grayling with more or less his first exploratory cast with my 7ft 6in 3wt rod

4 Trout, 24 Grayling

Water low, steady fishing with fish to single nymphs in the pocket water and rifles…

8 Trout, 5 Grayling

All fish caught on nymphs under a klinkhammer dry fly. Superb male grayling late afternoon downstream of the bridge. 2 mink cavorting about entertained me for ten minutes upstream of bridge. Better than the paddle boarder I met last time I was here!

2 Trout, 11 Grayling

A few hours fishing and a few fish caught including a very nice trout; 4 Grayling and 3 WBT all on nymph, no rises seen. River getting low but still some good pools and runs. KM

3 Trout, 4 Grayling

Caught a small grayling to a nymph very early on at the bottom of the beat. This was the only take. Changed fly a couple of times. Fished a dry fly in the afternoon, a few fish moved but refused to take.

1 Grayling

1st time using the passport scheme and wasn't disappointed. Booked the lyepole beat as it seems quite popular so guessed access would be OK and it was. Delightful stretch of River in beautiful surroundings was exactly what we wanted. With not a rising fish to be scene we tackled up to fish the Euro rig and it was a good decision and we steadily caught all day. Most of the fish were little peas in a pod Grayling around 20>25cm but I did manage 1 brute of a Bronwie that was 40cm+. Some of the styles are suspect but at least there are styles amd we even saw a resident Mink that dint seem bothered by us. Lots of evidence of what it was eating lying around (Crayfish). The river was carrying an odd Grey colour so although the visibility was good you still had to take care wading over knee deep. Also there is tons of himalayan balsam, way too much to remove on a fishing trip needs a work party of a dozen people to even scratch it.

10 Trout, 20 Grayling

Back to the changing, changeless river ...

While nothing to compare with what the Open golfers had to contend with at Troon on Saturday, the rain had put a hint of colour in the water, and the river probably fished better for it. Steady progress throughout the day, with most of my fish on weighted nymphs. With the cottage not occupied, I was able to fish that section, and had a few fish - although, surprisingly, nothing from that oh so enticing pool immediately in front of the cottage

6 Trout, 20 Grayling

A busy day on the river, 29 Grayling and 5 WBT. I fished the length of the beat but found the lower half more productive and better access for fishing, nice runs and pools and lots inbetween on this section. First time in a long while that Ive had a double, this good sized trout in the picture caught on my lead nymph (Duracell) and a smaller trout on the dropper (PTN). KM

5 Trout, 29 Grayling