Feedback & Reports

Lovely little beat though a tough day due to bright sunshine, low water levels and lots of dog walkers. 3 wild brownies taken on a dun dry fly. Lots of trout present though very spooky

3 Trout

Good day on the brook – 24 trout and 1 roach. My first visit in nearly two years—time really flies! A late 10 a.m. start, with the air at 22°C and the water at 18°C. After a quick disinfectant spray and a check that the waders were still watertight, I was off.

The first pleasant surprise was that there weren't many dogs in the water. The second (and less welcome) surprise was finding people swimming and having BBQs along the beat! A few large trees have come down since my last visit, but otherwise the beat was in surprisingly good condition. If Oliver Burch has been responsible for keeping it tidy, he deserves a thank you from all of us anglers.

Water levels were low, leaving many of my usual hotspots high and dry. What puzzled me most was the colour of the water—it was brown and murky despite no recent rain. I later discovered swimmers at the upper limit and halfway along the beat, with the latter stirring up the riverbed and colouring the water downstream.

The coloured water led me to fish a larger fly (S12 Klinkhamer) with longer drifts. I switched to a nymph occasionally, but the dry fly consistently outfished it, producing 24 trout between 4 and 10 inches. The only fish on the nymph was a bonus roach.

Interestingly, the swimmers didn't seem to put the trout off—I caught several fish surprisingly close to them.

A cracking day overall, despite losing about a third of the beat to swimmers and dogs. I won't leave it another two years before returning!

24 Trout, 1 Other

Couple of hours out this evening, one small trout and one roach caught, despite busy footpath

1 Trout, 1 Other

A number of small fish around but could not get near them with a 7 foot 6 rod , Also lots of dog walkers throwing sticks in the brook so not ideal. Lots of debris evident on the banks and in the water ,plastic bottles etc

River was low but clear. No sight of crayfish.

1 trout caught

1 Trout

Great fishing fish fell to dry fly most pools held fish which were happy to take. All round lovely river and lost a surprising large fish in the wier.
Matt

8 Trout

2 Trout

Fished for nearly two hours in the afternoon. Warm day at 18C, water 8C.
It's been a few years since I was on this brook. It felt like there were more trees down and debris than I remember. A few pools weren't really fishable any more and some of the old stonework had been removed. Despite the lack of rain there was a milky tinge to the water - I assume some work going on up towards Cannop ponds where I hear they are trying to restore a more natural flow.
Not much moving, a handful of very tiny fish swirling sub surface on two of the millpond flat pools. Nothing on nymphs, dries or emergers. A spider across the current on the only bend big enough to do so (the rest of the brook is pretty straight and requires casting straight up the channel) resulted in a tiny trout just wider than the palm of my hand.

1 Trout

1 small trout on a gold head hares ear, released.

1 Trout

1 juvenil brownie caught. Saw some 4-6inch fish but the water is really low.

1 Trout