Feedback & Reports

2 x grayling 10 and 11 inches, 5 x out of season trout 6-10 inches, Gold Bead Hare's Ear. The first time I have managed to get to Chanstone this year. A warm, dull, rainy day. I found the little Dore very, very low, 0.21 on the Peterchurch gauge and, unusually, extremely clear. The bottom part of the beat was full of very visible, easily spooked, small grayling. Nothing was rising however. I experimented with different nymphing methods, but it was not till near the top that I worked out that, on this day and in these conditions at least, a single size 16 nymph cast upstream on a tapered leader seemed to work better than anything else. So a couple of fish to record.

5 Trout, 2 Grayling

Very tricky the few hours I was on this beat. Water low, clear with very bright conditions with the bigger fish laying idle in very shallow water. I dropped down to 1lb tippet on a ten foot leader and still managed to spook 90% of fish targeted. On the plus side saw a fair few grayling in the 10-14 size so with a good downpour and some pace to the water could have a good day for winter grayling.

9 Trout, 1 Grayling

Nice four hours on the Dore. All but two trout and grayling fell to size 18 beadhead nymph. The two to dry fell for size 18 f-fly in dark natural cdc. As with all wild streams this beat also is carrying little water. The only ace card being it has many long deep glides and all takes came deep from these areas. This beat also seems not to be as overgrown as many others.
WUF Note: The Wild Streams Volunteers put in quite a few hours to clear Chanstone Court last winter. From this season's reports, it looks like their efforts have paid dividends!

15 Trout, 2 Grayling

No fish today. The conditions are very tough with a lot of vegetation and low flows.

Dry Tups Indisputable. River low. bank side growth very dense. This stretch is full of fish. Some late Mayfly still coming off.

2 Trout

Fished top of beat. There were a few fish rising and I managed to rise a single fish on a dry sedge. It did not stay on for long.

A pleasant evening out on this beat. Fished from gate two to gate 3. I cleared enough of a major obstacle halfway down the beat to allow access along the river bank instead of leaving the river and struggling up the bank.

2 Trout

Very overgrown, poor access, numerous rises but missed all.
Good head of fish present. However online booking very easy and a big improvement on old voucher system.

This was the 5th beat till I found one available, soon found out why. Hard going! Still 4 decent trout to the Mayfly.

4 Trout

Fished 10am-2pm hoping for a mayfly hatch which never really materialised. The odd mayfly that were on the water the trout were quite willing to rise for. Stuck to the dry fly all day and managed 5 trout 8-10inches from the faster, shallower sections of the river. Nice beat and hopefully next year I catch the mayfly hatch. Fished the Dulas brook 2:30-4pm. Few more mayfly hatching here, though many of the pools lacked flow. Caught 3 trout, 6-8inches, on the dry fly again. Enjoyable days fishing.

8 Trout