30th June 2015
A hot summers day with the mercury reaching 30'
according to the weather app, kitted up in chest waders, fly jacket and a
shirt i felt like i was on some sweat fitness program. Regardless i was
keen and made my way down to the river. As i arrived i heard a crash
and a splash, confused i looked down the embankment to see a roe deer
clambering in the water, luckily it found its footing in the shallows
and hurried ungracefully over the rocks into the knotweed downstream. I
had ran down the hill as this happened as i thought it was going to be
some animal rescue moment, but fortunatly i wasn't needed and i had
spotted my first wild deer. strange to see one at midday in hot summer
sun surely?
I reached my first run with the intention of testing my new tactics on losing less fish, which basically was let them swim for a bit and avoid getting them to the surface. I felt that alot of the fish were lost during the jumping so i was trying to avoid that as much as possible. I cast into the tail water and was in almost instantly, netted and released i was happy that things had started off quickly. Reaching the riffles i lost a trout but then somehow managed a miracle catch, a damned stone loach. The first trout had taken the czech nymph but the loach had taken the shiny black and white ribbed fly, i wasn't using much weight today.
The pool were i have had big trout lost and my biggest trout caught brought nothing though i did lose a fish on a slow stretch before it which had never produced a fish before. just above the pool in a very rocky section were i've had a couple before i pulled out 3 and lost a very small one. all on the shiny black and white ribbed which in fact caught the rest of the fish today. i saw a trout in the shallows about 20 feet ahead, average size but i was happy to see i was adapting to river fishing noticing trout lay on the bottom, 2 casts it ignored the flies and the 3rd it spooked.
A long wait between my next hit, nothing in the shaded areas strangely, maybe as i had dark flies on or they had moved to warmer waters in the river. my final section i reached were i have had 27 trout so far in had a foreign couple spinning in it and a family with 3 kids around the age of 6. I had a chat to the guy to see if i was ok fishing with him spinning and he said he was heading down river soon anyway.
Second cast i had a trout on but the families dog raced in the water and tried to grab it, giving it line to swim away it got off the hook and i gave a threatening look to the owner. I could cope with sharing the river as long as they didn't interfere or endanger the fish. I lost a few trout, played them for around a minute the 'bigger' ones but all lost when they flopped around as i pulled them towards the net, a couple slipped off while i let them run under water, a small trout swam through my net before i could take it's picture (around 4 inchs) and i managed to land 6 more trout, despite the families kids showering the river with stones.
A few people came down to this stretch as well and a young group of college aged lads and girls had a chat they were respectful saying they were going to move as i was fishing but i said they could stay as they were doing no harm unlike the others. Shows there is a difference in people, those who have respect and those who don't. i enjoyed my fishing, difficult conditions and difficult people but could of had more had it been quieter but the river isn't private i'm afraid.
I reached my first run with the intention of testing my new tactics on losing less fish, which basically was let them swim for a bit and avoid getting them to the surface. I felt that alot of the fish were lost during the jumping so i was trying to avoid that as much as possible. I cast into the tail water and was in almost instantly, netted and released i was happy that things had started off quickly. Reaching the riffles i lost a trout but then somehow managed a miracle catch, a damned stone loach. The first trout had taken the czech nymph but the loach had taken the shiny black and white ribbed fly, i wasn't using much weight today.
The pool were i have had big trout lost and my biggest trout caught brought nothing though i did lose a fish on a slow stretch before it which had never produced a fish before. just above the pool in a very rocky section were i've had a couple before i pulled out 3 and lost a very small one. all on the shiny black and white ribbed which in fact caught the rest of the fish today. i saw a trout in the shallows about 20 feet ahead, average size but i was happy to see i was adapting to river fishing noticing trout lay on the bottom, 2 casts it ignored the flies and the 3rd it spooked.
A long wait between my next hit, nothing in the shaded areas strangely, maybe as i had dark flies on or they had moved to warmer waters in the river. my final section i reached were i have had 27 trout so far in had a foreign couple spinning in it and a family with 3 kids around the age of 6. I had a chat to the guy to see if i was ok fishing with him spinning and he said he was heading down river soon anyway.
Second cast i had a trout on but the families dog raced in the water and tried to grab it, giving it line to swim away it got off the hook and i gave a threatening look to the owner. I could cope with sharing the river as long as they didn't interfere or endanger the fish. I lost a few trout, played them for around a minute the 'bigger' ones but all lost when they flopped around as i pulled them towards the net, a couple slipped off while i let them run under water, a small trout swam through my net before i could take it's picture (around 4 inchs) and i managed to land 6 more trout, despite the families kids showering the river with stones.
A few people came down to this stretch as well and a young group of college aged lads and girls had a chat they were respectful saying they were going to move as i was fishing but i said they could stay as they were doing no harm unlike the others. Shows there is a difference in people, those who have respect and those who don't. i enjoyed my fishing, difficult conditions and difficult people but could of had more had it been quieter but the river isn't private i'm afraid.
Good to see your enjoying your fishing and well done on the loach capture
ReplyDeletegot to remember some days are easier and some harder but good to see new things pop out, who knows what i might catch
DeleteWell done mate was the guy spinning called Matus?
ReplyDeletenot sure he was fishing with his mrs if that helps
DeleteGobsmacked might be the word. I have never before actually heard of anyone catching a stone loach fairly on rod and line before. It actually took the bait? Brilliant.
ReplyDeleteLots in my own rivers but as for them looking at a bait....never heard of it to date.
yeah i thought it was a minnow at first as i have caught quite a few on the fly, i'm quite sensitive to bites so strike at everything. didn't expect to find a loach in the river, didn't realise it was such a rare catch
Delete