How True is That.

 My mate Stu sent me this and how true is it aswell, a quality sentiment.

 

The Rolling River.

 Barbel of around 3lb 8oz landed on my first roll of the season, well there's no point warming up as I didn't get a chance to, the take came totally out the blue and my first Barbel from that part of the river in 7 or 8 years, over the closed season I have been lucky enough to spot a small shoal of Barbel to around the 8lb mark which was something I didn't expect to see for a few years yet, due to the fact they were only stocked in early 2008, truly amazing.

 But when I arrived at the swim I was gutted to find it was totally void of the dense vegetation that I carefully crouched through to watch the Barbel and what they were doing, needless to say the disturbance that was caused by this put them on alert and they wouldn't respond to my rolled bait, two different fish did go up to briefly and backup away from it, which shows a minute interest on their part, so I will be back to try and extricate one.

 On my way down I did see a few fish and had a 2lb Chub rolling and a missed take off another, about a mile or so downstream I did find a shoal of 6 Barbel sat on a gravel run at the front of a depression which had a nice run of weed either side of it, perfect Barbel swim complete with an overhanging tree to give plenty of cover, on my first roll down the bait got caught on a stick that was wedged in a piece of weed and as I flicked the bait up to get it off the stick a beard came straight out from the shoal and snaffled the meat, oh how I have missed the scrap of a Barbel.

 

Biggest of the season so far at 7lbs 5ozs.

 

 

Off to a Barbel anglers heaven.

 

 3 Months is along time in angling and I hadn't forgot how well they fought but it reminded me of the power they possess, truly brilliant. I left the swim alone for a while and headed down river about a mile and half to find some more fish and it took along time to accrue another fish, with swim after swim being rolled through without a bite when I got another tug on my finger tip I struck into the fish and a small Barbel made off with the bait, within 2 minutes I had Barbel number three on the bank and yet another small Barbel of about 3lbs, good fun and they were certainly moving around but the bigger Barbel were hiding away more.

 

 I decided to head back up to where I had the 7lb Barbel from and giving it another go, it wasn't long before I got an enquiry on one of my first rolls through, but a take didn't materialize and it took about another half a dozen rolls until I got a take which firmly took the bait but it didn't feel like a Barbel as the fight was weaker but it knew where the snags were and did its best to snap me up but after a couple of minutes I finally saw it and a large Chub appeared from the overhanging tree and all but gave up, heading straight to the net, a proper warrior of a Chub with plenty of scars, I couldn't wait to put her on the scales to find out just how big it was.

 

 

 On the scales she weighed 5lbs 6ozs, a big Chub for a system like this, on the Great Ouse it's an average fish or even a little above average, I was extremely happy to have caught this fish, a proper Chevin, I hope to catch a few more of these this season and one off the Ouse would be great, after releasing this great fish back I did have another Chub of 4lb 1oz but nowhere near as impressive as the 5.

 

 For the evening I fancied having a go on another stretch and just sit behind a rod an hour before dusk and fish through to about 10pm which is the perfect time to have a bait out, but for the time I spent in my chosen swim I did get a reel turner on my centre-pin but struck and nothing, probably a Chub rap, so after a couple of hours I packed up but as I finished that my mate Stu called over who was in a swim above me so I went up to see him and watched the last 2 minutes of his battle, so I readied the net and did the honours, a nice slim spawned out Barbel slipped into the awaiting net.

 

 

Stu's first of the season at 7lb 7oz, fully spawned out and showing a few scrapes from spawning.



Trotting for Roach.

 The last couple of seasons I have targeted the Barbel on the first morning/day and not done as well as I had hoped but fishing likes to throw you curveballs just to keep you interested, on Sunday morning I headed off out the door at 4am as the sky was brightening up, around an hour it took to get to my chosen location and I was in for a shock when I got to the river and noticed how choked it was with weed, my heart sank as I went through swim after swim and almost every one was unfishable, I passed about 5 swims in a 80m walk upstream, nearly halfway up I decided to drop of the gear in a bush and grab the polaroid's, I was seriously hoping I'd find one ok enough to trot a float.

 All the previous swims had not even enough space between a run of weed to fish, 3 swims up from where I dropped the tackle I peered into the swim just like the last seven swims and expected the same when I was immediately greeted by a couple of good Roach, that was all I needed to see, all of a sudden the day got perky.

 I trickled some flakes of bread downstream and watched with anticipation to see whether the Roach would respond to the offerings and after the first six pieces went down untouched, a small Roach about 8oz came up and took one, which seemed to spark the shoal into a feeding frenzy, needless to say I was set up and out on my first trot and then disaster struck, my float sailed away and I hooked a Chub around the 3lb mark, when the Chub feed in these sort of conditions it seems to be the Chub that always win, poor Roach get bullied out the way by them as I was witnessing, on 5 or 6 occasions I see Roach or Rudd approach a piece of bread and a Chub take it off their noses.

 First fish of the season, a Chub, I think it's been that case for the last 2 or 3 seasons now, such a greedy species and other times they can be so damn difficult to persuade. It wasn't long though until I got in connection with my target species, when I cast down amongst the weed and trotted about 15m the float slid away in typical fashion and on the light trotting gear I was given the pleasure of a spirited scrap, just what I had hoped for and when it came close to the net I realised it was a little bigger than I suspected.

 A good quality Roach of 1lbs 10ozs, just what I wanted, a 1lb + Roach was for sure welcome and it was about 15 minutes later that I got myself another decent Roach, which again put up a good battle on the 3lb line that was in use, a shade smaller than the first one at 1lb 6ozs but due to the spawning unfortunately did not look in good condition with scales missing on both sides and injuries still bleeding a little, as soon as I landed it, it got weighed and went straight back to cause it no extra stress than it obviously has been through.

 But with that second Roach being banked the session took a nose dive in regards to action, the Roach totally switched off and the Chub were only feeding sporadically and I had them to 4lb 1oz which is a good size but not what the journey was for, but some of the Roach that I see in the morning were of absolutely specimen proportions, 2 to 3 dozen of them were 2lb +, I am hoping that the weed puts anyone else interested off of fishing it and telling by the lack of foot traffic and the dense untouched vegetation it will hopefully be ignored by everyone but me, not a team player come fish of this stamp.

 Later on in the day, I had grabbed a rolling set-up and went out to go for a late spring Barbel, but I drew a blank, the short session wasn't a waste though as Stu and I watched about 20 Barbel spawning for around 30 minutes, with 2 or 3 females followed by loads of males all competing for the number one spot.

 

 

Too Close for Comfort.

 A new river season in a couple hours beckons with an early start in search of Roach, for the last few seasons I've almost always gone out for Barbel but this year I'm going to head out in search a specimen redfin, but with that all planned out I still had a day to go and with a mornings errands all sorted I decided to go for one last escapade with the fly rod for a Brown Trout, when I left the rain had held off for a while but the wind was still blustering at times to about 30mph, not ideal fly fishing conditions but I still went ahead with it.

 Before I did that I arranged to meet Stu at our local tackle shop to stock up on coarse gear for the coming weeks and had a chinwag whilst I did my shopping and ordered a new Wychwood carry case for my fly rod and a load of other little bits, we parted company as Stu was off to get his gear all prepared for midnight and I headed off to the river to do some fluff chucking.

 On my way up river I was greeted by a rain and hail shower that lasted 20 minutes or so, luckily enough I found a dense enough canopy to hide under whilst it passed, was like watching paint dry waiting for it to go, so close to fishing but I wouldn't dare step out into it. After the deluge I headed off up again and started to just cast on the long straights hoping to pick a Brownie off when I saw a small riser about 15 yrds downstream so on the next cast I aimed for where the fish rose and when my fly reached roughly the same area a pair of rubbery lips opened and my daddy long legs fly vanished, seeing that I struck instantly and the rod slammed over and hooked into a strong fish which by looking at the lips it definitely was no Trout, I tried to apply pressure to whatever it was but on a 4lb leader, I didn't stand a good chance in banking it when all of a sudden the fight turned into a glide upstream and straight towards me, it turned out to be a Carp, the fly munching culprit was within seconds sat nestled in my landing net and reviving.

 A chunky, extremely powerful little bundle of fun, 6lb 14oz Mirror Carp, it was nearly as wide across the back as it was deep, river Carp mostly remind me of rugby balls. After a mile or so walk I was approaching my usual fly fishing beats, but I wanted to head up further and just fish a couple of spots rather than every swim like I normally do.

 I've always liked fishing this spot as the Trout sit just down stream and I cast down to them but unfortunately nothing rose here so I moved just 10 meters upstream, when the most surrealist thing happened and as I'm writing this I'm still counting my blessings, as I left the swim that I took the picture above in I walked about 10 paces away from that swim when this happened.....

........ A sharp gust whipped up as I was walking away from that tree and a loud crack followed by more cracking and then an almighty crunch as it hit the deck!, just a matter of seconds and this post may never have gone up or I would have been seriously injured, on the second picture notice the tree in the swim pic 2 above this one, someone today was watching over me, no doubt about it. As I took these pictures a old fella came sprinting over to see if I was okay and said he had seen it all from his kitchen window whilst he waited for his kettle to boil, understandably rattled from what just happened I composed myself and had a quick chat with the man, who was donning a dressing gown and slippers about the certain purchase of some lottery tickets as whilst my luck was in I should take advantage of such good fortune, far too close for comfort.

 Very bloody lucky indeed, if I had hooked a Trout or had a rise I would have stayed in that swim and would have been wearing a 2 tonne tree as a hat, but my luck was in, so I headed upstream away from the trees and went upstream to carry on looking for a Trout to cast at, it wasn't long until I did find one and on my second cast I hooked and landed a nice 2.10 Brownie, as I got it in the net the fly fell out in the net ( I can't say I haven't my fair share of luck already, I must have been I credit for some reason with someone upstairs, hope I haven't used my seasons allowance before it's even started), a decent fish and a good fight too as usual and it's what I've come to expect every time I catch one. Bottom picture is the brownie back in it's watery home sulking.

 Again it was time to move and I had decided to just have a go in a couple more swims and call it a day, but in one of those I did have a bit of joy and was re-united with an old friend from a few weeks ago, about 100meters downstream of where I caught the last time and also looking a little thin from when I last caught him, but I didn't weigh it and one quick picture and straight back in the river.

 

The battle commencing.

 

 One the best looking wild Brown trout I've ever seen, exactly what they should look like, lots of spots, lovely brown colouring with a yellowy underbelly with a set of needle sharp teeth. But the fun didn't stop there because within 5 minutes of releasing that one I had another on the end, not as big as the first but a good scrap all the same and a nice brownie about 2lb or so was on the bank again I didn't weigh it and took a piccy and sent it back to join it's fellow Trout.

 Such good fun the Brown Trout but now it is time for me to pursue the other river species and leave the Trout to feed and rest up ready for December and January next year for the spawning months and populate even more on top of what is now becoming quite a decent head of fish, it's a shame the other the species aren't doing aswell in regards to their populations in this neck of the woods.

 I did have one last piece of action and unfortunately ended up with me hooking a Trout and a decent one at that based on the power of the take and it bust me up by biting through my tippet and robbing my fly :( .

 That lost Trout was my last action of the afternoon and I spent the rest of the afternoon spotting different quarry down river, a range of Barbel, Chub and Roach were what I was looking for but only saw a shoal of Barbel that were of any quality.

 I see them and they can't see me and that's how I like it but what I've found with Barbel is that they are quite tolerant of seeing you as I have had many Barbel whilst standing not right out in the open but they know I'm there for sure, but if I can sneak up on them, then great, a certain tactic is in mind for this swim and it looks good, with the largest fish around the 8lb mark but I believe there were larger tucked under the weed, in the famous words of Arnie....... I'll be back.


 

Specimen Hybrid.

 After a lovely break in Cyprus for just over a week, we had a little bit of a downer on the return flight when our original plane had been cancelled and had another flight organised for us but with a 7 hour delay which wasn't ideal and I hate airports nearly as much as hospitals, due to sheer boredom that they provide you with, so midnight came and went and we had only just boarded the plane, 1am was just arriving ( Cypriot time ) and we had just taken off so I guessed we would get back to the UK for around 4.30am GMT which went if I was to go asleep I'd miss most of the day so after dropping off the missus I shot home and grabbed a rod and my gear and headed off out in search of a early morning Carp.

 It didn't take long for me to find them but they were playing very cautiously which made life for me a little more difficult and partnered with the fact the wind was blowing an absolute gale, the fishing was slow going but as soon as the wind eased off at around 730 I got my first enquiry in the form of a rip roaring take on the float and I was locked into battle with a good Common Carp that fought very well and showed me what I've been missing for the last few weeks, about 5 minutes later a spawned out female was sat reviving in the net.

I hadn't changed the timer on the camera so it was two hours earlier than stated and a nice fish at 16lb 5oz, Carp in this lake tend to average 14-17lbs so this one was standard fish but plenty of 20lb + Carp do live here and only a couple minutes after putting back the 16lber a large Common around the 25lb mark cruised straight through my swim but it showed no interest in anything I did and after a while it exited stage left.

 Some of the Carp and Bream were feeding in shoals of 15 -20 and I saw a couple of monster Bream aswell to what could have been 12-13lbs, if I manage to snare one of those it will be a new personal best! I'd love to catch another double figure Bream and I've never had one from here either and only ever heard of 1 getting caught and that went 12.4, so I know they get big but nobody wants to catch them apart from me as far as I can make out, but I'll be happy being the only one targeting them, more for me!!.

 The fish did carry on feeding and after around an hour n half I had another Common, a shade smaller than the last at 14lb 1oz, but again well proportioned and much better condition than the first probably due to the fact this one hadn't spawned yet or only a little bit because it looked very plump still, but the session chucked up a very interesting curve ball in the shade of what I thought was a Bream, but I'm almost certain it is a Roach-Bream Hybrid, the first I've had in a very long time and at the weight of 4lb 13oz which was by far the largest hybrid I've ever seen or caught, I was over the moon with this fish, but a small element of doubt is in the back of my mind that it may not be, if anyone knows a more concrete answer please let me know.....

                                 

 This water used to be very well known for it's Hybrid's and extremely large Rudd, but over the last 15 years they seem to have all gone but this one has thrown a spanner in the works on that theory, silvers have always struggled against the constant predation of the cormorant colony that can hit 80 strong, a water of this size would probably get cleared of anything under 10'' in a matter of weeks rather than months or years, going back to the "hybrid", another reason why I believe it is one simply was down to the fight, it actually fought which Bream don't really do and try their best to impersonate a plastic bag being dragged in. I really hope it is a Hybrid because it is a special fish if so. After the excitement of that fish and releasing it back to the unknown I packed up and headed off.

Camping Gudgeon.

 Just a quick update before I put my latest post up, a couple of weeks ago before my holiday to Cyprus, Stu - Chris and myself headed down to my local river to carry on some the hard work we have been putting in and this time was no different. With a plethora of crud and peoples disguarded possessions that no longer served their purpose so, naturally in London it ends up in the river or in the bankside vegetation awaiting to be thrown in the river by someone else.

 In the river on this occasion we extricated 15m of blue tubing, 4 tyres, 2 bikes, a black Aprilla moped, half a patio table, 2 tents, 2 Gudgeon, untold wood and other solids along with around half a ton of a mix of miscellaneous rubbish (mainly plastic carrier bags).

 The two Gudgeon were very lucky to survive because we didn't notice them until Stu had dragged the tent up the bank to the rubbish collection site, when a Gudgeon starts flapping about on the floor which then got Stu looking to see if there was anymore and sure as, there was another pristine Gudgeon about the same size as the first one, they both got re-released back into the system to live on, also below is one of the items that made us all chuckle, as to how someone could walk in them!!, and how did it end up in the river?

 

This Gudgeon was hiding in the tent that is in the foreground of the picture.

 

Stu hard at work clearing a safe path through to Chub heaven, a scene of many fishy crimes.

 

Hopefully we will manage maybe one more clean up before the river season starts and then it will then remain business as usual.

Wild Brown Trout Fever Part Two.

 I can't believe just how bad the weather has been this year so far, really can not fathom it out, we are in May and nearly June, today though for once the weather gods were shining down on me and I felt happy to just be out with a fly rod on such a pleasant day, so all that was needed was willing fish to take a liking to my plethora of flies.

 It wasn't long either for things to start happening and by 8am I had my first Trout on the bank, a little female it looked like around the 6oz mark, good little bit of sport really is fun on my 7ft brook rod, never want the scraps to end but the way things were looking I'd have plenty more battles to overcome before it was home time for me, as I left the first one to recover in the net I flicked my blue flash damsel back down to roughly the same spot and a brownie a shade bigger smashed the fly at the same time leaping over a foot out of the water, would loved to have caught that on video, wow.

 Not 5 minutes after releasing that pair I had another two Trout with the biggest being about 10ozs, not large but four Trout in just a little over 10 minutes was a great start and just so entertaining, but now it was time to head downstream to find something that would fight back considerably, my next port of call was a cracking looking piece of river where it sped right up and had a deep recess on the far bank, in that recess I saw a good sized shape but couldn't work out what it was, a Chub or a Trout, it took a few flings with the fly to get the fish interested and when it did finally take it I became locked into a very intense fight, with the Trout stripping the entire of my fly line off the spool!, down to my fluorescent backing I seriously had to try and turn it back up stream, it wasn't for about 3 minutes that I saw the fish I was playing the battle 30 yards downstream, as the fish tired I gained all my line back and she swam straight into the awaiting net, nearly as knackered as I was after that one, thought I'd hooked a freight train.

A lovely high 3lber, cracking fish.

 

 I can't get over the sport these fish provide, they have been my saviour this spring. Chalk stream Trout are fantastic fun, anyone who hasn't tried I recommend it highly and go as light as you dare, the lighter the more exhilarating every fight is. Back to the fishing and after that latest fish to my collection I carried on down and managed another two lovely Trout to the 1lb8oz region, all of which so far had fallen to the same fly but one, which was a daddy long legs.

 

 When I got near the bottom of my normal beat I fished a stretch that I normally walk straight past because of the density of the foliage, but today I had a pair of Chino's on to protect my legs from the potent stinging nettles which some of which were reaching above my 6"1" !, like being on a trek through the Thai jungle, when I finally got to river, the next task was to find the fish and then a suitable angle to cast at without hooking all the shrubbery behind me, after trailblazing for 10 minutes I took a couple of minutes to rest up and eat some of my chocolate hobnobs when an enormous Trout leapt out of the water right in front of me, for no reason from what I could think of, but that spurred me into gear immediately, the Trout was in the region of 5lb if not bigger, a large fish for this system so needless to say I put my olive green/blue flash damsel back on as it had done so well today.

 

 

 

Not 5lb, more like 3lb 3oz.

 

 The large Trout that leapt out had vanished and I managed to cast blind and didn't see any other fish when the line got ripped from my hand as I was retrieving the fly, a savage take which caught me totally unaware but it was another good fight, exactly what I expect of these fish now.

 

 But the best looking fish was to come but not necessarily the best thing I've seen all day, I'll let the pictures of this beautiful 3lb14oz Brown Trout tell you why, as far as Trout go this was immaculate in every way. 

 

 

Need I say more??, oh the water was bloody freezing!.

 

 

 But towards the end of the day, a morning and afternoon's great sport and 10 Brown Trout landed and returned safely I was treated to something I've never seen before and managed to get quite a lot of photo's, now I am definitely no Bill Oddie or am certainly not a bird person, but for the Kingfisher I'll make an exception, truly pretty birds, the only shame was my lens couldn't get me closer to the action but these pictures will definitely do. A great spectacle, what a treat.

 

2 Kingfishers hovering outside the nest.
 



 

One of the kingfishers doing what they do best.

 



 I spent around an hour just watching them, diving on the shoals of 3spined sticklebacks that line the margins and hovering above the surface attending to what I believe is there nesting site, then flying down past me and then back up river constantly, for these photos I just put the DSLR onto burst mode and held the trigger, these are just two of around 40 taken in the hour or so spent there.

 

 I did also have just one last fish that was in the shape of a Chub just over 3lb but it looked like it had seen better days, it must have had a very rough spawning session this year, lumps missing out of it and still very red and sore on both flanks with a chunk taken out of it's head aswell, after putting that Chub back at around 6pm it had been a long day with more 10 hours spent out on the bank without taking a seat for more than five minutes at a time.

 

What a days fishing, 10 Trout to 3lb14oz and a Chub over 3lb, taking my Trout tally to 29 in 7 trips.





Time to play catch up.

 The last two weeks have been pretty busy at work but I had managed to squeeze out a few hours on the bank in search of Carp and Crucian Carp during the day and Eels during the night, with the Carp and Crucians I tried a couple of different fisheries, one of which was new to me and it didn't disappoint with a couple of Common Carp caught but nothing large but no Crucians unfortunately, with the biggest between 7-8lbs and a small solitary Perch, closer to home I had two trips out early in the mornings with one being a total blank with not even a touch and the other trip producing just the one Carp around the 10lb mark again nothing substantial but it gave a good account of itself which is always welcome even if it was the smallest in the shoal that decides to push two 20lb + Carp out of the way to snaffle my bait, sods law that is.

 The Eel fishing has been fairly dead so far with two trips out so far in search of the much maligned species, although I haven't put a lot of time into it, with the time put in I know the rewards will be reaped, an angling pal of mine had a 5lb15oz Eel on Tuesday night whilst fishing for Carp that took a mainline Sel boilie on a Zig Rig, so I know they are there to be had, I hope my lucks in.

 

The Eel dinner bell had rung with no takers.

 

 

Great fun on the Centre pin.

 

 

Nearly a double and a lovely golden colour.

 

 

Where are the Crucians??. "Show me where", please.

 







 Now for the instalment of the Jungle warfare take on wild Brow Trout fly fishing.

Wild Brown Trout fever.

 As the coarse fishing season on the river is fast approaching, my time that I've been putting in to the fly fishing sport will quickly disappear and be spent on other species, but whilst that time hasn't yet arrived my quest for these proper wild brownies is still on.

 With some dodgy weather coming around today I fancied getting out early to try and miss it, the tactics that I have deployed over the last month or so have proved to be devastating with 16 Brown Trout to 4.9 caught in just five trips, so I chose to stick with what I know works.

 Considering the water I have been concentrating my efforts on is very small but brilliantly intimate I feel the return for my hard work has been extremely rewarding and I have encountered some fantastic battles off some pristine and quality fish, also with the mandatory homework done and a couple of trips just scouting was to simply understand the waterway and how to best approach it, over the last 10 years I have done this every season and this is reason why I feel I have done so well, 10 years ago there was maybe six Trout every mile or so, now that figure maybe tripled and some I know are approaching the dizzy heights of 6lb + and I have heard rumours of bigger but the fisherman's tale will forever remain fact or fiction, but there's nothing to say why not.

 My late morning/ early afternoon trip was a case of the missed takes, with the two being totally fluffed - both Trout I saw rise up for my Daddy long legs fly and take it with some serious tenacity but my line management hindered me in the early stages of the day whilst I accustomed myself to the ever changing swirly wind that plagued me all day and if it wasn't the failure to hook them it was the impossible positioning of the others.

 This Brownie was anything between 3.8 to 4lbs and good sized fish but casting to it was definitely not going to happen as a tree line behind me prevented me from doing so, but on my travels downstream I came across a pukka looking swim that funnily enough I never fish as I always travel on the other side and it folks off so I never fish it but today I decided to travel the west bank for once and I'm very glad I did as I came to this quaint little weir which screamed Trout and on I think my third cast my reel screamed off with a Trout in tow, a very spirited scrap in the shallow weir pool, it took around two minutes to overcome it and she was soon resting up in my net but during that fight another Trout between 3 and 4lb chased my fish around until the net went in then it darted back into the weir.

 

Another proper Brownie at 1lb 10oz.

 

 After reviving the scrapper I checked my tippet for any abrasions, with that all clear I cast back out and braced myself for a proper fight if I was to latch into that one I saw chasing the first one around the pool, I stuck with the same fly as well hoping that it would still chow down on my perfectly presented imitation, with in 15 seconds I saw the line shoot forward as the Trout took the fly, I immediately struck and as I expected, all hell broke loose as I had hooked the Trout I see just five minutes prior but I didn't see it for a minute or so as it just kept it's head down in the white water trying most things in the book to shake me off and even tail walked in the hope of busting me up, but I held firm and after a powerful fight he was mine, yes another male!.

 

 

 3lb 7oz of brute strength and what a fish not my biggest this season but I think one of the best looking, no marks and the colour was superb, exactly what I came out for, always a good tonic for a long week ahead of work. Again that lovely specimen went back to carry on it's legacy and hopefully make some new additions, after that excitement it dried up fairly sharpish, I didn't see a Trout for over a mile if not close to two miles, they must have been on the move a lot recently, unfortunately I bumped into a couple of anglers again fishing with feeder tactics after Chub and no net!, I kindly reminded them of what they were doing was illegal but seemed to only have one thing on their mind and was to carry committing an offense with no care as to what they were doing and then the father turned to me and said "I don't understand how you can fly fish here there's no Trout or Salmon here", I thought to myself, "oh ignorance is bliss, isn't it just, only if he knew", my reply was that "at least I was fishing the correct method at the correct time of the year", If only the EA were just a little more pro-active at obscure times of the week they will nab so many more wrong do'ers.


 My day didn't finish there though and I did have one more Trout and that came on one of my last casts of the afternoon, when I flicked a olive green and orange flash damsel downstream and drew it up through a small shoal of Chub a good spotty nailed it and in the very fast water I struggled to bank it so I teased the fish through the flow up above the inlet where the water was much calmer, another 2lb + Trout landed.

 2lb 13oz the further downstream the Trout the more silvery they are.

 

 I just released that fish and the rain started that heralded the end of the trip and just a shade over a month until the season for everything else starts, can't wait but it's gone very quickly I admit. Now it's 19 Brown Trout in 6 trips, with a majority over 2lb and at least half a dozen over 3lb and the solo 4lb.

 

The boys are back in town......

 ......Fluff chucking Part Five, over the last few weeks I've been really hooked on the wild Brown Trout, so naturally I went out in search of more but the only thing missing from my recent trips is a specimen Trout, these are really hard to come by recently for the simple fact is that they are spreading out as they get older and becoming more territorial hence I'm only seeing the occasional 'big one' here and there rather than shoals of three to eight in small pockets that would average 2-3lbs the large ones now rarely keep other company.

 The expedition was the same as usual but with a lot less time as I had to be somewhere in the evening and I only reached my first spot at just gone midday so I didn't leave myself with much time to lose, I started the day with a selection of wet's and dry's fishing a pool where Trout do congregate albeit usually small ones but the occasional beast does slip in and out so I always work it just hoping to tease one into nailing the fly but after ten minutes or so, with not a touch I decided to move on and try elsewhere, casting from the bank does have it's difficulties, within five casts I lost two flies in the vegetation and trees lining a path behind me so I started to only pick the swims where the casting was easy and loss of tackle kept to a minimum.

 So easy swims is what I picked and it wasn't long before I had my first fish on, taken on the Mayfly it was the first of the season for me and a very pretty one it was too, at a massive 8oz or so, it was the smallest I think for me as well this season but they all count and touch wood in 5 years it will be a 6lb+ target, with that lil guy put back, next cast, I was into another, then another and one more after that too, within 7 casts I took 4 Trout to 1lb 1oz, all  marked really well and nice colouring, plus two of which were young male Brown Trout, you could tell by the small kype forming on the lower jaw, this season I have only caught one male Trout so far, almost all have been females ( no kypes ).

A female Trout 1.1. ( Epoxy buzzer black with a white head ).



 I had decided to change fly in case they wised up and the buzzer never fails on here, so a mix of flies did the business here and a great 15 minutes of fun, fishing with light gear just adds to the fun too, let em scrap, I say. I believed there was more Trout in that shoal to be had but I left the remainder to frolic for another week unhindered, but when it gets quiet I'll be paying them another visit, see if any bigger ones are home.

 Walking around my usual spots I found a variety of swims that had Trout in but they all seemed to look at the fly and expect it to have a hook in it, clever sods aren't they?!, a good half a dozen fish watched my fly land in front of them and all showed a slight bit of interest but no conviction at all, this scenario happen for nearly two hours until a good one came straight up to and sucked in my blue flash damsel, just for me to go and miss it inexplicably, after so much practice that's two in two trips I've fluffed up, just goes to show all the practice in the world doesn't make you exempt from a mistake or two.

 With time though hastily ending my trip, I did have one last chance, that chance came when I walked the same route I do most of the time and always hope to see a fish sitting up and never do but this time there was and it was a Brutus just what I've been searching for, a specimen Brown Trout, now I was actually in a dilemma here as I didn't know what fly to send down to it and on a whim I looked in the edge of the water and noticed some water-boatmen, the closest in my arsenal were daddy long legs flies, so I tied one on to my tippet, did all my line checks and then breathed in deep and cast down the 20yrds required to get within it and hoped it was interested, the closer it got to my fly the more my heart started pumping with adrenaline, as the fly got to within 3 or 4 foot of the fish, the Trout gained that distance in a blink of an eye and the line slammed taught, the take was ferocious and the fight that I endured was the best I've ever had off of a brown Trout without a doubt, an immense fight where at least twice I had to gain 30 feet of line as it stripped it, then thundered back towards me upstream, if you've ever been fly fishing and a fish has done that to you, you will know how hard it is to retrieve the line and keep tension on the fish, as all my flies are barbless due to a strict catch and release policy enforced by most of the fly anglers on this river, any loss of tension could have lost me the fish and that would have been a travesty.

 For about five or six minutes this fight lasted, I was truly amazed and when the fish finally got close to the net I noticed a kype on it, I had hooked a big male. First time of asking he came straight into the net, where I then left it to revive before photographing and weighing I also needed to catch my breath as I had used a fair amount of energy overcoming it, after such a cracking fight he still had plenty of get up and go on the bank too.

 On the scales he went an impressive 4lbs 9ozs, a proper specimen and my biggest for nearly a year, but I know a few larger ones lurk around here somewhere, but for now this amazing creature will certainly do!, after a couple of photo's it was home time for us both.

Who ate all the pies....... sorry I meant flies.