13/07/2019 - A good brown trout

A good brown trout

A good brown trout

Tuesday morning was the perfect day for guiding, overcast sky no wind, muggy conditions what I would call a “Roach Fishers Day” Andrew arrived around 1000 hrs his first words were “Are these good conditions and what is the river like?” I replied “The river is low and clear but I feel we will get a hatch coming off between 1300 hrs and 1500 hrs which should offer you some good dry fly action”, while Andrew put his gear together I made him a mug of coffee with a slice of buttered toast. He then presented my with 2 big fillets of hake which were quickly put in the cold box, that’s tea sorted for tonight I though. Around 1100 hrs we were ready to go, as we walked across the meadow a roe deer dashed from the wood heading across the meadow, then across the river into another wood, I always get a buzz when I see the roe deer, halfway across the meadow, we put a hare another wonderful creature of the countryside, we are fortunate to have a good healthy population of hares, we also have a badger set on the fishery, often when I’m sea trout or chub fishing in the dark old Brock as the badger is often called will show up.

A Big Salmon Shows

As we arrived at the river a big salmon rolled in the pool, Andrew got excited, Can I fish for that salmon? he asked, if you like but I doubt if it will take a fly, but yes you can try. I will go and get a salmon outfit, fifteen minutes later I’m back at the waterside, tying on a small Ally's Shrimp, I handed the outfit to Andrew, I sat on the bank watching, occasionally the fish showed but not once did it take any interest in the fly. Half an hour later, I suggested he try for a trout in the fast water at the head of the pool. In the next thirty minutes he had a brace of 14 inch brown trout. We then went off for a leisurely lunch discussing not only fishing but shooting and gun dogs.

Feeding Trout on the Surface

For the afternoon session I took Andrew well off downstream to a small wood, where we would have a selection of fast shallows along with two deep holes also a steady flow of water close to the opposite bank under the trees. We quietly dropped into the water then headed out towards the far bank, as we did so Andrew said “That was a Big Fish” as a fish intercepted something that dropped from the trees. I then told Andrew to make a long cast and drop a the White Wulff dry fly about six feet upstream of the fish, After trying for several minutes and not getting close to the target area, he said “See if you can reach the fish” I then tied on a Royal Wulff pattern, Pulling off some fifty feet of I line I made two false cast then shot the line, the fly dropped under the trees four feet up from where we had seen the, the fly drifted two feet then it was gently taken, as I set the hook we were both amazed at the big boil the fish made, then it took off downstream twenty or more yards of line were stripped off the reel, it was exciting ‘reel music’ to my ears. It took me some ten minutes to get the fish under control, then it sulked at the bottom of a pool but eventually I got the fish coming to the net, then it was mine a brown trout estimated at 4.5lbs. unhooking the fish Andrew took a couple of pictures then it was released to grow bigger.

Andrew Then Gets Some Action

Having released the fish I returned to my job of guiding Andrew, moving slowly upstream we targeted several good trout, I kept Andrew fishing the White Wulff pattern that the trout wanted to eat, apart from missing several takes he ended up with five nice brown trout around the 2lbs mark so ended our successful day.

Back to the News List