Frustrating failure to connect.

An early finish at lunchtime saw me able to have an afternoon on the river. The river I fished on today was running painfully low; stark contrast to the beginning of the season when it was the fullest I'd ever seen it. The low water conditions made things difficult, most glides were as flat as glass and any riffles simply too shallow. This river has a lot more weed growth than it used to in the past. Ranunculus has sprouted up in so many new areas which can only be good, before there would be yards and yards of bare gravel bottom. A downside to all this new growth especially getting towards the end of season, is when it starts to die off; there were many clumps floating down river. Despite the conditions there were frequent rises all along the stretch I fished. I saw the odd olive hatching along with caddis on the wing. I couldn't discern what the trout were taking, though I suspect they were taking whatever came along.

To cover all angles I tied on a size 16 Adams klinhåmmer; this fly really is my all-rounder searching pattern. The first fish that took failed to connect, the second came off after a few seconds. It wasn't until the third fish did I actually land a fish, a small escapee rainbow of around 7". A fine-looking fish with a full tail but it shouldn't be in the river so I chose to remove it; the fish had other ideas and wriggled its way to freedom.

The afternoon continued with many more unconnected takes along with another fish that came off mid-fight. Most rises came to the klink but I also tried a small CDC olive but this didn't improve matters. It was very frustrating and to make things worse my casting wasn't up to par either; many a branch was hooked and a few flies lost.

The best fish of the day was also my last. Stationed on the edge due to ranunculus filling the middle of the river, this fish was hanging mid-current in a narrow, deeper section of river. A couple of casts with a klink brought the fish up to inspect but it refused to take. I feel the surface was far too flat for the klink so I looked for a more refined alternative. Out came a size 16 CDC olive; I dressed this with a watery-olive biot and a small amount of squirrels guard hair dubbed as a thorax. I made a couple of casts but they failed to bring the fish up, much more to do with them being out of line than anything. The first cast that drifted the fly directly over the fish saw it lift up and sip down the olive. It fought well taking line off the reel before lodging itself into some weed. I brought the weed and the now quiet fish to the net, the weed kindly blinding the fish in to submission. The trout was long and a bit lean, but it's pleasing to finally catch a sizeable fish. A couple of pictures and it was promptly returned. I called in a day after that I was nearly time to go so better to end on a good fish.