A Short Afternoon In The Rain

I finished work at lunchtime on Wednesday; after an almost shocking evening on Monday when Tom and I nearly blanked I really wanted to give a new section of river a real go.

The river is quite narrow here and the bank side vegetation encroaches on the water taking up more room. As I arrived it started to rain - the occasional shower drifted over during the afternoon - but thankfully it wasn't particularly windy allowing my to use my six foot two weight.

Due to the intimate nature of the river this far into the season I opted to keep things simple and nothing is as simple as a single dry-fly. I have found the trout to be free-rising, even if nothing is hatching. I've been so impressed this season by the effectiveness of Bob Wyatt's Deer Hair Emerger I find myself automatically reaching for a size twelve to tie on my tippet; it is fast becoming my one fly - for fishing in the surface at least.

One that Tom lost

I started above an almost impenetrable tangle of trees, ahead of me lay a tantalising run, clearer and more open than the rest of the river I fished. Tom hooked a lovely looking fish after we spotted it rise on Monday. A well placed cast in the same area saw my DHE confidently taken, much to my surprise it didn't turn out as big as I thought it was but nevertheless I was off to a start. I spooked a small fish as I walked upstream passing through a veritable jungle, certainly no chance of catching that, not with a fly anyway.

Passing under a rail bridge, a pool the other side underneath a sycamore had a couple of rising fish Monday evening. No risers this time but that didn't stop a feisty fifteen inch brownie from taking the fly. A quick couple of pics and I moved on round the corner.

The river now set into a series of small pools and deep holes sectioned by short shallow riffles. Each little hole or pool generally relinquished a trout or two, but some failed to provide to the expectation given, maybe next time those empty spots will yield.

The river can be very intimate in places

I fished for just over two hours and caught twelve trout, a rather pleasing result especially considering Monday's near disaster.