From later April to Mid June is a great time for targeting trout on the dry fly!
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| Working the fly upstream on my session with Chris |
On the first trip my plan was to meet up with my friend Chris Purdie to go to one of his exclusive stretches of chalk stream in search of some stunning wild brown trout. Firstly though, I was dropped at one of my favourite Thames Tributaries to target some of the stunning wild brown trout in this quite urbanised location. I started in a nice shallow gravel run where I spotted a trout on the shallow gravels sipping emerging flies and nymphs passing by. I gently flicked the fly upstream and retrieved the bow of line coming towards me and I had a very strange sipping take. I firmly struck into a heavy weighted fish which charged right off towards the snags and with the flimsier nature of the fly rod, I could not stop the fish. I knew instantly this was a chub, and was rather annoyed I had hooked it out of season. Luckily the hook pulled out, as I really didn't want to stress the fish. All the spots I looked at henceforth were dominated with shoals of chub which I certainly had to avoid.
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| One of very few Mayfly seen on my travels - Thanks for the picture Chris! |
I opted then to go upstream and explore a side stream of this tributary which was nice and shallow and gravelly with all I've seen in the past being merely trout. I crept slowly upstream as these fish were in shallow water and easily spooked. The first trout I saw was clearly preoccupied taking plentiful nymphs and sipping the odd emerging fly; I therefore opted to tie on a Parachute Adams fly (imitates an emerging fly) and gently flick it upstream to the feeding fish. Being careful not to spook the fish, I gently flicked the fly upstream and retrieved the bow, the fish saw my fly and as good as gold came up and sipped it. I tightened into the fish to set the hook and had a lovely little wild brown trout with stunning markings of around 6 inches - only small but was a nice little fish with stunning markings. I ventured further up and came to another area with a nice dark trout on the far bank taking the odd nymph so quickly covered it, but unfortunately it ignored the fly despite clearly seeing it. Heading slightly more upstream, I found a few nice little trout in this little deeper section which were all taking emerging flies and nymphs with ferocity. I knew I had a good chance of a take, therefore I tactically casted to the closest fish to me first in order not to spook the other three. The first fish which was a better fish of around 8 inches came up and took the fly confidently and met with a confident setting of the hook I was greeted with another beautifully marked Wild Brownie from this lovely intimate stream. I subtly released the fish slightly downstream and targeted the other three remaining fish. After a few decent casts, another trout eventually came up but unfortunately this time did not stay on the hook and consequently spooked the others. Not feeling disheartened I back to the main stretch and headed to the car park where I was due to meet Chris. As I looked upon a shoal of chub shoaled together gliding elegantly in the gentle flow, I noticed a nice trout taking some flies off the surface without hesitation - I saw this as an opportunity to sneak another quick fish before Chris arrived. This was a very difficult cast without waders as there was various foliage which I had to cast over slightly as this was the trout's perfect lie. Just as I was retrieving the bow and having no sight of my fly, I heard a splash which sounded like a vicious take. I struck and was rewarded with the lovely Wild Brownie I sighted from above, certainly a fine result. This fish was the best of the day and looked a good 9 inches.
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| Although not all vividly spotted, a true wild brownie is a fine reward as it has a very suspicious nature |
Just after I put the fish back, I saw Chris arrive at the carpark - I was very happy with all these bonus fish. I had also primed some nice areas where I sighted some nice chub and even a river carp. It was a nice drive through the hidden beauty of Hampshire, where there was plenty of wildlife including soaring buzzards and hovering kestrels. We arrived at the stretch and it was looking very appealing and I felt we were certainly in for a chance of a few rises. Chris very kindly lent me his spare pair of waders which was very kind of him as I'm still yet to get a new pair and it enabled me to cover the stretch pretty effectively. It was an enjoyable afternoon of wading up the river, having loads of fine little trout, as well as spotting some nice chub and even a rainbow trout in such a wild stream, a big thank you to Chris to taking me to his exclusive water.
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| My first trout of the day on my session with Chris, lovely to be in the water, a nice way to quickly release the fish! |
After a few trips on my local river catching a few nice little culprits to mayfly and emerging fly patterns, I headed back to the stream I fish for the chub (the Thames tributary) to do a spot of fly fishing for the plentiful trout residents in this river as the hatch on my local has not been great at all this year in the parts I have fished.
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| Deilephila Elpenor - Elephant Hawk Moth |
I decided to try the upstream area of the river first. After having a nice walk spotting a few trout firmly on the bottom taking nymphs and a nice chub, I decided to go downstream and have a look at the sidestream where I had the previous success. Again, there was no joy to be had, therefore I walked onto the more public, urbanised stretch of this tiny river to target the shallow gravels for the trout, which I certainly knew were there. As soon as I arrived from doing a fair bit of walking, I saw a rise in the nicely oxygenated shallows and spotted a few trout lying about. My dry fly choice was a Robjents Daddy Longlegs fly - I crept below the fish and worked my fly upstream. The first trout I targeted slowly swam into the deep hole just downstream and took a small fly off the surface. I therefore gently let my fly go towards the slack hole. On its journey, I saw a chub show some interest in it and started to rise for the fly. Despite loving chub, I tried to edge the fly away from it (as it is out of season), but this fish did not get the hint and absolutely nailed the fly! After a feisty scrap, the culprit was this lovely little chublet.
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| Greedy trout bodygaurd! |
The trout I targeted was no longer in sight so I worked my daddy longlegs upstream to the other two trout I had spotted. When I my daddy longlegs imitation landed just before a tree which is perfect shade for trout and chub, I had another nice, aggressive take. This time it was a very nice trout with nice markings and a mysterious scar on its side. Nevertheless I loved the consistency of its speckles and took this quick picture. I realised after popping the trout back that I had hardly any time left as it was certainly a mission to find some fish which were actually rising! I finished the day with 4 fish - 2 trout and 2 chub. Certainly was an enjoyable little session after doing a fair amount of Politics revision!
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| Leopard-spotted brownie |
Not too long after this, I decided to give a reasonably shallow, intimate side stream a go of my local river, which consists of some stunning trout. I put on one of my favourite patterns for these weary trout which is a foam-bodied mayfly pattern which certainly does induce takes! I worked the fly up river, attempting to cover the spots in an organised way. It wasn't until I reached this slightly steadier run that I had a take. It was a very strange slow, sipping take pulling the fly down in a very unsure way. Although without hesitation I instinctively tightened into the fish, it was certainly not a confident take. After a very turbo-charged fight, this fine brownie graced my net!
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| Beautiful Wildie |
It has been an enjoyable season fishing the fly, but certainly it has been a challenging one so far...
Tight lines,
Tom
