Spitting Feathers

After last Sunday's insect no show it was nice to see various beasties fluttering about the river when I arrived at the bottom of the most upstream of the club's waters. A size 16 Foam Dun looked to be about he same size as the insect life. This looked like a really good selection when it was taken immediately it hit the water near a rise. With great skill I managed to yank it from the fishes mouth, a skill I managed to repeat several more times as I wandered upstream. Dropping to a size 18 failed to increase the hook up rate.














The trout in the Esk average about 5-6", but appear to be quite greedy, so my abysmal hook up rate seemed a bit odd. Over the net hour I tried several different flies from 14 to 18, but nothing appeared to help. In fact the good old Grey Duster Hardly seemed to attract fish at all. A change back to he Foam Dun in 16 produced nice little rise and a hooked fish, which proceeded to spend more time in the air than the water before spitting the fly out. Annoyingly it was a good deal bigger than average a well.

Somewhat frustrated I sat down for a spot of lunch, over looking the pool I’d lost the fish in. By the time I'd finished lunch a couple of fish were rising again. I put on the only Foam Dun I'd not crushed the barb on when tying it. First cast and I'd hooked another, somewhat smaller, fish. Yes you've guessed it, it spat the fly out just as I grabbed the leader. Buoyed up at having contacted with a couple of fish I continued upstream. I managed to raise at least a dozen more, but failed to hook any at all.

Having reached the top end I wandered back to the car somewhat dejected. Halfway back I met an angler fishing worm, who was having a similar hard time, plenty of bites, but not contacting with any thing. Back at the car I met another angler who had been fishing another club's water downstream. He'd managed half a dozen on a small Grey Duster, a fly the trout seemed to be ignoring upstream.

After the previous couple of trips here it looks like my 'beginners luck' has run out. There again I'm still learning the water. I'm, also still unsure about he most suitable rod for here. The two I've used so far were #4 in 7' and 8'. The seven footer struggles to roll cast well and the eight foot seems a bit long. Still plenty of time left in the season to start to get to grips with the place.

Insects Take Bank Holiday Off Too

Easter Monday saw me, fly rod in hand, wandering the banks of the Esk again. What surprised me as I walked to the down stream end of the section was the complete lack of fly life and rising fish. Unlike my previous visit, which was cold and windy, there was very little wind and reasonable temperatures so I expected more fish to be rising. 

Once at the down stream end I decided to go with a small gold head PTN, as I'd just raised a pheasant, and to try out my new mono furled leader. It was a little while before I was into my first, small, trout. The furled leader worked well in the tight confines, turning the nymph over nicely. A couple more little'uns were taken, and a couple flip off the hook before everything went quiet.

As sat with a drink, pondering a change of fly, a hare bolted out of the hedge back and into the long grass. Gold head GRHE it was then. This resulted in a couple more before arriving back at the car. I had expected better with the day been reasonably warm, but the bright sunshine may not have help.

While having a bite to eat I had the pleasure of been battered by hailstones for a couple of minutes as the sky clouded over. Having had something to eat, I set of upstream and soon spotted a fish rising. Changing to a Grey Duster, which was taken the moment it hit the water. Which produced my first parr of the day. A couple more little trout followed before every thing went quiet as the wind got up. Despite wandering quite a distance I saw nothing more rising. So I called it a day.

With the rest of April looking a bit chilly I'm not sure if things are are going to get any better. I'm sure there must be something a bit bigger in there somewhere. After only two trips though I can't really complain.

Salmon Fishing?

Sunday saw me making my way to the Esk, a river I hadn't fished for decades, for my third attempt at catching a WBT this season. My first attempt was on a river that was still a bit high and the second, on a small beck, resulted in one fish hooked and lost when the rod tip got tangled in the branches of a Hawthorn.

With no sign of fish moving I decide to fish a couple of spiders upstream. After an hour I'd seen no sign of fish so started heading back to the car when I spotted a splashy rise in the middle of a glide. I little tug moments after the flies hit the water resulted in a salmon parr. Another cast in the same area produced a second. As I continued my wander back to the car I picked up three more salmon parr. No sign of any trout though.

I moved to a another section of the river hoping for more trout and less parr. Here I soon spotted a trout nosing catkins about in a small eddy. I cast a Grey Duster dry fly at it a couple of times before another little parr snatched the fly. By now the wind had changed direction and got stronger, making accurate casting a bit awkward. A bit further along  a couple of small fish were rising, to something. Covering them with the Grey Duster resulted in nothing, but a change to a John Storey ssaw me land my first WBT of the season. Several more, all rather small, followed. By now the strengthening wind was making cast hard work as it swirled around the high banks. It was getting cold as well, with less and less fish rising.

I had a short wander along a third section with only the occasional cast finally managing a double figures in WBT. Eleven WBT and seventeen parr seemed like quite a good day to me, even if they were all rather small.