Fussy Feeders

Over the years I've been told by many anglers that, little trout in small rivers or streams are greedy and will grab anything that floats past. On occasions they will, but some times they can be really finicky and Sunday's session on a stretch I hadn't fished before proved the point.

 

Surveying the river from the bridge I watched a chap worming, on the down stream section. He looked somewhat frustrated, having struck and missed, inspecting his hook. As he trudged up to me while I was getting set up I asked " Any Luck?". "Two", he replied, "Been a bloody frustrating morning". He went on to tell me how he'd watch small trout nipping at the end of the worm or even swimming straight past it. "Good Luck! This rivers a real sod when it's this low and clear... and this fish are even worse."













Wandering upstream I spotted a fish rising nest to some trailing branches. Hiding behind another tree I was able to lower the fly onto the water right below the rod tip. The little trout shot out from under the branches, missing the fly and nearly threw it's self out of the water. As I repositioned my feet, to stop myself sliding down the bank, I felt a tug on the rod tip. Trout number one hooked and landed. One of the smallest I've ever caught, on fly.

What followed proved to be an interesting, and frustrating day. Several times trout would rise to the fly and miss. Other times it would be ignored. I ended the day with five fish to four different flies, all dries. It wasn't just artificials they missed either. Sat watching a couple of small olives drift down it took one little fish attempts to grab one.


 









One amusing incident was while I was have a sandwich and drink, An early daddy-long-legs got blown on the water. A fish swam up to it very slowly before seeming to pull each of it's legs of before grabbing it and swimming away, with the wings clearly outside of it's mouth.