As expected the river was up a tad and a bit more coloured than last week following the recent rain. Like last week, though, the water was really cold as it should be. The wind and rain had knocked a lot of debris into the river from the trees. There was little sign of insect life or rising fish so spiders it was. Is somebody who fishes spiders a spiderist or spideriser?
One thing I had done is make up some furled leaders, just to help turn over the flies especially into the wind. I'd made two from 3.2lb nylon which I'd greased and two from 3lb flouro which I'd de-greased. The later in case I needed to get the flies deeper with out resorting to a weighted nymph on the point. With the furled leader being about 3'6" and 2'6" between flies the overall length is 11' and even with the gusty breeze the leader turned over well. The flies were, my pearly butt bloa variant on point, a partridge and yellow in the middle and a black magic variant at he top. When I get a decent camera I'll take some pictures of them. In the mean time here are the recipes.
Pearly Butt Bloa Variant
Thread: Yellow Silk
Tag: Pearl Tinsel
Body: Mole Hair - Not too sparse
Hackle: Grey Feather from a Jackdaw Scalp
Partridge and Yellow
Thread: Yellow Silk
Hackle: Grey Partridge Neck
Black Magic Variant
Thread: Black
Thorax: SLF Blend Black - Peacock looking dubbing
Hackle: Black Hen
For the first hour and a half there was little or no action, so I sat and had a cuppa and sandwich whilst watching the river. A couple of times a little trout flung itself well over a foot in the air. Quite why they do this I've no idea, but this was the area I cast to when I'd finished lunch. Striking at the swirl I ha my first fish to the black magic. Around the corner I spotted a couple of rises so cast to one of the and again a near instant take as the flies landed. The afternoon was to continue like this to the point I lost count of the fish. A couple of times I had two fish on. These were the only times the partridge and yellow was taken. Even hen I swapped it around with the other flies it wasn't touched. By three o'clock things started to slow down and by half three had come to a halt. It didn't catch anything between then a four so packed up.
Not a bad day at all. Nothing huge, but good fun all the same. Currently black/grey flies seem to be the killers. Quite what the fish were rising to I've no idea, staring at the water with my polariods on I could see a thing. Something most have been happening given the fact that fish hadn't been rising before one, but did so for a couple of hours after.
It was nice wandering down to the river wondering whether to remove the fleece rather than thinking I should have brought another one. While the warm breeze was welcome the bright sunshine wasn't, as there was no sign of fly life. There was, however, a couple of those little pencil size eels heading upstream. While I'd rather have seen a couple of trout, I don't mind the eels given how scare they've become.
As there was no sign of fly life I set up a spider rig. A nine foot cast, I was using an eight foot rod, with a Black Magic on the top dropper, a partridge and orange on the middle, and a pearly butt bloa variant on the tip. As the third cast drifted towards me the tip of the fly line jagged, but I was a bit slow. Not on the next cast though. A lively little trout around the eight inch mark had taken my bloa variant. I had a couple more casts before moving a couple of yards upstream, I repeated this process a couple more times before contacting another fish on the bloa variant again. Then a third to the same fly. A little while later I spotted a rising fish, the first I'd seen. I covered it with a rather clumsy cast and struck at the swirl. Another little trout this time to the black magic. That was it for the next half hour so I stopped for a cuppa and sandwich.
It was a while after I'd had my cuppa before I contacted another fish. This time on the partridge and orange. I then bumped a couple off before getting two more on the bloa variant. The next fish was on the black magic, again covering a rise. The final fish came to the bloa variant. I did see a couple more rising fish, but they were behind trailing branches and I couldn't get a cast to them.
Not a bad few hours. Nice not to be struggling to even get a take. One thing that was noticeable was that all the fish came from the slower glides that were one to two feet deep. Nothing came from deeper or shallower water or from broken water. I'm also glad my bloa variant worked. Based on Paul Proctors pearly butt bloa but with a grey hackle from a jackdaw head rather than waterhen hackle.
As I looked down from the bridge I could see a couple of small trout either side of a patch of weed, unfortunately this stretch belongs to another club. I wandered down to my club stretch and got set up. Out of the breeze it was rather warm, but between the bright sunshine and cold breeze nothing was hatching. I decided to try a couple of spiders, a snipe and purple, and a partridge and orange. I gave it a hour with these before changing to a copper head pheasant tail jig. I fished it in the shallows, the deep slow sections, round the tree roots with out any success. I hadn't seen another trout or insect in the two hours I'd been fishing. Because of the meanders on the river I wasn't that far from the car, even though I was halfway along the length. I returned to the car for a warm cuppa and a contemplate.
By the time I'd finished my sandwich and cuppa the chill wind had dropped an it was noticeably warmer. I wandered back up the river to where I'd left off. There was still no sign of fish or fly life, even the two near the bridge had disappeared. In the hope that the fish may be looking up, and that the previous methods hadn't worked, I put on a DHE. I worked my way up the river alternating between the DHE and PT jig to the top of the length with out any success. On the way back I spotted a rise near some tree roots. From the top of the opposite bank I could see one of the larger residents, a fish of 10-12" holding station behind a large tree root. I sat and watched for a while to see if I could spot what it had risen to. In the ten minutes I sat there watching absolutely nothing happened, apart from the geese and sheep having a shouting match further down stream.
The bank side saplings made casting rather problematic so, I wandered downstream and crossed the river. I sneaked up behind the fish. Three chucks I had at it with the DHE and it just sat there waving it's tail about. Initially I thought about putting a larger fly on such as a jingler, but decided to put the cat of spiders on instead. My thinking being that something at eye level may entice it out. First cast was probably to far out in the river. The second cast had me thinking the top dropper had snagged on the root as drift came to a halt, but no, a tiny little beastie had grabbed the bottom fly. Despite me keeping the rod low and sweeping it back quickly the little horror managed to splash about on the surface. The large trout I was after gave a couple of waves of the tail and shot away upstream. To cap it all the little 'un shook itself loose as I'd allowed the line to go slack while I cursed my luck.
As it was nice and warm where I was, out of the wind, I sat there for a while hoping the big'un would reappear. Not surprisingly this didn't happen. The sheep did, however, pop over to see what all the fuss was about. Cattle do this all the time, being nosey buggers, but I've rarely seen sheep do it. They normally keep a reasonable distance from you. Just to make sure the fish didn't return, a couple of mallards crash landed in the swim.
I can take a hint. Time to give up. I wandered back to the car. Pondering what to do if the weather doesn't warm up a bit and things start hatching. I've seen reports of people saving the day with streamers, so maybe next time I'll bring a few. The first trip of the year to a stretch of river like this is never wasted though. One or two fish holding spots have been washed away in the winter floods and others have appeared.
Pearly Butt Bloa Variant
