Sausage Fishing

I had the bright idea to have a go fly fishing for the dace I'd been catching during the close season. Despite the bright sunshine I thought they maybe rising or at least looking up. What I hadn't bargained for was the colour of the river. Having looked at the level it was nearly down to normal summer levels, but the colour hadn't dropped out of it. There was, however, a reasonable amount of insect life about, but I didn't see anything rising as I headed down to the bottom of the stretch. In fact, as I worked my way back upstream I didn't see a single fish rise.

 








 








I tried a bit of speculative fishing dropping a foam beetle along the tree line or a foam dun, as a few were fluttering about, in likely looking spots. I did see quite a lot of fry in some of the slacks and the minnows had a go at the fly occasionally, but I remained fish-less for my three mile walk. I then headed to the top stretch to see if anything was happening there.

 







 
 















It wasn't long before I spotted three or four rises  to small duns and first cast with a size 16 foam dun produced a take. It was one of the dace I was after, but I managed to bump it off some how. Dace and barbless hooks just don't really work. Thankfully another fish was rising a few yards further up and took the fly first cast. This turned out to be a grayling. A fish that magically disappears when you're after them in winter. That turned out to be it. No a further fish were seen as I made my way up to the top of the stretch. Nor on the way back down.


 






 


I'd wandered over five miles in the hunt for fish. I'm sure if the water had been clearer instead of mud coloured they would have been rising, but still it had been useful as it was the first time I'd seen the river at this level after the two recent floods. Judging by the boils and scum lines some features had disappeared and others had formed. Worth noting for when the colour drops out.