Down The Bottom And In The Woods

 As I wandered down to the bottom end of the stretch looking for signs of life in or on the water I spotted the flash of a fish. I got myself in a position to have a cast at it. I had a klink 'n' dink rig with a small gold head PTN on the bottom. Second cast and the Klinkhammer skated on the surface and I was into a fish which turned out to be a 7-8" out of season grayling which kindly flipped off the hook as I grabbed the leader. It was certainly livelier than the previous grayling I'd caught.

As no more fish were forthcoming I continued to the bottom of the stretch. There was still no fly life. I cast into all the likely places to no avail. About half way back I'd cast over to the far side when I thought I saw a fish jump. I forgot about the flies that had now swung into the near bank. Another little fish jumped the other side of some trailing roots. The rod tip then jagged about. By the time I'd realised what was happening the fish had vanished. I had a couple of casts by the tree roots but ended up getting snagged and ended up wrecking the swim retrieving the fly.

 

Nothing more was forth coming on that stretch so I retired for a late lunch. After lunch I headed up to the woods. I'd changed to flies to an Elk hair caddis and a lighter copperhead olive bug/nymph. Quite why I'd changed I don't know but a change seemed like a good idea. Again there was no fly life about nor any sign of fish. Again I just cast into the likely looking spots. The trees we layered a few weeks back had come into leaf and new shoots showing.

Further up the beck the first sign of fly life fluttered past. A olive upright. Still no sign of fish though. A couple of bends later and the caddis shot under the water the moment it hit the water. A swift strike and I was into a reasonable fish. A lovely 11" wild brown trout eventually graced the net after a bit of acrobatics near the net. It must have hit the nymph soon after it hit the water. A few more casts in the same area produced only a twig.

I continued on but my right leg was now feeling decidedly wet. The deep wading had found another hole in the waders. When I reached a spot I could climb out I decided enough was enough. I had managed a couple of fish so called it a day. Apparently there had been a fair bit of fly life furtehr upstream just not on the stretches I'd fished. That's trout fishing for you.