The End Is Near

 The end of the trout season is fast approaching here in Yorkshire and as often seems the case the weather is trying to ruin the last few days. The salmon & sea trout anglers  are over the moon with the prospect of the rivers being given a bit of a lift. I on the other hand have a limited time to extract a few brown trout from one of the becks for some scale samples. 

Tuesday I ventured forth to said beck in an attempt to catch a couple of browns. Having had a bit of a wander around, noting the fallen trees that will need to be moved so as they're parallel to the bank, I decided nymphing or streamers would probably be the best choice with no obvious fly life about.

 

First fly on the end of a sort of Euro style nymphing rig was a small PTN Jig. After battling my way through somewhat excessive vegetation and fallen trees I arrived at a deep, three foot, pool. First drift through with the nymph produced a take which I missed. A couple more drifts and a chublet took firm hold of the nymph. This was quickly followed by a second. A drift around the far side of the pool produced a small perch which had engulfed the nymph. The little horror managed to spike me as I unhooked it and returned to the depths with out a photo. A few more drifts produced nothing other than a few leafs.

I continued up the stretch to the top. dropping the nymph into any likely looking hole. Nothing seemed to be hungry in these spots. Mostly I seemed to be snagging twigs and leaves. At the top of the stretch I partook of lunch. A change of fly was called for. A small white jig come Woolly Bugger thing was put on. Bouncing it about in a deepish hole at the top of the length produced a a tentative tug which turned into a 15" Rainbow trout. Not what I was after but  another escapee is removed.

I continued dropping the lure into the deeper holes with very little to show. I did get a vicious take in one spot that only succeeded in ripping a lot of the tail from the lure. A change to n olive version didn't fair any better. Nor did a black one. Oh well a few more days to go before the end of the season which is surely enough to capture a couple of the browns. I did, however, add to my species tally from this section of beck. I now have Brown & Rainbow trout, Dace, Chub, Minnow, and Perch on rod and line. Along with Bullhead, and Lamprey during river fly sampling. The damned Himalayan Balsam doesn't seem to be going away either, with more plants popping up here and there.