River Fly Monitoring and Stuff

Saturday there was to be a work party on the new section of beck, so I got there early to have a bit of a fish before hand. A simple nymph rig was used with a single weighty hare's ear bug. Fished in the traditional upstream style rather than the more modern euro-nymph style. It wasn't long before I latched on to a fish which I bumped off when a pheasant shot up from behind a tree squawking like fury and frighten the crap out of me. I know they taste nice and have some useful feathers for fly tying, but the really are an annoying bird. Anyway I made my way upstream chucking the nymph into likely looking spots eventually latching on to another fish. With out any drama a 7" WBT was landed. No picture as I'd left my phone in the car. Rather stupidly I'd left it on the dashboard in full view of the world.

The section of beck we worked on is to be left 'wild', but there were several fallen trees that had got hung up and these were to be removed as they're damn dangerous. While they didn't come down easily it'll be Sod's Law that they'll come down in the slightest breeze when you try to pass under one when fishing.

Sunday was River Fly Monitoring day on a different beck. Again I arrived early to have a bit of a fish on the bottom stretch before things started. While I didn't catch using a simple klink-n-dink rig I did mange to spook a decent trout and also saw a dozen or so small dace/chub in a shoal.

As I was having a cuppa the troops gathered. There are two monitoring sites on this beck. One above a sewage outfall and one below. We started on the the upper one first with the following results.

The results were very much as expected apparently. At the site below the outfall I did the sampling. The first thing I did was get stuck on the soft sand at the side of the beck as I got in. A V-weir has been placed just above the site and is scouring the bed out nicely but the sand is being deposited on the sides and the vegetation hasn't taken hold on it yet. It's the same where wiggles have been reintroduced the sand is still soft as the vegetation starts to take hold. The results where as follows. Again much as expected. Although it was pointed out there were enough shrimp for a paella. There was also a fair bit of toilet paper debris. Hands were thoroughly sanitised afterwards.

After a spot of lunch I had a fling about with the klink-n-dink rig on this upper end of the stretch. I managed to spook a couple of fish when retrieving flies from overhanging bankside vegetation. Eventually I got to the lower monitoring spot where I knew there was a deep hole beside a tree. Second cast and something powerful took the nymph. After the initial run upstream it came back quietly before kicking off again at the net. A rather pale trout of 11". Something went a bit wonky with the phone when taking the photo. Not only did it end up in a low resolution mode, but it looks like the flash went off as well. Wet hands and touch screens aren't the best combination.

 

Near the top of the stretch, where there's a bit more streamer weed, I spotted two or three smaller fish. I tried to cover them but the nymph kept snagging the bottom. Rather than shorten the tippet I put on a black spider instead. First cast and I was in. A small, and again, silvery coloured 5" trout. As I brought it in several others, of a similar size, shot off.

By now it was time to go. We know there aren't many trout in this stretch at the moment but there does seem to be more moving in. While I was there I didn't see anything rise or any hatching insects. I will, however, have to tie up some shrimp patterns as I don't seem to have any for some reason.

Life, The Universe, And The Fly Box

 On Friday there was a work party on the beck which was slowly rising. A couple of benches were to be installed. Then a couple of fallen trees removed from across the beck that were inhibiting upstream wading. The benches installed with out a hitch. No tree roots or rocks got in the way. A bit of careful pruning of overhanging briars was carried out along with removing the offending tree trunks. The benches are a nice thing to have as the proved a nice spot to sit and contemplate life, the universe, and your fly box with out having to sit on the currently boggy ground.

By the time we'd finished the beck had risen a couple of inches or so and coloured up a bit. By the time I'd had my lunch it had stopped riding and the colour had dropped out a bit. I headed up to the woods rod in hand, but not before testing a bench out. All OK.

The second bench proved useful for setting up the rod and line, and perusing the fly box. A retirer sedge and a gold head PTN were selected. While I was setting up I thought I saw something rise, or maybe something fell from the trees. Either way there were rings on the water.

 

 

The first couple of takes on the PTN were from twigs, but the third turned out to be a rather skinny looking grayling with precious little fight. It was quickly flicked off the barbless hook. Around the next corner a similar set of events occurred and another skinny apathetic grayling of similar size, about 10", was quickly flick from the hook. A bit further on something took a liking to the dry but I failed to contact. Next cast something livelier grabbed the PTN but managed to slip the hook before I could see it. By now it was starting to rain and was nearly time to depart. I thought I'd best start back as I had no idea how far I'd gone into the woods. As it happens it wasn't far as the crow flies but the beck does wiggle about a lot at this point. With storm Kathleen heading up the country I suspected Saturday would be a washout, and from reports and looking at the gauges my suspicions were well founded. Maybe I'll get out on Sunday.

Day 2 - 2024 Trout Season

 As I didn't have much time available for my second session of the trout season I headed to the downstream end of the beck. A couple of anglers were euro nymphing up stream from the bridge so I headed downstream of the bridge to work my way back up to it. An elk hair caddis was on the end of the leader. I was using an eight foot rod today rather than the seven foot rod I'd used yesterday as the was a bit more room. Third or fourth cast I managed to land the fly close to the tree roots. The fly had drifted about six inches when I got a take. After a bit of a hectic fight mid river it was on it's way to the net. It then woke up again and dodged the net and dived into the pile of debris to my right where it manage to dislodge the hook. It looked like a good twelve inch fish as well. Oh well, others may be looking up.

 

I worked my way upstream casting into likely looking spots. About halfway back I cast next to some vegetation on my bank as I lifted the fly for a recast a fish swirled at it. Judging by the silveriness I think it may have been a grayling. I was nearly back at the bridge when a fish slashed at the fly the moment it landed. By now it was lunch time. I decided to fish a duo rig after lunch for the short time I had left, but on another stretch upstream of me.

 Sadly this produced nothing in the short time I had but it did allow me to have a look at this section which does look rather fishy. One thing I did see, on the sheep droppings, were dung flies. Not something use see as much these days. I think I may have to tie some up. Despite the sunshine I think the cold wind kept the fish down. That'd my excuse anyway.

More Yoredale Trout

 The number of times I'd passed over the little river in Yoredale and thought it may be a good idea to give it a ago, but then forgot is rather silly. Thursday I remembered, prompted by a video I'd watched. The last time I'd fished it was last century when a day ticket was £6, Thursday it was £12. Wandering along it's banks it was very much, and nothing like, I remembered it. While it's general appearance through the wooded valley had very much remained the same, the boulder strewn river bed had obviously been shifted about.

Rod choice is always a problem on rivers like this. The overhanging trees dictate a short rod. While the more open areas a longer rod has it's advantages. I compromised at eight foot which turned out to be two foot too long or two foot too short depending where I was. I wandered along the path intent on getting away from the area near the entrance as I thought it would have been heavily fished. I didn't get as far as intended before I spotted three or four trout cruising about and rising to something. Apart for the black stuff the only other fly life were some small sedge. After a few cast with a small deer hair sedge it became apparent this wasn't what the were eating. A change to a deer hair emerger had the desired effect but the takes were very fast and I had trouble hitting them. Eventually I made contact with a fish that didn't seem to want to remain in the river and splashed about all over before managing to release it's self. This put the rest of the fish down. While I was playing it a few mayfly fluttered past.

I wandered a lot further up eventually spotting some more trout bellow a fast riffle, The showed very little interest in the DHE so on went a Dynamite Harry type fly. These are quite buoyant and would handle the riffled water well. This proved to be the case when, after a few casts, I was in again. A lovely little fish around the eight inch mark. A larger fish then started to rise to the left of the riffle. On the first cast I didn't mend the line fast enough and the fly got dragged away very quickly. The next couple of casts ended up in two different trees. One behind me and one above the trout. Both were low enough to retrieve the fly but this put pay to the swim.

I tried various spots as I moved upstream managing to hook a couple of smaller fish that came adrift when I grabbed the leader. A bit further up I spotted a couple more trout in the tail of a riffle. The first cast snagged the tree behind me. The second fell a bit short, but the smaller of the two tout turned and grabbed it. Another nice fish of eleven inches or so. The other, larger, trout shot past me as I played the first. By now it was getting rather dark under the trees and the fly was getting hard to see. Also I wasn't sure how far I'd wandered, so I headed back to towards the car. I sat above a long smooth glide for a while watching some small trout moving about. As it was a bit brighter here I had a go for them They didn't like the Dynamite Harry  and as they were only just breaking the surface I put on a plume fly. This resulted in a couple of minnows, so I put on the larger DHE which the trout came up and inspected before drifting away. A change to a size 22 IOBO resulted in more minnows. As the light was now fading I made my way back to the car. By the time I had changed it was lighting up time dark.

 

I think it may be worth another go down there. Now I've remembered where the paths are I should be able to get further upstream bit quicker. We'll have to see what the rain and thunder do this weekend.

Return To The Trout

 I still hadn't made my mind up where to go fishing on Thursday. I had a quick shufti though the river gauges and noticed a couple of the trout rivers had had a bit of a lift from the rain earlier in the week. I decide a trip up the valley of cheese may be a good idea. I checked the weather and seemed it would be a nice, if somewhat draughty, day. What didn't occur to me was that I would be trying to fly fish an easterly flowing river in a strong westerly.  At various points I passed signs proclaiming some road or other would be close from some point or other at some time or other. How you're supposed to read these signs on a sixty MPH road I don't know I suppose I could have made a nuisance of myself and slowed right down and annoyed everybody behind me. Besides there had been several signs claiming the were no white lines. There were plenty of very bright, newly painted white lines. So were the signs even relevant any more. It transpired the road was closed, but I knew the road that they claimed only went to a village in fact went very close to where I wanted to be. I eventually arrived late late afternoon and was surprised to see a couple of anglers fishing my club stretch. They would be the first I'd seen. A natter with one, Paul, found they they were staying nearby for three days as they weren't from these parts and that they'd had three fish between them in the morning. They'd struggled in the wind though.

I ventured Up to the top of the stretch as I thought it may be more sheltered. With the river nearly six inches up and falling it looked a lot healthier than last time I'd fished. I rigged up a duo and fished the faster water in some of the more sheltered spots for a while with no bites. I then tried some of the smother glides but didn't get an signs of fish. I worked my way back towards the car but things didn't get any better. A change of tactics were called for. As the wind had dropped a bit I decided to fish a couple of spiders through the faster riffles. Getting them to turn over was a bit tricky at times. One spot fishing downstream produced a couple of takes but I failed to connect properly. This is always a problem when fishing downstream. Near the bottom of the stretch and back to fishing upstream I  got a good solid take and a very nice 14" wild brown trout was in the net after a bit of acrobatics. No photo though as it jumped clear of the floating net while I was faffing with the phone. Wet hands and touch screens don't always cooperate. Another fish was lost not long after, throwing the hook as it cartwheeled about.

I thought I'd do a lot better after the river had lifted a bit. There was very little hatching apart from the odd small upright. I didn't see any fish rise at all. The two chaps fishing earlier had seen a couple of fish jump but that was it. It wasn't until I got home I realised that I hadn't taken many photos for some reason.

Trout And Other Fishes

 Last Thursday I had a bit of a wander  along a stretch I'd not fished for a long time. I only had an hour. I'd set up a duo rig for a bit of searching about if nothing was showing. As I got to where the public footpath deviates from the route I needed to take there was a hare apparently pointing me in the right direction. The section was far shorter than I remembered and I was soon at the bottom of it. There appeared to be a couple of fish rising on the far bank under the trees. I flicked the rig out into the river to start to cast and the klinkhammer shot away and in came a dace. I tried again and same thing, as dace had grabbed the nymph. Looking down from the top of the bank there was a very large shoal of them.

I cast over top the far bank and again the klinkhammer shot under. This time, though, it was a small grayling. I moved upstream and had another cast over to the faster current on the far bank and got another grayling. The slow current on the inside appeared to be full of dace and the faster current on the outside grayling. A I wandered up I had a few more casts. If I got a bit it was either a dace or grayling. All the same size like peas in a pod. I moved up to one of the faster riffles. This was full of ravenous minnows either try to sink the klink or devouring the nymph. The wind then got up and made a nuisance of its self. If it was blowing down stream the fly got dragged along faster than the current and if it was blowing upstream the fly line was held stationary in the slow current. This made fishing the far bank nay on impossible. Anyway time was up.

As I wandered down the stretch on Sunday there was the usual black stuff flittering about, along with the occasional Yellow May. Waders probably weren't the best idea in the heat but the wind was only light so I should be able to get a decent drift.  Near the bottom of the stretch I spotted two, possibly three, 10-12" trout apparently feeding in the shadows near an over hanging branch. They weren't rising but were darting about grab something or other just below the surface.   I set up a duo rig like last time only this time I put on a yellow klinkhammer. It took three casts to get the drift right but right it was. A larger trout of some 18" porpoised grabbed the klink and was away. The overhanging branch must have trailed well into the river as the line was going round it as the fish fled down stream. Sinking the rod tip caused the line to come loose and also the fish. Poo, or words to that effect.

I waited a bit but the other trout didn't return. A bit further up another trout was spotted in the shadows and first cast the nymph was grabbed. A spirited fight and a bit of leaping and my new floating landing nets was christened. A trout of 10" or so. A similar scenario played out a few minutes later this time with a slightly bigger trout. When i released it it sat for a while before launching it's self straight towards the bank and beaching it's self. It didn't make that mistake second time. It was a long release on the next two trout. One took the dry the other the nymph.

It was quite a while before I saw any more fish activity, apart from the parr leaping out of the water. It's surprising how far these little 4-6" beasties can get above the water. I was also surprised I hadn't hooked any. Given the heat I was about to give up when I spotted a fish of a similar size to the others casually swimming upstream in the middle of the river. I dropped the flies ahead of it and it slunk away before rising up to inspect the klink. It continued upstream, as did the klink. It must have grabbed the nymph as it exploded when I struck. Despite keeping the rod low it leapt about all over the place and was an absolute bugger to net, but net it I did. The biggest of the day at 12".

With lots of small grayling, some large shoals of dace and plenty of par about things are looking quite good for the river. A light flush through would be nice with the thunderstorms about. I also noticed a awful lot of pin fry in the margins. How many of these will survive I don't know. Many of the them will end up fattening the trout up. On the way back to the cat I noticed a kingfisher staring into what can only be described as a puddle. It shot away as I approached. Watching the puddle I could see a few 3-4" either dace or chub. I assume they'd ended up there when the river last flooded. A passer-by asked what I was looking at and when I pointed out the fish they suggested I could rescue them with my net. I suggested they were probably best left where they were to feed the kingfishers or what ever. They said they'd never have thought of that and that maybe things like that were supposed to happen to give the youngsters a fighting chance. The opening day of the coarse fish season is soon so I'll see you all then and tight lines to you all.