Last Day Of The Trout Season (For Me)

 Today was the last day of the trout season for me. Tomorrow, Tuesday, looks pretty shite weather wise and I just don't fancy fishing in the rain and wind. Not that today was any good anyway. A chilly overcast day in which I flung all manner of flies about and failed to elicit a take from anything. So here are some pictures of the beck.

Only six months to go and we start again.

Two Days To Go

 Two days to go until the end of the trout season and Monday looking pretty dire weather wise I headed out to the beck. Not too early as we'd had our first frost of Autumn. The beck was a couple of inches up and carrying a peaty tinge. It doesn't take much to alter the behaviour of a small beck like this. Some of the slacks were now more like whirl pools and various bits of debris had been washed down. I did pick up quite a few twigs while fishing. With little or no insects about I intended to fish Little Bugger Jig flies. If that didn't work a Gold Head PTN was my next option.

I spent some time drifting a white Little Bugger about in some deeper holes with out success. A change to a heavier Olive version produced a couple of tentative tugs in one swim but that was all. I then tried a Gold head PTN but this was really too light for a lot of the holes failing to get down before reaching the end. I made my was back to the car for a cuppa and a rethink.

The beck was getting a bit clearer and dropping slightly by the time I'd finished my cuppa. I opted for the Olive Little Bugger again. The second swim I tried that produced the tentative tugs first time round produced a solid take. After a bit of thrashing about a nice 11½" Brown trout. Scale samples were removed in the prescribed manner and placed in the envelope. The little beastie rested in the net before being released. Plenty of time for a couple more I thought. Unfortunately as I headed to the next hole I wrong footed myself stabbing the bank with the tip of the rod. I now had a five piece rod instead of four piece.

Most of the time I have three or four rods in the car, but Sod's Law I only had the one, so that was that. Oh well. Still two days to go, but Monday looks dire so maybe just the one.

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.

Nice But Nuisance Grayling

 Thursday started a bit chilly but came out bright and sunny. A typical Autumn day really. While bright and sunny is rather nice for a spot of River Fly Monitoring it isn't really great for trout fishing. No shortage of Baetis and Gammerus. A surprise Stonefly nymph was found. A first for the beck.

Site 3 19 Sept 2024, 10 am	Count	ARMI   2 Bullheads
Cased Caddis	25	2
Caseless Caddis	2	1
Baetis	600	3
Stonefly	1	1
Blue Winged Olive	1	1
Heptagens	0	0
Mayfly	0	0
Gammerus	500	3
Trigger level = 6	ARMI score total =	11

Site 4  11:00 am	Count	ARMI   Bloodworm
Cased Caddis	8	1
Caseless Caddis	9	1
Baetis	105	3
Stonefly	0	0
Blue Winged Olive	5	1
Heptagens	0	0
Mayfly	0	0
Gammerus	120	3
Trigger level = 7	ARMI score total =	9

After lunch we participated in a spot of angling. I had a wander upstream while the others had a wander downstream. As expected it was tough going in the bright sunshine. It was nice to see the pods of grayling up and down the length. These though would become a nuisance later.

 

A the only fish rising were the little grayling I avoided dry flies a stuck with nymphs drifting them next to the weed beds euro style. The only tout I saw were escapee rainbows. Thy did a great job of ignoring my offerings most of the time. When they did show interest a grayling would usually dive in before them. I was interesting watching the grayling's reaction to the small nymphs. The silver bead one was generally ignored. They seemed to prefer the copper bead, along with the killer bug and a black spider.

 I took several of the little grayling despite me trying to avoid them. Apart from one, for a photo, the rest were shaken from the barbless hook in the water. The others had given up earlier than me and moved on to a more productive water. I did do a spot of balsam bashing though. A pleasant day by a beck even so.

Spiders On The Moors

 As I was up the top of The Moors this morning with a couple of hours to spare, and the rain hadn't arrived, I thought I'd have a chuck about with the fly rod. It was very dull day and looked like it could rain any moment. The river was the lowest I'd seen it this year, but carrying it's usual peat stain.

For the first half hour or so I tried a variety of dry flies. Apart from one rise to a Griffith's Gnat there was no interest at all. I then opted for a couple of spider patterns instead. A Williams favourite on point and a Black Magic on the dropper. Can't go wrong with a little something in black.

 

This combination worked straight away. The first cast into a swirly riffle and one of the small residents grabbed hold of the Black Magic.. A couple more little 'uns from the same riffle. These would be this years youngsters. In the slacker smoother water above the riffle I hooked one of last years fish, but it came adrift. I continued on fish the riffles as I moved upstream over the next hour or so. Eventually amassing eleven of the little 'uns with both flies taking their share. They were all between four and five inches. Swinging the flies down and across in one of the wider sections I hooked another of last years. Around the nine ten inch mark this, like the previous big 'un came adrift. The drizzle that had started was now coming down heavier so I made my way back to the car as it got heavier and heavier.

 Not a bad couple of hours considering the conditions. A little bit more water wouldn't go amiss, but not too much, as previous times I've been in the area it's been way too high. This may please the Salmon and Sea trout anglers but it doesn't make for good trout fish.

Fly Fishing Dropshot Style With A Killer Bug

 Last Thursday, after a spot of invertebrate sampling, I headed down to a beck to try a bit of nymphing. I much prefer dry fly, but the various work parties on the beck had shown the trout to be hiding in the deep holes by the tree roots. Drift a dry fly or dry dropper near them wasn't easy because of the complicated currents. So I'd decided to use a dropshot style rig. This is like a two fly nymph rig but the bottom fly is replaced with a split shot. It's advantages are that there's only one hook to get snagged and it's a lot easier and quicker to replace the shot if different weights are required. As there are lots of shrimp, gammarus, I opted for a Sawyer Killer Bug.  The first hole I dropped it in a rather nice 9" WBT shot from under the bank and grabbed the nymph. I'd only dropped e rig in to see how it behaved.

I had a few more goes in and around the hole to see if the trout had a friend but nowt more appeared. The next hole was a tiny thing about afoot diameter besides a tree growing out from the bank. The bite was very savage for a tiny 4" WBT, The next couple of similar holes produced nothing.

The next couple of holes failed to produce before I got another good tug which failed to connect. Another couple goes were had before a gentle tug was felt and a rather splendid 11" WBT was hooked and landed. Another few tries before moving on produced another tiny little 4" WBT.

Another few holes were tried before coming to a four foot deep hole half full of weed and debris. I'd just about given up when the rod lurched over. Another little WBT around the 5" mark. These little 'uns don't half hit the bait.

It was then quite a while before I got another take. An L shaped tree jutted out from the bank just past a corner creating a very nice looking hole that I'd always thought should hold a fish or two. I'd drifted dry flies about the area but to no avail. With only a № 1 shot on I could drift the bug right under the tree, eventually. After several goes a trout swam up looked at the bug I gave it  a twitch at which point it was engulfed. After a great deal of leaping about the trout managed to beach it's self and was scooped up in the net. The biggest of the day at 12" it's colours really don't show in the photo but it was more fawn than brown.

Not a bad session at all, and finishing on the best I've caught from this beck. No sign of the escapee rainbows either. A little brook lamprey we disturbed today while removing the weed and debris from a couple of spots that were allowing a silt build up.

The reason for the late delivery of this post is because I made a right cock of a computer upgrade and also decide to allow my phone to upgrade to the next OS version while a I waited for the computer backup to restore. The nearest i normally get to multitasking is sit down and shut up, so this wasn't a good idea. Hopefully things are back to normal now on the IT front.

If Only The Trout Were As Numerous As The Balsam

It was rather still and muggy when I arrived at the beck on Thursday. Looking around there was precious little in the way of bugs and flies about.Not even the smuts and midges that are often seen were about.  I'd only recorded THREE bugs on my numberplate with Bugs Matter on the 30 mile journey there.

Given the lack of fly life I opted for a spot of nymph fishing. I also opted to head upstream from the bridge/ford, something I'd not done before. It was not pleasant wading. Waist deep with a rather dodgy river bed made up of silt, woody debris, and the odd wobbly rock. I spent most of my time removing twigs from the hook. After an hour of this I gave up and retired for a cuppa and sandwich. After lunch I headed downstream for a spot of balsam bashing then some more fly fishing.

 I thought I'd spend an hour or so pulling up the few plants there were left form my last visit. Clearly a lot of it has been hiding behind other plants and had sprung up when I'd finished pulling their friends up. Thankfully only one had formed seed pods. These were clipped off very carefully and placed in an empty crisp packet. I'd also had a bit of a panic when I saw some pink plants a long way from the beck, but as I got closer I realised they were foxgloves.

After two and a half hours of balsam bashing I felt it was time for a drink. It took me some fifteen minutes to find my vest and rod that I'd leant against a tree. Like a dropped screw they just seem to merge with their background. I all this time I'd not seen a single fish rise. Apart from a couple of bees the only fly life I's seen was a mayfly and a small olive. I had, however seen some deer tracks under a fallen barbedwire fence. I'd also seen a nice large pool that I though would be a good stating point.

The problem with these large pools in small becks they  often turn out to be very disappointing, but just after I arrived I saw my first rise of the day. I changed the Nymph to a dry fly. As I moved around to get a cast there was another rise. I landed the fly close to the area of the two rises, But trying to get enough slack to keep it on the bubble line with out dragging wasn't easy. Third or fourth cast I got it about right. The fly disappeared, but the strike contacted with nothing except the Sycamore behind me. A little wait and another cast and the fly was back in the Sycamore. How do trout manage to grab a fly like that but fail to get the hook point in their mouth.

I continued on upstream. Overhanging branches made life difficult as they always seemed to be positioned above the bubble line. The odd log jam and deep section didn't help either. I much prefer it if I don't have to wade but the steep banks make access very difficult. Not to mention the barbed wire fence on one side. Still very little sign of insect life. I continued casting to likely looking spots with little success. A drift of the fly along the edge of a fallen tree in the edge produced a nice take and this time I connected. A spotty little 62 WBT soon graced the net. Another drift down the side produced another one. However this one managed to shed the hook near the net.

I continued on with no more luck until I arrived at the large pool below the railway bridge. I had a bit of a cast about. A fish rose on the far side in the slack. Despite several casts to the area it never rose again. I let the fly drift past me along the edge of a dead shrub like thing. As I did so a vole trotted along the tree roots above me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a ripple and as I looked round realised my fly had gone. Too late for me to contact with anything though. I tried fishing above the bridge but the light had disappeared with the very cloudy sky. It was nearly impossible to see the fly as most of this stretch is surrounded by trees as well. I tried nymphing again but this only produced one rattle and that was it.

Ignoring Balsam While Hunting WBT

 Today I spent a short time ignoring the huge stands of Balsam while hunting for trout on the bottom beat of the beck. The first fish I found were little fry around the 1-2" mark sunning themselves. Some of the beck now had nice clean, fish free, gravels. Other parts a seriously overgrown. It was in one of these areas I saw a decent trout as it shot away upstream as I stumbled over a sunken branch while wrestling my way through overhanging willow branches. I see to spook far more fish than I should on here.

A bit further on I came across a fish rising on a bend with a deep hole. The fish was in a back eddy across a rather complicated set of currents. I managed to negotiate the hole to get my self to the downstream end of the eddy. I watched the fish for ten minutes or so. In this time it rose three times. It never moved more than a few inches from the bankside vegetation. It took a few roll casts before I got my Elk Hair Sedge to drift along the edge of the vegetation. A tried a few more times but it wasn't interested as it rose twice for something else. I tried another good standby in the shape of a small daddy, but his too was ignored. I didn't put he fish down though as it did rise occasionally but not for my fly. I changed again to a size 18 double badger and second drift through it was taken. All hell broke loose when i struck as the fish raced about the pool before wrapping the leader around a sunken twig. Keeping tension on I managed to dislodge the twig. This now gave it chance to demonstrate it's acrobatics before it gave up and came to the net. A lovely WBT of 11".

I didn't see any more fish as battled my way upstream. It had taken some time to navigate the beat and it was now time to go. Still I was rather pleased to get the fish in a section where they appear to be rather rare.

I'm sure there are more in there but this is real jungle warfare at times and I'm pretty sure I spook far more than I see. Plenty of season left to get the hang of the beat though.

RFM And Trout Fishing

 The started with a spot of River Fly Monitoring. No real surprises. Numbers slightly down below the CSO which isn't surprising given the recent rain had it running. Having completed that I headed down to near the bottom of the stretch for a spot of fluff chucking. The beck looks like it should hold good numbers of trout as is does above the village. The bankside vegetation is now very lush and makes some parts a bit claustrophobic. The level was up just a couple of inches or so.  I only managed to raise one fish which I missed. I did spook several more hiding under overhanging branches that were trailing in the water. I had run flies as close to them as I could but I don't think they were really looking up. I did see a shoal of small silver fish on my walk down. Probably dace, maybe. So here are a few pics of the beck.

After a cuppa I tried to fish another short length, but a couple of mallard kept spooking the fish. The ducks would fly a little way upstream then drift back until they saw me. They'd then take of again and land a bit further up and drift back towards me. In doing this they did spook a few of the small escapee rainbows.

RFM & Hunting Aliens

 Thursday started with a spot of River Fly Monitoring. Four of us kicked sampled a couple of sites above and below a sewerage outlet. The results were much as expected with no alarms apart from a large increase in blood worm below the outfall.

Site 3 11 July 2024, 10:00	Count	ARMI
Cased Caddis	46	2
Caseless Caddis	1	1
Baetis	500	3
Stonefly	0	0
Blue Winged Olive	14	2
Heptagens	0	0
Mayfly	0	0
Gammerus	300	3
Trigger level = 6	ARMI score total =	11

Site 4 11 July 2024, 11:00	Count	ARMI
Cased Caddis	22	2
Caseless Caddis	8	1
Baetis	200	3
Stonefly	0	0
Blue Winged Olive	31	2
Heptagens	0	0
Mayfly	1	1
Gammerus	300	3
Trigger level = 7	ARMI score total =	12

A few Bullheads and a solitary Stickleback put in and appearance as well. The Bullheads are far more tolerant of pollution than was previously thought. 

After a spot of lunch it was time to try and capture some of the escapee rainbows. There were a couple of hotspots for them. One chap fished fly larva under a float in one spot. While another fished nymphs on a French style leader in the other. I had a wander downstream with a euro nymphing setup. Euro style nymphing is not something I do very often, which is probably why I'm not very good at it. A couple of runs down between the weeds and the indicator showed a bite. It felt like something of a decent size but didn't feel like a trout. Through the clear water I could see an eel which plunged into the weed and snaffled my fly.

A couple of swims later I managed to hook a reasonable brown trout which I managed lose with the classic poking the rod tip into the over hanging hawthorn technique. In the next swim I spotted a couple of good sized grayling. They were over the other side of a weed bed and to reach them I'd have to wade. The beck though was quite a way up following the rain earlier in the week. While it was three foot deep next to the bank it was a bit deeper further out. The bottom was also softer and after stating to sink I decided better of it. The kerfuffle of me get back to the bank spooked the grayling. A few more swims were tried as I continued upstream, along with changes to fly. Eventually I managed a couple of the escapee rainbows.

I didn't catch any more by the time I'd reached the others. My couple of fish looked a bit pathetic to the numbers they'd caught. As they pointed out though, they had been in the hotspots.

After another go a couple of us had another go but the rainbows were happy to follow the flies but not take. Only one more was caught. I had ago from below the hotspot with spiders but this was the same. I could see the fish following them turn away. We'll be back to remove some more.