Balsam Bashing (Again) & Rainbow Bashing

I arrived a bit early for the Balsam bashing session so has a bit of a chuck about with the fly rod and a dry fly. A size 16 Elk Hair Sedge to be precise. There wasn't much sign of fish. I tried to keep the fly as close to the bankside vegetation as I could as I suspect that's where they were hiding. It wasn't until I got to one of the three foot deep holes that something stirred. Third cast and one of the larger fish grabbed the fly. A very lively 11" escapee rainbow that did a sterling job of dodging the net. At one point it managed to get between my legs, but was eventually in the net. An autopsy revealed it has been eating Baetis & BWO nymphs along with the odd gammarus.

After some three hours of serious Balsam bashing and nearly falling in as we splodged about in the beck I was time for a cuppa. We'd covered about 200 yards of bank. Bank we'd been over at least twice before. No doubt more will pop up over the next month.

After lunch I had another go along the stretch but this time with a nymph. I'd kind of hoped that Our splodging about would have stirred up the nymphs etc. and have the trout feeding. It didn't work quite as I'd hoped, but I did hook a couple of rather small fish which managed to flip themselves of the hook. I don't know why I have such a hard time keeping these little rainbows on the hook.

A Quick Dabble

 Having carried out my minder duties and had a cuppa I wasn't totally sure about a quick bit of angling as there was a rather chilly wind and the fleece I had is far from wind proof. By the time I'd made up my mind to give it a go the was only about forty minutes before I had to be elsewhere. A seven foot rod  and a small goldhead PTN Seemed to be right for a quick dabble.

Really I should of used the eight footer as I could only just reach over the weed to drift the nymph along. Second drift down I got a take and up popped one of the little escapee rainbows. A few more drifts close to the weed and I latch onto another which I managed bump off swinging to hand. I moved up the beck drifting the nymph close to the edge of various patches of weed. I managed a couple more takes which I didn't connect with. Around the next bend the swan family were drifting down. The cob made it clear I wasn't welcome. So back up the bank. No point in pissing off swans with cygnets.

I tried a few more holes but nothing came of them. The wind had now turned around a bit as wasn't as chilly, time was up very quickly. I'd caught a fish so it was OK.

They Should Tidy Up The Fallen Trees

When ever I go through the gate onto the unmade road I have to suppress the urge to go full Stig Blomqvist down the track When I arrived at the parking spot another vehicle was already there. They were fishing the pond, with out a great deal of success at that point. I readied myself and headed to the beck. I didn't pick the best route down through the trees as it was a bit boggy but eventually got to the beck. Where the first thing I did was spook a couple of trout.

There isn't a lot of room for casting in these parts. A lot of it is only accessible by bow-and-arrow casting. The first few swims were rather tight but I managed to get my Elk Hair Caddis into most of the right spots with out getting hung up. Eventually, have spooked a few more fish, I got to a little beach with a bit of casting room and had a couple of nice drifts with the fly. Third drift down a little trout shot up towards the fly. It missed it but leapt clear of the water and disappeared under some tree roots. Another cast to the top of the riffle produced a positive rise and a seven inch wild brown trout was soon in the net.

 

 A Few more spots were tried, but mainly I just seemed to be spooking fish as I tried to spot them while walking. Not a good idea as I either walked into branches or was tripped by brambles. I then spotted a nice slack but the only access was right above it. As I took a bit of a detour to avoid spooking any residents I came across the feathery remains of a a kill that a small bird was picking over. Presumably for nest lining. Round at the slack I lowered the fly into the water. It had nearly reached the fast water when it disappeared. A strike and I was in to something. The line had got caught on a trailing briar. The little trout quickly flipped itself off the hook.

A few more swims were tried with out any action. I then got to a smoothish glide where the fly attracted the attention of a small trout which had a splashy rise at the fly. Next cast the fly had only drifted a couple of inches when if was snaffled. A little spotty of around five inches. I managed to raise another little fish in the next riffle. I was now thirsty and hungry so made my way back up to the road ascending alongside an old moss covered dry stone wall.

After lunch I had a short session on the pond as I'd seen a couple of fish rising. Only one of the anglers was still fishing and he lost is only fish of the day taken on nymph. After they ignored my caddis I tried a small Dynamite Harry. This too was ignored. I then spent a little while using it on the section of beck than runs by the pond to no avail. Clearly not all the fish are looking up yet. Another angler had a couple on nymphs following me.

Clearly there are a fair few trout in this beck as evidenced by my spooking them. I'll have to get my stealth mode practiced some more. As for those big creatures in the pond. I think they're best ignored for now.

What the fishing now needs is some settled weather and less rain as I would like to get up to the Dales as well.

Not As Planned

On Sunday with the one beck up and coloured I headed to the next valley along where it's beck was clear and fishable. It would also be out of the expected strong winds, but not the showers. I'd fished this beck further upstream a long long time ago. With a bit of stealth there are some very eager little browns to be caught. I parked up in the parking spot which is next to one of the club ponds, so decided to have a wander around. There was the occasional rise and plenty of rainbows milling about. Some where quite large.

Back at the car things started to unravel. I thought I'd put a five foot and a seven foot rod in the boot. Instead I had a seven foot and a ten foot rod. Further more the reel bag with the three weight reel only had the spool, but I did have a reel with a four weight line. By the time I'd got my waders on the sunshine had disappeared and the first shower of the day started. I made a cuppa and sat in the car contemplating. I decided to put the four weight on the three weight ten foot rod and have a go for a couple of rainbows in the pond on dry fly.

 

It took a while to get used to this rod being over-lined. In fact I never really got used to it. The rod really didn't like it, except for very short casts. The gusty wind wasn't helping. The first fly on was a retirer sedge. I thought a big fly would have them eager to rise. The big fish weren't eager at all. They just steadfastly ignored the fly swimming along as if nothing had happened. Even a clumsy cast with everything slapping down on the water didn't seem to spoke them. The greylag geese arguing didn't worry them either. Eventually a smaller fish I'd seen rising close to the bank took the fly but I had too much slack in the system and failed to gather it up on the strike.

 

With the fish taking little interest in the retirer I changed to another large fly, a march brown jingler. This seemed to do the trick. I cast it towards one of the large fish, but one of the small ones shot up and grabbed it. This time I connected properly and after a bit of a all-over the place fight it was in the net. Not a pristine fish but good fun on the light rod. I spent some more time flinging the fly about at various fish only to be ignored before the rain started again. I retired back to the car for elevenses.

During elevenses I had a long hard stare at the fly box. I had thought of fishing some sort of emerger but there were none to be seen. Probably because they were in the other box I hadn't brought with me. Instead I put on a small chenille daddy. This gave me an idea. I would try fishing it in the beck in a sort of euro nymphing style with just the leader out of the rod tip. This proved rather more complicated than I'd imagined. The wind was now stronger and the gusts would just lift the fly from the water and deposit it in a briar or similar. Nor was there a great deal of room and I began to fear for the rod tip. On my way back up the bank to the pond I spotted some frog spawn lying on some damp moss. I suppose with all the rain it had managed to keep damp. Even so i gathered up what I could and transferred it to the pond.

 

The gust of wind were now getting stronger and their direction was a tad unpredictable as the wind was buffeted about by the trees. This was shown when I cast down the bank to a fish and the whole lot was dumped on the bank by a gust. A cast towards an island produced a take from the smaller but very brightly coloured fish. Unfortunately it flipped the hook close to the net. really I should have stepped into the lake rather than struggle down the bank with a short handled river net.  A change to a John Storey after the daddy failed to attract anything more. A cast close to the island again produced another fish which after a brief battle was in the net.

The rain then started again and the wind was getting silly so I called it a day. An enjoyable day in the end, despite the dodgy start. It's a long long time since I fished a small trout lake and I've never fished one as clear and shallow as this one. It looks like I may have to have another go some time, but back to running water next.