Without further ado I should introduce my fishing companion, Guy Joseph, a very talented fisherman, who will also be contributing to this aspect of the blog throughout the season....
Weather conditions
Bright but cold. Temperature was 5c when we arrived at 930am and a north easterly wind was adding a significant wind chill factor to an already low temperature.
Fly life
By 11am the wind had picked up and there was zero fly life bar a few early Hawthorn flies, also known as St Mark's flies. These were almost bang on time, if not a little early, surprising given the winter we have had. These are terrestrial insects, no part of their life-cycle requires water. When their numbers get to sufficient numbers, when there is a strong enough breeze the insects are blown on to the water and eventually this triggers a feeding response to the trout and they turn onto them.
The day
We were on the middle beat and fished the morning from about 10.00am until 12.30pm. There was virtually nothing rising and what fish there were, were very low down in the water and nothing was bringing them up. The wind had come up a bit and was putting a serious chill over the water and the normal hatch of olives was conspicuous in it's absence. Nothing else for it but to hit the pub and discuss tactics.
A couple of pints of cider and some food (not really worth discussing) we ventured into Stockbridge to Orvis to ritually buy more flies which none of us needed, it's part of the process, makes you feel confident for some bizarre reason even if you have many of the identical patterns in your box.
Back on the river things had warmed up and there were a few fish starting to move and were higher up in the water. A nice tout moved to the fly and came up short and was clearly in the mood, another cast just in front put the fly over its nose, Wallop! the fish took and gave a good account of itself, not surprising as this was a good sized fish, around the 6lb mark and in reasonable condition. The river is stocked but has a good number of over wintered fish and many smaller wild browns and plenty of Grayling. As the afternoon went on there was plenty more action with Guy and I matching each other fish for fish.
The carrier
We stayed on the main part of the river, nothing was showing on the carrier
Nick White and Julian Charrington
Our co-syndicate member, Nick White had a few smaller fish and our guest Julian Charrington had a nice fish at the top of the beat.
It was a lovely day in the end. A good start to the season. It's particularly lovely at this time of year, the first swallows had arrived swooping over the river to catch what meagre fly life there was. I heard both Woodpecker and Cuckoo and the Ash and Willow were starting to take shape, the Moorhen had laid her eggs, what a lovely time of year. Many different shades of green as everything starts to bloom. That's a big part of fishing.
Moorhen eggs
Yellow Marshflower
We finished early as it looked unlikely there would be a hatch, once the sun had started to set the chill had come back and it seemed doubtful that a good hatch of Sedge was likely. It was a good day, Guy and I both catching 4 a piece. I had two of 6lb which was a very good start to the season
Proudly showing off a fine brace of brown trout
The end of a good day
Until the next time
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