Good Friday for Wild Trout

Friday 3rd April 

Easter is a very movable feast! It can fall anywhere between March 22nd and April 25th.

Last year, Easter (Sunday) fell on the 20th April. The following day saw me heading for my first trip of the 2014 trout season to the Dorset Piddle. Today saw me bound for the same venue, with a view to marking the opening day of the trout season 'round these 'ere parts by wetting a line at the earliest opportunity.

Unsurprisingly with Easter in 2015 falling so much earlier than in 2014, the weather forecast today was far from encouraging. Nevertheless I duly loaded Ellie and Hamish into the Freelander and headed westwards into the........Bank Holiday traffic!!!!!

Honestly, what's so great about getting out of the towns and cities into the countryside anyway? My drive through the New Forest was good, but as soon as I hit the A31 around Bournemouth/ Wimborne it was another story. Audiobook to the rescue!

As something of a fan of military history, I'm currently working my way through this, and enjoying it immensely. The great thing about audio books is that they can be "rewound", so if one nods off whilst listening during one's long commute, by train I hasten to add, then nothing need be missed.

Yesterday evening I had also read Peter Anderson's latest blog entry with interest. and then his entry dated 1st April. Notwithstanding the date, I don't think he's kidding!

Back to today. I was an hour later than I'd wanted to be in arriving at the river which had given me far too much time to think about what I was going to do when I got there. I've acquired one of these and wanted to try it out today. I like the concept of sling packs, but from a practical perspective find small chest packs easier to get on with. Travelling light is key - and that reminds me of a joke, especially for any physics graduates out there........Whether sling or chest pack, it mustn't be of a size that tempts one into taking everything including the kitchen sink for a day's fishing. I don't believe we need as much "stuff" as we seem to think, and admire those organised enough to get by with just a lanyard.

Today was never going to be a long session - I intended only to fish the middle part of the day. This is a long and varied beat, and pretty quickly I changed my mind about which bit I was going to fish. A day for new kit - a 3wt Barrio Smallstream (in olive, of course) was loaded onto my Sage Click, and I wanted to try this out.

A marvellous beat, this. Off the beaten track. No dog walkers, hikers, or other types that can sometimes be a pain in the @rse for an angler. After letting the dogs have a bit of a sniff around whilst I set up, I headed downstream to a part of the beat known as Chestnut Wood. I'd tied on a Balloon Caddis, determined to fish dry rather than nymph.

Low and clear!

Past experience has taught me this is a good, potentially productive pool up as far as the tree. I've seen one or two big fish in the pool upstream of said tree over the past couple of years, as well as having made the acquaintance of a decent fish that lived just under the tree. All I wanted to do today was get off the mark, try out some new kit and then beat the traffic home.

It was a strange day in that I couldn't get the Balloon Caddis to stay up! But, fishing it slightly submerged I had three fish, none of any great size, within a half hour as I fished up to and above the tree.

Balloon Caddis, beautiful trout!

Anyway, I ended up detecting the "takes" by watching the end of my fly line. The Barrio Smallstream was a joy to fish with, perfect for an environment where the roll cast is used about 90% of the time.

Not so sure about the sling pack. I could have put my essentials into wading jacket pockets and made even more like the proverbial photon. But, given how un-promising and uninspiring the weather forecast had been, I was pleased to end up with three fish on the mystifyingly submerged Balloon Caddis, and beat the Bank Holiday traffic home!

Stream level!

Thursday on the Test

Thursday 5th March 2015

This Thursday just past saw me scheduled to be joining Peter Anderson at Wherwell. Follow the link for Peter's take on the day.

I hadn't been to Wherwell since December 2012. That was a guided day with Jim Williams doing the patient and long-suffering honours. Trout or nowt - it was definitely "nowt" in terms of grayling that day, not Jim's fault by any stretch, but mine for missing a number of takes on the "LCD" nymphing rig late in the day.

That day was an inspiration to me, in terms of an introduction to winter nymph fishing for grayling on Hampshire's chalkstreams. In my account of the day, I referred to the "homework" that I took away with me, ending up with the creation of a nymphing rig improvised with one of "Mr Trout's" 5ft furled leaders and a Fish On hi-viz bi-colour indicator spliced on the end. Early in 2013, I had the opportunity to deploy this highly effectively on a couple of occasions, much to my delight.

What was particularly annoying about the day with Jim back in 2012 was finishing up the day in a deepish pool near the car park. The light was going, but Jim had put me in the right place with the right flies and the right rig. This was the point I referred to a couple of paragraphs ago - because of my ineptitude as a nymph fisher I missed a number of takes that I would these days expect to connect with as a matter of routine.

Anyway, back to Thursday. It was a lovely morning, and I mentioned to Peter that I fancied casting a flyline for a change from nymphing with a French Leader. Peter suggested a part of the beat where I could fish the duo, and showed me the stretch of water he had in mind.

I set to work, agreeing with Peter that staying cool might be more of a challenge than keeping warm, for a change. The early March sunshine was glorious, a thought with which the Wherwell trout obviously concurred.

I was pleasantly surprised and overjoyed to note an obviously healthy head of wild brownies, as one came firstly to my nymph and then several more attached themselves firstly to my Klinkhammer and then subsequently a Parachute Adams. On the hunt for grayling, I moved on and switched to a French Leader.

This made no difference to the result, as trout were having a field day. I moved on, trying to respect the close season on the one hand but on the other inwardly rejoicing to see so many wildies on a water renowned for its stockies.

Lunchtime was approaching, and I suddenly felt a little despondent at having only trout and no grayling to my name. As I made my way back to the car park, I happened upon the pool that Jim Williams and I had finished up in, that day in December 2012.

It looked attractive. A good depth of water, with a very healthy current flowing against the opposite bank. In I went. I waded out to mid-stream, and commenced nymphing just my side of the flow of current against the far bank.

On the third or fourth drift through some deeper water than I'd been fishing that day, in good contact with my flies, a slight hesitation led me to lift the rod tip. I was in. Instantly, I knew two things - this was a grayling and a good one at that. Retracing my steps, I retreated into shallower water, and saw that a large, male grayling had taken my Orange Tag.

With a minimum of fuss, this handsome fish was safely in the net.

A very broad, muscular fish with huge "shoulders", I realised that this was probably close to two pounds in weight. My landing net has a measuring scale, but no weighing scales. I estimated this fish to be around 16 inches in old money, which is just over 40 cm in new. Given the excellent condition this fish was in, at 16 inches/ 40 cm this would certainly be within a spit of  two pounds and my best fish of 2014-15 season.

As I got around to releasing him, he gave me a display of the stunning and vibrant colours on his huge dorsal fin. Showing that any idiot can get lucky with a digital camera in "burst mode", I think you'll see what I mean...

Stunning

I think this shot also shows the excellent condition of the fish. Anyhow, needless to say I was thus able to enjoy my hot soup and wonder yet again at Peter's capacity for getting carried away and missing lunch!

I wasn't planning to stay late, chalking off another couple of fish in the afternoon. The day had turned cooler, cloudy and windy so I wasn't far behind Peter in calling it a day and heading home to Border Terriers, woodburning stove, and my wife.

It felt very satisfying to have taken such a magnificent fish from that particular pool, given that I had "history" with it. I think perhaps one more grayling outing before 15th March, and then inevitably thoughts turn to Spring, trout, and longer/ warmer days.

Natural Born Fishers

Saturday 28th February 2015

First time I've sat here and tapped away to create a post in a good while! Not because I haven't been fishing with fly or walking with Ellie and Hamish, but maybe I just got out of the habit! Anyway, I've recently had a couple of days fishing which are perhaps worthy, and the first of these was fulfilling a commitment I'd made at a Fishing for Forces event in October last year.

Now, if you're unfamiliar with FfF, please do take a moment to visit its home on the Whisky with Water. It does some excellent work, and I've already volunteered my services to act as a mentor to forces personnel later in the year. The venue for one of this year's events will be the excellent Manningford Trout Fishery, and I'm looking forward to this already. Avon Springs is also worthy of a mention here, having been generous enough to provide the venue and facilities for a number of FfF events over the previous two or three years.

Personally, I enjoy acting as a mentor at FfF events immensely. My employer is generous enough to allow me two "charity days" a year, plus other opportunities stemming from the Lloyd's Community Programme. Corporate Social Responsibility is very much en vogue, but the CEO of the Lloyd's Managing Agent for whom I work is a strong advocate of putting something back in.

So, back to last October and the promise I made at a FfF event to a member of the RAF, a gentleman by the name of Rob Somner. Rob was one of a group of Chinook engineers from RAF Odiham undergoing a "decompression week" after a particularly long deployment to Afghanistan. He'd organised his unit's attendance on the day, having become hooked on fly fishing after a previous FfF event.

Anyhow, I was introduced to Rob by a colleague of mine who was also acting as a mentor. Rob had fished Meon Springs and got to hear from my colleague that I fished on a stretch of the River Meon, and Rob was keen to try fishing in running, rather than still, water. I quickly explained that the Meon would be unsuitable for a novice but suggested a couple of other venues and promised to be in contact via email.

So, at long last the day arrived and we met at the agreed time and place before making our way to the River Test at Timsbury. I was to supply tackle, flies and......errrr.....ummmm.....expertise, whilst Rob was in charge of supplying the requisite amount of enthusiasm. Now, I'd made a point of fishing this particular beat a couple of times earlier in the month with the desired result so was confident that I knew how to take care of fishing where there be fish.

The weather was dull, grey, overcast and chilly with a strong wind so I deployed what I think of as my "LCD" nymphing rig. I explained to Rob that the method we would be fishing was relatively short-line nymphing and ran through the basics. There would be little or no elegant casting of fly line - more a wristy flick or well-timed lob to get the flies where we wanted them to be. I pointed out the indicator and explained it's function. My choice of fly was a single Orange Tag, bearing in mind this is a successful pattern and the simplicity of no dropper or second fly to tangle. The goal was very much to concentrate on fishing rather than over-complication.

After a quick demonstration, Rob eagerly grasped my 10ft 4wt and set to work. I explained about reading the water and suggested where to cast the fly, and before long we were in a nice rhythm. I wasn't fishing myself, just helping Rob find his feet with suggestions and adjustments. We were moving slowly up the beat and after an hour Rob thought he'd had a couple of expressions of interest but not connected. I told him I was pleased as this showed we were fishing the right fly in the right way.

The end of the drift

We'd been going about an hour by this time, and I'd also explained about inducing the take and how inadvertently this can prove deadly at the end of the drift. Well, with practically the very next drift, just as Rob began to lift the flies a solid take put a nice bend in his rod.

The culprit!

I was amused to see this small grayling was responsible for such a positive take and some very respectable rod-bending. To say Rob was pleased is an understatement.

Before very much longer, slightly further upstream another positive take resulted in another decent bend. I quickly identified that this was a trout, and urged Rob downstream so we could net and return it with minimal disturbance to "The Zone".

Anyway, even though it's out of season here follows a picture. The panjet mark on the gill clearly identifies this as a stocked fish, which is my justification be it right or wrong.

Salmo Trutta

No matter, after some nifty camera work on my part back it went none the worse for its experience.

Perseverance

The morning wore on, and I suggested we break for lunch. After lunch, we resumed fishing where we'd left off but pretty soon the wind was strengthening and blowing directly upstream. Indicators were blowin' in the wind, so I suggested a move to another part of the beat where it would be at our backs.

This proved to be a very wise move! Fishing was much more comfortable, and I caught a grayling of half a pound or so. The day was wearing on, and Rob was looking at a couple of hours' drive back to just south of Birmingham. We had to depart in an hour or so.

Having explained that the trout season was closed to Rob, my mistake was not going to the same trouble with the trout themselves. Fishing in a previously very productive pool brought several to hand, mainly for Rob. The trout were taking slightly downstream of him, and I explained what I thought his fly was doing to attract the fish at this point.

Much to my relief, however, this series of (stocked) trout was punctuated by the appearance of a very welcome female grayling. True to form, the lady had showed up - eventually. We hadn't been stood up, after all.

Beautiful!

I could concentrate on working the camera, and it was a further opportunity to discuss catch and release practices.

Back she goes.

And with that, after a fruitless further 20 minutes, I explained to Rob that we would move on now if we were fishing on but alas it was time to go. A thoroughly enjoyable day was thus ended, and we departed, with talk of clubs and syndicates in Rob's neck of the woods.

Rupert (my CEO) is right. It's great to put something back in - I think Rob's hooked on running water now! Oh dear, chalk up one more to the pile of us obsessed types........

Dorset Piddle, Wild Brown Trout

Today, Easter Monday, found me in possession of a Pink Ticket to disappear for a day's fishing. I was heading for the Dorset Piddle, to fish a syndicate water which I was fully expecting to have all to myself.

I'd compared notes last week with a fellow member of the other syndicate to which I belong, and found that he was heading to Essex for a visit with the in-Laws. Now, I love my in-Laws as much as - if not more than - the next man; but I seemed to detect a hint of envy on Philip's part when I told him I would be on the water whilst be negotiated the M25.....

Just to be clear, I had "done my bit" on Easter Sunday. An unnecessarily lengthy church service - check. Ironed twenty work shirts - check. Walked with Border Terriers - check. Good Friday and Saturday had been spent in the garden and at garden centres. Both cars had been washed, so dues had been paid in full. I had the receipts to prove it.

Digressing for a moment, on Thursday 24th April I'll be spending the day volunteering for the worthy charitable cause that is Fishing for Forces. I'm looking forward to this immensely; I can't begin to imagine what active service in Afghanistan must be like. I do, however, know what a long-distance commute followed by the delights of the Waterloo & City Line is like, and how much that makes me hunger after peace and quiet.

So, back to today. Unlike my last outing there was no last-minute detour east to the Meon. I was tempted - briefly - but stuck to my plan to head west for my first day on the Piddle in 2014's trout season. And what a glorious morning it was. Words can't do justice to describe the fields of oilseed rape and I was once again left to ponder on how much earlier Spring has sprung in 2014, compared to 2013. At the river, I remarked to myself on how far the vegetation and trees had grown on since my last visit on a working party three weeks before. Rain yesterday and overnight had introduced a tinge of colour to the water, and I thought that sight fishing would be difficult.

And, so it proved. I was pressed for time so had planned to fish the water at the top of the beat. This is the clearest and most open stretch, with room to use a longer rod and a decent back-cast. A small, Olive emerger pattern went on the business end, and I cast this speculatively for the first half hour or so. Whilst enjoyable, this was unproductive. There were insects in the air but no sign of a hatch and no rising fish, so on went the nymphing rig.

Approaching the weir pool

This is a little deeper than it looks, and I was wary of a rather silty bottom, so fished from the bank. How I came to be in the water to get the shot above will become clear. With a mixture of lobbing and casting, I targeted the slightly deeper water by the far bank. Mid-day was approaching, I'd been fishing for an hour, and my first take registered. A small but spirited Piddle brownie of about half a pound gave a good account of itself, followed by a couple more fish of the same size. I connected briefly with what I believe to have been a Piddle "school peal" - very silvery with a dark back. It took to the air and rid itself of my nymph.

Then, still working from the bank, I focused on putting my nymph close in to the opposite bank, where the water was significantly deeper. It looked trouty. Mid-drift, not just a hesitation but a dead stop, followed by a lift of the rod tip. Resistance. Fish. Current. A sighting. My goodness, this was in a different class - not enormous, but enough of a glimpse to show that this was a striking fish. One I wanted to net and photograph.

It felt securely on, had been for a while. I slid into the water, unshipped my net, and tried to stay downstream. Before too long, this rather striking brownie was in the net. Relieved, I readied the camera. A very spirited fish. Who cares what it weighs, I was transfixed by the spots. This was just so beautiful, the colours so vivid, and the creature so proud and magnificent.

Speechless.

The Red Spots

Need I say any more? After releasing and reflecting on such a bonnie fish, I continued along the beat. I caught more, I missed more. I went home happy. Anybody fancy a close up?

Dorset's finest

That was one Happy Easter!

Me-on Trout: A Micro Blog

Yesterday was my first line wetting of 2014's trout season. In fact, it was my first outing since 29th January......which is why it felt like a long time since I'd last fired up the Quattro in classic Gene Hunt style and headed to the waterside.

I've seen a lot of discussion about the effectiveness of the Jingler as an early season fly, and I'd sourced some of these from the excellent Hartley Fly earlier in the week. My Jingler acquisitions had been the source of much hilarity and a limitless supply of "double entendre" wisecracks, e.g. "Tony'll be getting his Jinglers wet at the weekend" and "Make sure you dry your Jinglers properly after fishing" etc. All very childish, but understandable as there has been a certain amount of "Cabin Fever" in evidence at the office, given I was but one of three twitchy fly fishers who hadn't fished for a looooongggggg time.

My fortune is being offered the opportunity to join a small syndicate fishing a stretch of the Meon is considerable, and I was initially torn between this venue (which I'd visited but never fished before) and the Dorset Piddle. The Piddle is another small syndicate, which I'd joined last year, and apart from three working party days had been untouched since the end of 2013's trout season.

I left the house intending to head west, but decided on a whim to head east. To the Meon I was bound, Jingler-laden, feeling disorganised and under-prepared. My tackle appeared to be in the same condition of disarray that I'd left it in after what turned out to be my final grayling outing. I had envisaged that further outings would be on the cards, but the ridiculously wet weather, work and family commitments meant that this was not to be the case. It's unlike me not to have "fettled" since then - something that amuses my wife greatly, when she sees me sorting and re-sorting flies, fly boxes and tackle in general.

 Dorset Piddle Mid-February; severe flooding beginning to recede

Back to the ridiculously wet weather this winter past, for a moment. The Piddle had seen considerable flooding, like many rivers in the Wessex region, and our stretch of water has a number of fallen trees which will need to be removed. The working party three weekends ago enabled us to tackle some of the smaller ones; in a couple or more cases we didn't remove the trees. We were able to use a couple as flow deflectors and another we decided to just leave where it was. Discusssion around a further WTT advisory visit (last one was April 2010) had ensued.

Roughly the same shot, a month later

Anyway, back to yesterday. In large measures, this was really about blowing away the cobwebs. I started at the bottom of the beat, fishing an Olive Jingler, and persevered for 30 minutes with no result. The day was pleasant, cloudy but with plenty of sunny spells. It felt good to be back in the water, albeit fishless, and I switched to the duo. Underneath my Klinkhammer I tied a shrimp pattern, and cast expectantly into the shallow, streamy run ahead of me.

Bang. The shrimp was nailed and a silvery fish of about half a pound was firstly airborne then in possession of my shrimp pattern no longer. I smiled at this, pleased that the change of fly had bought a result. Was this another "school peal"? Or, merely a very pale Meon brownie dazzling to deceive in the bright April sunlight? I'll never know.

For the next couple of hours I fished up the beat and occasionally did so from the bank, as the vegetation has yet to put on its annual Spring growth spurt. My mind drifted back to 2013 and how late Spring was in arriving last year. Flies were changed, I felt in a shrimp-pattern state of mind so at one stage found myself fishing two, New Zealand style. A handful of what could have been takes, judging by the end of my fly line, proved either to be the bottom, weed or were missed fish.

A meeting of fly, leader and branch at about three in the afternoon prompted me to pause and take stock; I decided the cutting of grass and walking with Border Terriers could wait a little longer. After successfully retrieving flies and tippet with about six feet of leader remaining I tied on a shrimp pattern and an olive quill nymph New Zealand-style on a couple of feet of tippet. By now, I was working my way through a very narrow stretch of the beat, twisting with both banks tree-lined. This was close work, a couple of rod lengths at the most.

A roll cast. A good one, actually. Flies sinking quickly, line dead straight. watching the tip intently. A hesitation. A strip strike and slight lift of the rod tip (no room for more) and resistance. This was a strong current, and what felt like a good fish. Then I caught a glimpse of flank and realised how spirited the Meon trout are. I stayed downstream and did a good job of not falling over my own feet as I backpedalled slightly and unshipped my net from the back of my wading jacket. In the bag, safely, not big but certainly beautiful.

"Spot" the salmo trutta...wild, it was livid!

Breathing deeply, I kept the fish in the water whilst I readied my camera. The Olive Quill had been snaffled and I felt pleased that the change of fly, leader length and tactics had worked.

Lift and click!

In the above picture, the shrimp pattern is visible in the net.

Worth a closer look.....

And with that, my camera beeped angrily at me; I had not charged the battery so no further shots were possible. The fish was released, I was content, and able to return home to grass and terriers, feeling pleased with my day and having caught my first Meon trout.

One Lump or Two?

Wednesday 29th January

This was my last trip this season to the Itchen, so here's a micro blog (by my standards, anyway) to record one or two highlights of the day.

I had the pleasure of fishing with Peter Anderson. His take on the day can be found here. Peter's party was gatecrashed by a big upstart rainbow, which took him 20 minutes to land and made a nuisance of itself.

Peter is spot on about the conditions. It wasn't an inviting day to be on the water, and late morning saw the easterly wind strengthen a little to make it even less so. However, this particular beat closes at the end of January and reopens at the start of the trout season - so we had to make the most of the situation.

We started fishing at around 10.00. Peter decided to try the bottom of the beat, whereas I decided on a spot just upstream of where his "bit" ended, to work my way along from there. This had been a very productive spot for me last Saturday and as conditions were similar - albeit the water was considerably clearer - I chose the same flies; Orange Tag on the point and something pink on the dropper.

Once again, I was off the mark very quickly. It's a pool I've previously passed by, as it's near to the car park, and I wonder if most people do the same as me - head for the tranquil part of the beat and not fish it.

The current was strong, with a lot of extra water being carried. It was very much a case of deja vu, a number of grayling came to hand, were released, and the next dead drift through the pool commenced. Another take, and a feeling of something more substantial attached to the end of my line. Before long, the fish was visible and I could see that I did indeed have a very respectable-sized grayling attached to my Orange Tag.

It wasn't a long or arduous fight. I was helped by the fact I was fishing a 10ft 4wt rod with perhaps a little more "stopping power" than my Streamflex Plus 3wt, and the fish was soon in the net.

...and it's quite a large net....

With it safely in the bag, I took a moment to admire this chunky, handsome grayling. Out with the camera and a couple of shots for what would be a shortish blog entry, an addendum to my most recent ramblings.

I need to look up the measurements, but the Snowbee 3 in 1 is quite sizable.  It certainly gives the fishies plenty of room to rest in the water, and recover!

The picture below brings this to life a little more. I look at this now and realise that I didn't quite register fully the size of this lump. No scales unfortunately so just an estimate that this is a 2lb fish. Peter agreed with me when I showed him this photo on my camera screen, and he should know!

...a lump of a Grayling, and no mistake...

What more is there to say about the day? Well, I had a little fun experimenting with a downstream presentation and caught some fish that way. It was possible to sight fish a couple more, and I watched some trout spawning in the shallows.

A break of three weeks awaits me now. It will be mid February before I have the opportunity to fish next, and that will be on the Test at Timsbury. We could really do with some dry weather before then, but we'll have to wait and see!

PS: The Snowbee 3 in 1 is 16 x 20 inches, or 40 x 50 cms in new money!

Another Orange Tag Saturday

So, two weeks to the day after Nicholas Steedman's Orange Tag Heroics, yesterday I found myself once more heading through the New Forest towards the M27. This - via Rownham Services for coffee and a breakfast bap - would take me to the M3 and then up beyond Winchester, to Hampshire's fabulous River Itchen.

At the time of my previous visit with Nicholas, the river was higher than I'd ever seen it before and a little coloured. The intervening period had seen more wet weather, but the river was lower and the water clearer than two weekends ago. Since the middle of December an absolutely biblical amount of rain has fallen in Hampshire; I reflected that I'd been blessed with dry, clement weather on my fishing days during this period.

The river was still much, much higher than normal with a significant amount of extra water being carried and a very strong flow. Wading would be a challenge in these conditions, and I sensed I'd need to get the flies right down to where the fish would be, tight on the bottom, making the most of their intelligent design and conserving energy.

I opted for a longer tippet than I would normally use, and my point fly would be an Orange Tag without doubt. I considered what to tie on the dropper and remembered a post I'd read recently on the forum about flies for high, coloured water. I had a shrimp pattern very similar to the Dirty Pink, so on it went.

Since my last outing, I'd been giving some serious thought to the indicator/ sighter I was going to fish with. I'd sourced a couple of French Leaders from Dave Downie, and had been very impressed with them for a number of reasons. I had one of Dave's clear leaders sitting in the draw as a spare, so I'd carefully removed the sighter from this and attached it to the end of a Hends Camou that I would be fishing with today. This would prove to work very well, giving me greater flexibility to change depth without adding or removing tippet. Less fannying about and more time fishing!

Like Nicholas on our previous outing, I was up and running very quickly, the Orange Tag once again doing the business. I was also delighted when one grayling decided to opt for my dropper fly, as that seemed to vindicate my fly selection. I started off determined to keep count, but as usual once I was into double figures my mind wandered and I thought "Oh well, who cares!"

Big enough for the scoop net!

Some of the initial dozen or so were good fish and needed the net. The one above was a particular handful, although by the time we met I'd thoroughly "quality assured" all my knots so wasn't overly concerned.

I was struggling to make much progress up the beat, as every few steps the clear water would reveal yet more grayling and it would have been bad form not to have a cast or two.

What a nice scoop net! Brodin?

In the end I got a grip and willed myself upstream, ignoring the fish until I came to the first of two places on this beat that I especially like to fish.

A Vision!

This proved hard work, but I was able to persuade some grayling to come out and play. This was where I'd been fishing when Duncan landed his monster, and it had provided some excellent sport then, Today was not quite so prolific, and I decided to move on to try my other favourite.

Recognise this?

Don't tell anybody, but one look at this flow and I reached for the split shot. I popped a single No. 1 about six inches from the point fly and got cracking. A couple of small grayling on the point fly were followed by an upstart escapee rainbow that took a shine to my Dirty Pink.

Then...next cast into the drift through the hatch pool. I detected a slight hesitation and lifted the rod tip. Strange...is this the bottom? Hang on, no - a couple of wobbles and a sensation of something solid but not quite stationary - not the bottom but a fish that was staying tight to the bottom. But definitely not the bottom. I lifted the rod tip and applied a tad more pressure, to try and provoke this fish into action, and grudgingly it started to respond. By now, I realised I had something quite substantial attached and was once more quietly confident that my knots would hold, but in such a strong flow this could be a challenge.

Shortly thereafter, I caught a glimpse of the fish itself and realised that this was a very respectable-sized (male) grayling indeed. I was very calm, and thankful for the use of my Snowbee 3 in 1 net, with the long handle deployed and a generously-sized  frame and bag. In he went, without incident or much further ado.

Caught!

This was the cue for feelings of relief, as the last couple of fish I'd hooked into of this calibre I  hadn't managed to land. It was also another opportunity to use my Panasonic Lumix FT5. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to operate this camera one-handed. Once again, I was also to be delighted by the quality of the pictures it produced.

Being released

I don't carry scales so couldn't weigh it, but this was a handsome, long and muscular fish. It hadn't been a long or arduous fight and so a quick recovery and release saw him kindly holding station a couple of feet from me. This was an opportunity to try my very first underwear underwater shot.

Swimming away - happy!

By this time it was early afternoon and I would not be "having a late one" so began making my way back to the car. I did have time, though, to bother a few more of the local inhabitants, many of whom were pleased to see my Orange Tag dead-drifted past them.

Another decent fish

I'd had a really good, hugely enjoyable day and was playing the fish immediately above (which had also needed persuading to budge from the bottom) when my phone rang. Thanks to the wonders of Bluetooth earpieces I was able to do two things at once - talk to one delightful lady whilst welcoming another into my Snowbee 3-in-1.

Away she goes - the water cleared as my day wore on

As I packed away, I was left reflecting on a very successful day's fishing. As explained, I'd adopted a different sighter/ indicator with my French Leader, and was better able to alter the depth at which my flies were fishing quite dynamically throughout the day. I guess that - instead of using shot - I could have tied on a heavier fly, but who's to say that my presentation would have been better/ more effective?

Last fish of the day!

I was glad I packed up when I did as shortly thereafter a squall of some force swept strong winds and heavy rain through this part of Hampshire. As I finish this entry, today has brought some particularly mucky weather with it. Time to put another log on the woodburner and reach for some Tom McQuane....