Then it hit me, why not have a go with the fly rod. Now I'm a very inexperienced fluff chucker, every year in June I have a get together with some friends & fish a nice Hampshire lake for stocked trout. But once a year for 4 or 5 years isn't much time to perfect my casting or master fly presentation & I've thought about fishing a small river. But getting all of the essential parts to come together could be a step too step for a man of my "less than average" fly skills.
My weapon of choice
Matching the hatch
My first cast in full flow
Don't know what I'm doing here, mid cast maybe
What a beauty !!!!
Huge mouth & obviously a male with a big kype
Chuffed ain't the word
But after seeing what might be on offer at the moment, it was too big an opportunity to turn down. Yes I may loose a few flies to various river bank vegetation, but just one trout on the dry fly would be amazing.
We also scouted out a prevously unknown part of the river that looked untouched by fisherman, the two mile hike may have a bearing on fact of course, but we again spotted a few smaller trout milling about in the deeper runs.
Returning a few days later with my trusty Sonik #5/6 rod & a handful of mayfly tied hooks.
I also wanted to test out an idea I had for different mono hooklink. With ultimate buoyancy in mind I used a hollow zig line that I've used to great success when surface fishing for carp.
Paul came along to have a look at how this fly fishing game works, problem was I didn't have a clue what I was doing either really, not the best time to show him the ropes but I was sure we would have a laugh.
Arriving at the swim of the big brownie that we saw before, I positioned myself in the deep marginal undergrowth, hopefully out of the fishes eye line & flicked my fly out into the fast flowing river.
This river is very shallow in places & rarely over 3ft deep, that fact combined with it only being a maximum 12ft across, led me to believe these fish would be very spooky. That proved right as the next hour consisted of 30 minutes of retrieving my hook from trees behind me & 20 minutes of untangling my gear. Leaving only 10 minutes of "fly-touching-water" time, but I had a good feeling after a few runs down the swim these fish had moved on.
Next was a bit of a risky move but I decided to slowly stand up & peer into the shallow water with my polaroids. Just as I thought the swim was empty, I just prayed these wild fish were safe & had not ended up on somebodies dinner plate.
On to the next swim & I saw a few dark shapes cruising around under a large tree, first cast looked ok as the fast flow whisked my fly downstream at quite a pace.
As I thought about mending the line a small fish nipped at the fly & I struck thin air.
Frustrating... Of course but I knew it was only a tiny fish & I hoped more chances would come my way later on.
A couple of casts later & it was time to move on to the exciting, unfished part of the river.
On the long walk Paul quizzed me about all aspects of this, at times complicated method & I tried by best to fill him in on what little I knew.
First sight of the river looked like a great fish holding area, a far bank run with a lovely little deeper pool on the nearside. We both kept well back from the rivers edge & I flicked my fly as close to the far bank as I dared.
My artificial hookbait swung round in the flow & stopped at the back of the pool, I left it there for a minute while mulling over my next move as Paul spotted a good fish that topped right in the faster flow, an unexpected place to see a fish as I had thought they would be hanging just off the flow towards the pool.
But I'd be crazy to ignore this sign & I cast 6ft upstream of the fishy movement & just as it reached where the fish showed before.......
My fly disappeared in the middle of a large swirl & for once I didn't have loads of slack line, as the line tightened up I felt a good head shake.
In the fast flow it became apparent this fish is a decent size & sped off downstream, thankfully I managed to get him in the nearside slacks & thus became far easier to handle. As my "gillie" Paul readied the net I saw a mass of silver & spots on a long flank down to a big triangular tail fin, the lean & powerful trout was soon safely in the net.
I started laughing nervously as I saw the size of my fish, from this part of the river no wider than 7ft & a depth of 3ft max, he must have been thriving in this habit.
We possibly netted him a bit early & he didn't like his picture being taken, he squirmed & wriggled in my hands, but eventually we got a few pictures & rather than weigh him I wanted to get him back quickly & in good nick.
In hindsight maybe I should have wieghed it but my estimate would be around 3lb
As he swam off strongly I sat back & knew that was undoubtedly the fish of the day but could I tempt a few more out ?
A few casts later & the swim had died, not surprising really.
Moving on to the final swim of the day & I decided it was time for Paul to have a go.
I cast the fly upstream of a big overhanging tree & hastily passed the rod over to Paul, he looked nervous as he took the handle & amazingly a trout darted out from the shadows & nailed the fly.
Thankfully I had set the disc drag & Paul held on as the trout burrowed for the cover & safety of the tree.
I jumped down the steep bank & got stung by the nettles & a boot full of water but I managed to net Paul's prize at the first attempt.
Paul's face was a picture, just like a little kid again. I have to admit I love putting people on the fish & I enjoyed that almost as much as my fish earlier.
With the fish well & truly spooked it was time to make a move home.
I did feel that I learnt quite a bit on steep learning curve (trial & error mostly) but Paul & i were already planning another trip as soon as we can.
As a little footnote, I went back the next week, I struggled with the trout but i had a beaut of a chub take my mayfly.
I thought it would be close to my pb of 5lb 10oz but with a hollow-ish belly she didn't even make 5lb. Still mega chuffed to say the least but I can't wait to get back to more familiar tactics in this swim after the 16th.
Where's my float rod & centrepin ???
