Riverfly Monitoring Training

Last Sunday Ben and I attended a training session led by Stuart Crofts from the Riverfly Partnership. The day was very well organised and financed by Fiona McKenna of the Lincolnshire Rivers Trust (http://lincsrivers.co.uk/).

Stuart Crofts explaining the kick sampling methods
we will use on our own rivers

We learned about kick sampling methods as well as the 8 key groups monitored by the Riverfly Partnership and how to identify them (although this part wasn't new for Ben and I), how to record and submit the data and how it is used by the Partnership and the EA.

Ben examining our kick sample. Gammarus in their hundreds and lots of baetis nymphs too.
This stream also held a few caddis.

Baetis nymphs

A nice cased caddis from our sample

Stuart was an excellent instructor and the highlight for me was chatting to him about his work recording adult caddis as well as other fly related chat. His enthusiasm really is infectious.

More caddis cases, these were empty

A water cricket was an unexpected find, I hadn't heard of them before

Stuart also brought some preserved samples for us to look at down the microscope. These heptagenid nymphs are stunning creatures and photographs taken with my compact camera down the microscope came out quite well considering.

I'm looking forward to getting out on my own rivers to start sampling and keeping good records of the fly life. I will also be photographing our finds. We are starting with one site on the main river but hope to get a second site on another river approved by the EA soon.

If you don't already I'd encourage you to get out and look at the fly life on your river, especially if you can do it as part of a fly monitoring programme such as that run by the Riverfly Partnership. It's a great way to monitor the health of your river and is extremely informative when it comes to your own fishing too.

Thanks again to Fiona McKenna and Stuart Crofts for a great day.

JP Caddis Pupa (My version)

I finished tying some JP Caddis last night, a very effective fly introduced to me by Ben Lupton. In the past I have used tan and olive versions but I felt a version tied with orange sulphur coloured fly rite extra fine and a copper bead would work equally well (or better?!), so after restocking the standard colours I tied a batch of these. Ben and I chatted to the guys on the Fish-On stand at the BFFI earlier this year and in their view the most important part of the fly is to achieve a very distinct segmentation, so I have used brown flexifloss instead of wire to achieve that. 

 I'm yet to try them out but I expect them to work well. These are tied on 14s.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to try these at the weekend.

Against the Run of Play

Visited the little stream where I have spent most of my time this year last night. Although it was bright and the river looked in good nick I was frustrated, as I have been on many occasions this year (See Wharfe post to follow) with a very strong, blustery downstream wind. 

A few flies were in evidence including a few mayflies still and some largish sedges that I couldn't get close enough to have a good look at. I also saw quite a number of spiders coming downstream that were being blown onto the water by the strong wind. I saw one fish rising in the first run but despite my best efforts I could not get a fly in the right place. I managed to get one half decent drift and the fish swirled at the fly (A Moser Caddis) but I didn't connect. A second fish looked at the fly further up the run but thought better of it.

I didn't get any further rises for some time and was getting really frustrated with the wind. Being blustery I couldn't easily compensate for it and the river is getting quite overgrown now. Having lost several flies in the undergrowth I became quite frustrated *understatement* (insert suitable cursing here). I took a drinks break and a few deep breaths and continued and shortly after was rewarded with a small trout. Many of the usual spots were not producing though and I think that was more down to presentation than the fish being absent or unwilling to feed.

I continued on and came to the next good run. This short section (30 yards or so) has produced 5 or 6 fish in a single session before as you can usually pick them off one by one as you move up provided you don't allow them to run upstream. It's quite narrow here with a lot of overhanging foliage at this time of year and casts were going off target again. I missed a small fish I neared the top of the run and thought I'd missed my only chance. By this time I'd switched to a CDC and Elk as I'd put most of my Moser Caddis in various bankside flora. I put a cast in on the edge of the main flow and no sooner had it landed than the water erupted and a fish was on.

It bore down into the undercut. Putting some pressure on I managed to get it out but then I had a hard time keeping tension in the line as it shot downstream past me and again went for the undercut. Somewhere along the way it picked up a large bunch of blanket weed which weighed heavily on the line. The line was also doing a right angle where it had caught up on some vegetation. I had to wade backwards upstream so I could make room to get the right angle on the rod to coax it out, at which point it went for the undercut the other side putting me in a similar predicament. I guess that's one of the challenges of hooking a large fish on a river not more than a couple of metres wide. I finally managed to get the fish into the middle of the river and cautiously put the net under it. I half expected the hook to straighten or the line to snap such was the combined weight of fish and weed on the line but it mercifully held.

I measured the fish at between 18 and 19" which makes it the longest fish I have caught this year.

And with that the frustration melted away and I had a smile on my face again. It was only just after 8 but I decided that I wasn't going to top that and headed home happy.

Another good fish

This little stream keeps producing the goods. This is the third 17" plus fish it has produced for me this season and I know it has produced a couple of bigger ones for Ben too. Not bad for a stream that in many places is just a couple of metres across. Very lucky to have such great fishing so close.

Again a big fish in a tricky spot. I spotted this one rising under this low hanging tree.

A deep pool proving impossible to wade and a horse chestnut tree behind meant the best approach was to creep in behind the nettles on the right and do a bow and arrow cast. The fish took my mohican mayfly second drift.

The Mayfly

I have not found time to write recently, thankfully though that is not for lack of fishing. The last few weeks have seen several trips to the club water and to the river Wensum in Norfolk. None of these were particularly memorable trips and although fish were caught the going was hard.

More recently things have looked up thanks to the mayflies making an appearance. I saw my first mayfly on the 17th May.

Ephemera Danica

Although the fish were taking the odd dun I could not tempt them to a dry mayfly. They were happy to take a big klink though and I had a good day catching 20 (10 trout, 9 grayling and a chub) fish all told. I did resort to a black gnat to tempt one good fish in a slow pool that proved tricky to catch.

Tricky one on a black gnat

A good fish taken on a large Klinkhamer

By my next trip on the 22nd the hatch was in full swing. This was a Friday evening trip and the fish were taking spinners. I managed to lose the only two spinner patterns I had after only a few fish. I was fortunate that the fish were not too selective though and would take a Danica PHD freely.

16" Trout taken on a Danica PHD

This fish was the best taken on that trip measuring 16". An accurate cast was needed as it was feeding on spinners drifting into a small back eddy near the head of a deep pool. Casting as I was over the main flow I could only manage a second or two of drag free drift, but that proved to be plenty as the fish nailed the fly as soon as it hit the surface. This was a productive trip yielding 12 trout several of which were over 12".

My most recent trip was on bank holiday Monday (24th May). I fished with my friend Eliot who I have fished with since I started fly fishing a few years ago. You could say he's responsible for my getting into fly fishing as it was he who suggested going on an Anglian Water beginners course in the first place.

Anyway, we arrived around lunchtime and from the off it was clear that mayflies were going to be the order of the day again. I caught a small fish bow and arrow casting in the very tight bottom of the beat.

Bow and Arrow casts are needed at the bottom of this beat

Eliot was into the first good fish in a pool containing several rising fish.

A good trout for Eliot

The day continued with us regularly rising fish to our flies. Unfortunately Eliot was having trouble getting them to stick and only managed two more fish to hand. I was more fortunate managing 11 including my best fish of the year so far.

I had tried for this fish on my last visit. It sits under the low overhanging branch in the centre of this picture. The pool is slow and there are trees and bushes making a back cast impossible. Slotting a fly under the low branches is not easy and one bad cast puts the fish down, as I learned to my cost on my last visit.

A tricky cast to get a good presentation under the low
hanging bush in the centre of this picture

This time however I managed to pull it off and no sooner had I done so the fish nailed the fly. Life was made somewhat difficult by the deflector in the foreground of the picture as the fish made straight for it and I had to quickly wade up the river to head it off before it snagged me. That achieved getting the fish to the net was a relatively simple affair and I was rewarded with my biggest trout of the season so far. The fly that did the damage today was an OE Mohican Mayfly tied for me by Ben Lupton.

A fat 17" fish from a tricky spot and a happy angler

I'm hoping for a few more mayfly adventures before they pack in for this year and its off to Yorkshire again in a couple of weeks too.

Closer to Home

I had more or less half a day to fish today. I was able to get away at 12 and needed to be back for 5. Not wanting to waste time in the car I decided to fish a small river that is much closer to home than the main club water. This takes about 25 minutes off the journey giving me more fishing time.

The river is very small, just two metres across in many places with some wider sections. The lower half of the beat is very overgrown, real jungle warfare. Having heard this and not having fished this river before I opted for a 7ft 6 4wt rod. As I was expecting to be fishing nymphs predominantly I left the french leader on and stuck on a couple of nymphs.

This is one of the pools towards the bottom of the beat looking downstream after I had fished through. It was bow and arrow casts through here and the pool below but I managed to pick up two small fish to put any thoughts of a blank to bed.

This unassuming pool came next. It didn't look much, I had half an eye on the pool under the bridge which looked even more promising but I expected there to be a small fish or two to pick up on the way.

I flicked my line upstream and about half way down the pool the indicator stopped and I lifted into a feisty and much bigger fish than I expected.

 That little copper head PTN doing the business again

Photographed and released I continued up this small pool not expecting another fish having already taken this good one. Just a few feet further up my indicator darted away again almost the moment it touched down. I lifted into something very solid and which kept its head down. After a spirited fight this fish glided over the net.

16" Brown Trout

The first fish was well over 12" so to get another sizeable fish out of a small pool was a very pleasant surprise. I added a third of similar size to the first out of this pool on my way back to the car later on on a dry fly too. Its not more than about 3ft deep and quite a narrow run too but is clearly a favoured lie for several good sized fish.

I continued on. This fish was small but I post it because of its very silver colouration, strikingly different from any of the other fish I had in the day. 

About 3pm a few LDOs started hatching and it wasn't long before the trout started rising in a pool ahead of me. I picked up a small fish further down on a dry fly using the french leader and the noticed a number of fish rising here.

I tried a few casts but the wind had picked up and I was having trouble getting the french leader to present the dry fly with the wind coming directly downstream. Switching to a standard line allowed me to rest the pool and watch where the fish were rising. They were clearly enjoying themselves, several fish coming completely out of the water in their efforts to catch the hatching duns. I picked up this fish on one of Bens barbour paraduns.

Unfortunately there I had to leave it and drag myself away downstream, I had to get back home and left the hatch in full swing.

Yorkshire Days 2 and 3 - The Wharfe and Pale Wateries

After fishing with Danny I headed up to Ilkley to meet up with some guys from Invicta FFC. I recently joined having been invited to join one of their winter programme evenings, an excellent talk by Steve Cooper of Cookshill by Norman Shippey who I met at the Rutland Fly Fair. This was my first outing with Invicta.

We fished the Bolton Abbey stretch of the Wharfe. Oscar Boatfield joined us on the first day to give the members some instruction on french nymphing techniques which was new to many. It was helpful to have some tips from Oscar especially on a larger river where a longer line is needed; not somewhere I've use a french leader before. 

The water temperature was noticeably lower than the smaller rivers I'd fished the day before. Around 6C according to the river keeper and he reckoned we'd pick up a few fish but it wasn't going to be easy.

As we set up there was some discussion about fly choice.

I was surprised at the weight of the flies Oscar recommended but he proved to be right of course and the jig back nymphs I had tied over the winter proved ideal alongside a large PTN with a 3mm bead head.

In the morning Peter Oldham and I made our way downstream to fish whilst the other 4 had some instruction from Oscar to get them started. Both Peter and I had used a french leader before so we let those who hadn't have some instruction first. I was quite keen to get on with it too having had a late start due to traffic on the A1.

We fished a lovely pool which was wide enough for us to fish side by side and each work a different bubble line. About half way up the pool and shortly after Peter had reminded me that I needn't be polite and wait for him to catch the first fish, my indicator darted away and my rod bent into a good sized grayling. This was quickly released.

A few metres further along the indicator stopped and I struck into my first Wharfe brown trout. I was pleased and surprised to get such early success.

First Wharfe Brownie

First Wharfe Brownie

It wasn't long before Peter was in on the action too as he struck into another grayling.

Peter plays a grayling

Peter picked up a further trout from this pool before we wandered back to join the other for lunch. They were still occupied so we went upstream and found a couple of nice pools to try for half an hour before they stopped for lunch.

There was a sparse hatch of LDOs coming off and I did see a couple of fish rise but it was short lived and so I persisted with the nymphs. I took a further trout and another grayling from this pool.

Peter had a good grayling in the next pool along too. 

We stopped for lunch after that. Unfortunately the afternoon proved much more tricky, apart from a few missed takes I had nothing to show for my efforts the rest of the day. I didn't mind really as I'd already caught loads of fish the previous day so it was nice to relax and explore. I walked quite a long way upstream after lunch to see what lay ahead for the next day. Great pool and riffle sequences are ten a penny on the Bolton Abbey water, loads to go at and a good stamp of fish.

Not many fish were caught at all in the afternoon, but it was pleasing that all in the group managed at least one fish in the day.

I was looking forward to day two but unfortunately I was struck down overnight with food poisoning and there ended my trip. I didn't miss much apparently as the fishing was even harder the next day with most blanking. Not much consolation when you're dealing with entirely the wrong kind of pale wateries.

I can't complain though, what a fantastic few days in Yorkshire. I'm going back in early June too...