Feedback & Reports

The weather was good but overnight rain had raised the water levels somewhat and soaked the surface ground. Being new to the beat we decided to work our way downstream on the left hand bank, nymphing and trotting as we went. The beat covers two fields, the first was fine but the second, being by far the largest was an 'experience'. Unfortunately, the land owner must have recently embarked on a clearance project which will eventually increase access to the river. But at the moment it is like a WW1 battlefield with thick claggy mud and numerous felled trees and stumps. This made the walking in waders very, very heavy. In the long term the improvements will be worth it but in the short term think twice and perhaps use the right hand bank for access. Very little evidence of fish - perhaps they had been disturbed by the clearance work. Not the best of days, only one oos brown trout, but worth another visit.

1 Trout

No catches today.

4 x grayling 6-14 inches (three good ones plus one baby), 3 x out of season trout 8-12 inches, trotting. Warmer than of late but I packed up when it came on to rain hard.

4 Grayling

Was cool when i bowled up at about ten , decided that Czech nymphing tactics may be a good move , water was slightly murky but looking good , and as I walked down , a heron took off surprising me and him !!!!

Was nice using the ten foot three weight , although must admit still favour my old six foot two weight to be honest . . . . . . It's a wicked tool for slipping small nymphs and dries under the alders in these small streams in summer .

Anyway , the Fishing , two grayling were about ten inches , great scrappy fish in one of the deep pools , and I then had a lovely fish where the river bends sharply to the left as your wading upstream , it's a very very deep pool here , and had a very gentle take on the hotspot nymph but boy did he have some poke !!!! Gently brought him in on the three pound Tippett , superb fish maybe seventeen inches and possibly two pounds at a push !!

A lovely three hours sport , fairly quick mooch upstream , as bad weather was promised later on . Did only have a few spots of drizzle , looking forward to here in a couple of months , it's one of my favourite beats on the Arrow . . . . Time for home and a dash of Drambuie in a large coffee me thinks !!!!!!! Back soon , fun mornings sport .

3 Grayling

Today was my first attempt at small river fishing. I arrived at the beat at around 9:30am. It was quite breezy and cloudy. I started fishing at the pool near the bridge at the top with an orange pearl tungsten nymph. Slowly made my way down the beat. I had one good take just below the riffles by the bridge, I'm not sure what species it was as it got off the hook as I was about to land it. A bit disappointing as this was the only take I had in this session. I tried a few other Czech nymphs further down the beat to no avail, the weather got progressively worse as the say progressed, and so I decided to head home around 1pm. Today was a real learning curve for me. I will be back here in the near future.

Lovely river conditions, this beat is so rewarding when you learn your spots. Fished a french leader style for the first time for about an hour and caught one small grayling, before switching to Czech style where I landed two more decent fish. One had a split fin, whilst the other had a healed gash in the body (they must have started rutting for the females, or an otter swung by and they narrowly escaped I guess). Fished for about 4 hours in total, and during the winter months you can't beat a pink wool tup bug on this beat. Hopefully will come back soon!

3 Grayling

Cold day, river clear with a good flow so trotted maggot. 2 good grayling best 14inches and 4 trout. Several good fish hooked and lost.

4 Trout, 2 Grayling

River very high and the colour of chocolate. Unsurprisingly, only catch of the day was a floating log of around 3 pounds. : )
Right hand bank has very difficult access due to electric fencing running the length of the beat as well as very healthy set of brambles. Left hand bank much clearer and with lower water level imagine fishing the beat from in the river and this bank would be good.

River high and wild, spent a couple of hours trotting, retrieving leaves and debris every cast. Beautiful sunny day, but no fish

Well my last free day of the week well spent. Again it was freezing cold which certainly doesn’t help with your technique when you can’t feel your fingers haha! Even still it has seemed harder to locate the grayling Czech style the last few days, maybe a french style would suit better with the clear/shallow water.
Caught a beautiful fish on a hand tied disco shrimp though which was more than enough for me.

1 Grayling