Feedback & Reports

This was something of a day to forget really. I set off very early and was only a mile or two from home when my car alerted me to an air temperature below 3 degrees. I arrived at the beat before seven and was on the water by half past. But it was a cold start with no fish showing. Around 10.00 I finally encountered a rising fish. On my first cast to it the braided loop parted company with my fly line and I had to trudge back to the car to repair it. By the time I'd made my way back, said fish was still there, still feeding, and willing to take a weighted nymph. A lovely fish of around a pound who lifted my spirits and gave me confidence things were about to get better. They weren't. Nothing all afternoon and into the early evening as the wind increased and a few showers rolled in. I was about to head home when I noticed swallows skimming the shallow water at the top of the beat suggesting some sort of sustained hatch at last. It yielded two more trout before the wind got too gusty and unpredictable to make the fishing comfortable and safe. Headed home around 7.30 after a day that promised much and yielded much less. Still, it is a truly beautiful beat. Next time they'll be rising and taking all day!

3 Trout

A lovely spot to fish that just seems as though it ought to be teeming with fish. A bright but cool day that despite half term had kept the bathers away so I had the place to myself. Cool and overcast in the afternoon. Huge amounts of fly life all day - olives through to mayfly - but next to no action on the surface. Fished most of the day using the duo up through the pocket water and the faster deeper pools. With more confidence in European techniques I think you could take a lot of fish here. As I was, I was happy with my 2. Both on small weighted PTN variations.

2 Trout

No salmon. Water clear and level dropping. Good day.

5 Trout, 1 Chub, 1 Other

1 Trout

2 carp - approx 8lb each. Small bream and roach. Lots of eels.

20 Other

4 Trout

5 Trout

A beautiful day fishing a beautiful beat. We had to cope with a stiff upstream wind but the fish were rising steadily throughout the day. We concentrated on Lady Alexandra's Catch fishing the dry and swinging traditional spiders, catching fish to just under the pound mark. I was joined by my 15 year old nephew who managed to catch a few brownies and two out of season grayling using spiders. He loved it. We also saw two double-figure salmon leap from the top of the run too! We will be back.

12 Trout, 2 Grayling

Dry and wet fly. Water clear, mid-height, many small brookies. Strong sunlight. Low weed level. Access difficult without wading.

Amazing day on a brilliant beat. Cloudy and bright, water very slightly coloured. Incredible hatches. Mayfly and Yellow dun coming off for most of the day. It became cooler with a shower towards 6.30pm. First fish caught at about 12noon on a Mayfly nymph. Caught fish regularly thereafter proceeding up the beat; mayfly nymph in the rougher water produced more fish including a magnificent wild brown trout that was 16 inches and deep, also a fair sized grayling. Dry flies accounted for the rest - (including one trout with a blue mark on its belly - stocked?) para Adams, a CDC yellow dun (a la Davie McPhail) doing the damage and then towards the end of the my own Mayfly pattern took three more.

14 Trout, 1 Grayling