Feedback & Reports

Sunday was a few degrees cooler than the preceding couple of days with a chill wind to boot. I optimistically started with dries but, about half way along the beat, gave up and switched to nymphs. I reckon the trout were feeling the change in the weather too and there wasn't any activity in the runs. I'll confess to not being terribly good (or comfortable) fishing nymphs any more than a foot down but still had a couple of pulls in the deeper pools; nothing stayed on for more that five or six seconds though.
Aside from the cold (it was sunny when I left home so, obviously, I didn't dress warmly enough!) it was pleasant to be out. There are a couple of newly fallen trees making some sections much harder to fish but someone has also been through and cut back a few branches here and there opening up more water so it all balances out and keeps the stream interesting.

Great to be out - perhaps not the easiest day on Bideford but I was happy with 5 on PTN, 6-8".

5 Trout

Unfortunately I was unable to fish.

11 x trout 6-10 inches, Goldhead Hare's Ear nymph. It's a bit early for the small streams but, the levels being as they are on the Usk, there was not much other choice available for running water. In fact, although the water was still fairly high and turbulent, the fishing seemed quite advanced - like the rest of the spring - with fat little trout in nice condition in the runs as well as the pools. I saw large dark olives and a couple of rises while walking back to the car lunchtime.

11 Trout

3 x trout 6-8 inches, Rusty Klinkhammer. At the end of an exceptionally warm autumn day, I spent just an hour before dark doing the bottom 100 yards. I guess that will be the last time this year. Farmer also using the last of the light to plough up the field on the right bank.

3 Trout

1 Trout

12 x trout 6-11 inches, Rusty Klinkhammer. Fishing early morning in pouring rain, in a race against a river gradually rising and colouring. Mud stopped play before I reached the top, but before that fish were rising quite readily, including several of the larger ones (for this little stream). Where were they all summer?

12 Trout

Water super low - if I'd checked the levels online before coming I might have thought twice about it, but was delighted with five fish; with barely 6inch of water in some places and a great deal of overhanging foliage this was seriously tricky, but in the few remaining deeper pools and sections where it opens out enough to allow more of a cast there was every chance of a fish. There are certainly a lot of them in there - I was scattering them at every step! Also caught a small roach.

5 Trout, 1 Other

Day 2 on Bideford Brook, 10 wild brown trout, taken from the deeper pools, size 18 black PTN just under the surface ..

Bideford Brook is a little gem ..

10 Trout

Very low water as you would expect after the recent weather, but picking out eight beautiful wild brown trout from the deeper pools with a non ginked black CDC sedge fished just under the surface.

8 Trout