Feedback & Reports

12 Trout

With low water and strong sunlight early on this was not going to be a day of big catches. Fortunately cloud came in by mid-morning and I was lucky to get a fish of a pound and three quarters on a grey shrimp near the bottom of the top section, so to speak. As in the past the lovely pools up here then refused to yield further trout so after a walk back to the car I later concentrated on the middle and bottom sections. There were steady risers after lunch in one pool but the downstream wind that prevailed today made extension of the dry fly leader difficult so I soon reverted to nymph and shrimp or a cast purely of PTNs, and might have added to my score with trout hooked and lost or simply bumped in the way the down-and-across fisher risks. Cold winds and night temps made for meagre rewards on the river but it was a pleasure to be away from the very Roman city of Bath for a few days.

4 Trout

Lovely time (although only had a couple of hours) as ever on this wonderful beat. Lost one fish. Lots of fly life about, which was great to see. Pleasure to meet David and his wife.

Good day on this lovely beat. Water low and clear, cold start but warmed up later with blustery upstream wind. All fish taken in the morning on a heavy hares ear nymph prospecting in the pocket water. Plenty of flies hatching, LDOs, Grannon and March Browns, but few fish rising. I put this down to the bright conditions and blustery easterly wind. Still a great day on a lovely beat. All fish between 8" and 12".

7 Trout

A sunny day and very low river - started at the top of the beat mid-morning and saw two tiddlers then nothing all weekend. Lovely stretch for the right conditions.

2 Trout

2 trout both around 8", both took the top dropper, a partridge and orange spider and a small pt nymph. A good first outing and a wee bit rusty being my excuse for not catching a few more as fish were moving during the LDO hatch around midday.

2 Trout

A good day and some lovely water to fish. A slowish start early on but fish started to respond from around 9am to nymphs. Clink & dink became the most successful method as the day wore on as fish were somewhat reluctant to rise to a trickle of LDO's & a brief but significant hatch of March browns.

12 Trout

Arrived at the beat with a strong wind blowing, which really caused a big disadvantage. Trying to cast upstream against 35 mile an hour gusts is a thankless task and decided enough was enough by lunchtime.
The strong wind kept the fish deep and with no hatch showing, managed 2 trout to half a pound on jig patterns in the tail of a fast run. Happy with that to be honest!

2 Trout

Another lovely warm day. This is a great beat with so much water that I think you'd need a couple of days to cover it all properly.
Started around 10am, nothing rising but managed to tempt an 8" trout up with small olive pattern. A light hatch from about 11:30-12:15, brought the trout up but I failed to tempt any of them with the 5 patterns I tried. There were a few March Browns in amongst them but it was difficult to see exactly what they were keyed in on.
In the afternoon heat I switched to weighted caddis pupa and had two more, about 9" and 13", both returned.
Generally, the trout were pretty wary today. I blundered along the path to couple of pools only to see swirls as the fish all darted for cover, and a few inexpert casts quickly stopped them rising on at least two occasions. It was probably partly due to the unseasonably bright conditions.
The wading is a little tricky in places and I should have brought my staff for the quicker water. Falling over and filling my waders would have been unpleasant had it not been so lovely and warm.
All in all, a very enjoyable day out in beautiful surroundings.

3 Trout

A lovely day as always on this one of my favourite beats. Fishing was tough however in the warm bright conditions, with hatches of March Browns and LDOs struggling to get going. One very welcome brown trout on nymph. Good to see David J-P again and enjoyed a good chat about river politics.

1 Trout