Feedback & Reports

River levels very low. No fish caught or seen.

Good day at Bideford Brook, despite the extremely low water. 19 trout between 6-12 inches; nymphing under an indicator.

First time at the Brook this season. The water was clear but extremely low; must be the lowest I had ever witnessed. Many productive pools of the previous seasons only had inches of water. However, this made the deep pools very predictable. The brook was also a bit more overgrown, compared to the previous season. I felt that a 7ft rod was now too long. A 6ft rod might be ideal.

Started off with S14 Klinkhammer but had no response. So switched to nymph. However, the lack of flow made it tricky to nymph. Even the lightest nymph (2mm tungsten bead) just went straight to the bottom and stayed there. A bit of adaptation, by putting an indicator to lift the nymph off the bottom, got some slow drifts going. It felt more like fishing a Stillwater than a river.

The method seemed to work, picking up fish here and there steadily. To my good surprise, many trout came from shallow flats, less than knee depth. However, it was necessary to move at a painfully slow pace in order not to spook them and to make the first cast count. A lot of them were bow-and-arrow casts. Even so, I probably spooked more than what I had caught.

On a positive note, all deep pools held good sized trout, up to 12 inches; a stunning size for this little brook. They also put a deep bend on the 3wt rod. A fish like this really made our day.

Finished the day with 19 trout; with the biggest being 12 inches (pictured). All fish were caught upstream of the bridge. The Brook badly needs more water and I really hope we get more rain soon.

19 Trout

River levels low, but found a few suitable pools to cast into. Can see why they recommend a 6ft rod! Caught 4 fish,ranging from 6 to 10 inches. All took a #16 elk hair caddis dry.
More fish around but spooked easily with the bright sunshine through the trees. Wet waded the whole beat but a tree or two made for some tricky wading!

4 Trout

A good day. River height was fine, running clear, but loads of debris. A tree is blocking the stream half way up.

2 nice brownies between 4-6 inches, missed quite a few takes as well. Used a pheasant tail nymph and a small broken daddy long legs. All returned to fight another day.

2 Trout

7 x trout 6-10 inches, Rusty Klinkhammer. A rainy morning and the water colouring up as I fished. Did the bottom half only.

7 Trout

5 x trout 6-10 inches, Black Klinkhammer. Very low river and hard going this morning. Only action seemed to be caused by little black sedges in one pool.

5 Trout

Spent a couple of hours midday. Rather sunny and water level low in places. No fish taken but saw a couple of small brown trout.

11 x trout 6-10 inches, Monnow Gosling. The mayfly is up, so big flies are in fashion again for a while. Some of the small fish have trouble grabbing onto a size 10, but they are certainly trying.

11 Trout

Few fish rising but no takes, lots of debris in the water and plenty to snag on. I tried a parachute for most of the beat then swapping to a killer bug, but no interest from the fish. Any fish that were there were easily spooked. Lovely stream to fish and I’ll be back another day just not my luck today.

Loads of fly activity, fish showing and a few takes, but no fish landed, water level considerably lower than a month ago, but loads of debris from the floods.