Feedback & Reports

River about 6" at Fownhope at the start of the day, finally started to rise very slowly at the end of the day. Breezy and cool with a few showers. MP1 had a very exciting, deep and fresh 15lb fish in the Island Stream at 5 pm on size 8 NessC. MP2 then had an equally fresh 12 lb fish from fairly well down the Maddox.
One other fish seen showing in the top lie in the Lines. Only two canoes all day!

2 Salmon

No takers today. River at 6” on the gauge, good colour and stayed this way all day. I was blessed with a clear view of three fish in various pools, had to settle for that and good size by-catch. Thank you.

1 Chub, 2 Pike

One fish seen in Maddox but none connected with. A pleasant day - particularly Vanstone where a fly fished
well despite the low flow (6 in at Fownhope) and the
SWly wind flattered my casting.

Strong cold wind all day made casting difficult. Despite this & some rain, there were a few hatches with fish rising at times - some big splashy rises, including a few within a rod length of where I was wading. Caught one trout, about 2lb, on a march brown, and lost another slightly smaller after it jumped a few times. The fish lower down the beat seemed completely disinterested in my march brown (& everything other fly I tried), whilst further up they took it without hesitation - possibly as the water was a bit faster there, so less time to examine it. Lovely beat, with lots of swallows swooping over the water.

1 Trout

Nil catch, but I did play a salmon for around 10 minutes in the cockpit pool but did not have my net ready and lost it at the last minute when it turned over and hook pulled loose. So near yet so far!

Various lures and spinners used, but no fish all day!

Very tough days lure fishing, one brown trout taken on a small shallow diving crankbait. Another two fish briefly on, one on the same lure and one on a surface popper. Long wet day, but still fun. Think the fish were feeding on an insect hatch in the centre of the reservoir, as that was where the swifts were feeding low all day.

1 Trout

All day fishing with lures, moving round the margin twice, but no fish.

All trout were caught on nymphs. No hatch because of the cold weather and rain. The river is slightly colored but still low water levels.

4 Trout

Windy but river OK with a touch of colour - only fished a couple of hours, 1 trout 1lb on nymph.

1 Trout