I decided to fish a tributary of the Ballinderry on Saturday. I started around 11am at the confluence of the tributary with the Ballinderry. The river has been noted for its big Browns in the past so I was hoping to catch some nice fish. As I worked my way upstream I managed a few small parr and a few nice Browns in the 8 inch range on a size 14 goldhead hares’ ear. Fishing the upstream nymph, it was relatively hard to spot the takes on the day but I managed 9 nice fish. Nothing exceptional was caught in the stream but I enjoyed the fishing. An angry Friesian bull put an end to the fishing as the banks of the river had no protection from the cows.

I wanted to fish a while on the main river as I had some time to spare. As I approached the river I noticed an exceptionally large number of Hawthorn flies along the banks which came as quite a surprise to me as I thought they were over for the year. The same time last year I caught a nice Brown from a spot just upstream from the confluence so I decided to fish there. Upon arriving at the spot there were a number of fish splashing in a pool and a quick glance at the water surprised me with the presence of large numbers of Hawthorns.

I only had my 6’6 #3 Superfine as I set out to fish the small tributary all day but I extended the tippet and put on a size 13 Para Hawthorn. Tapered to a 2lb point, I thought that the setup was decent enough to handle the small browns of the river. First cast I hooked into a nice fish which quickly jumped and shed the hook leaving me to imagine what could have been.

Within an hour I had 5 fish in the 11 to 15 inch range including numerous smaller wild Browns. I have had over 400 fish from the river this season with my previous best 11 inches. I was very surprised to hook such large fish all from the same pool. The adrenaline was pumping and my heart was in my mouth as I realised this was the best day I’ve ever had on the river which is notorious for its numerous small Browns. I ended up with over 2 dozen fish with 5 Browns over a pound and 2 escapee rainbows near 2lb. I’ll leave you all with some pictures:

















Brennan

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http://sperrinsstreams.blogspot.com/

great fish mate,love the transition from small to large.

jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

Sounds like the sorta day we all hope for when planning a trip. Lovely fish

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Scott

Cracking Fish

Removed ttfn

nice one brennan. superb fish.


cows/bulls what is the difference?

well done nice one

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www.anglingclassics.co.uk

great pictures Brennan

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David (little machin)