This is my first season so please forgive me.

Just wondering whats the behaviour of trout and grayling when a river or stream is coloured from recent rainfall.

The reason I ask is that usually when the rivers are high I try my local stream and usually catch but the past few days it has been muddy coloured and full of leaves, I didn't get a bite (czech nymps).

Were the fish there and couldn't see my flies?

Have they retreated somewhere until it clears?

Also is it pointless fishing while the river/stream is full of leaves?

Cheers

Hi boyzie

First thing to point out is that Trout are out of season in our rivers and you should be fishing for Grayling only.

They don't go far away...into the little pots, pockets and back eddy's where they can expend little energy until the river starts to fine off.
If the river is rising and dirty..forget it..... holding height and dirty you stand a chance... dropping and clearing is a better scenario.

I don't hold with the notion they can't see your fly.....today I have been fishing a size20 fly in 25' of dirty water and have had to change the damaged fly twice its been so badly 'hit'.....there's not a lot of light at those depths anyway.... but throw in some turbid fining's from the last few days weather,algae and leaves........they must have gone to specsavers

Your point on the leaves......stay away from 'down and across' methods(encourages trout and leaves)....fish hard to the bottom... or dry on the top, if required, and this will REDUCE the impact. Plus maximise on Grayling potential.
No leaves on my 'line' will stop me......not British Rail

Do a forum search on my reply title...the reading may give you a tip or two

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Sound advice from Sedgeking, but I would add that when a river is high, the fish -- trout salmon, grayling and chub etc -- are often found in the more sheltered margins also. This was borne out recently in coloured conditions ( not filthy brown ) on the Eden when mrtrout had five grayling on a small dry fly in about 15 minutes. I'd guess they were all caught within 10ft of the bank, along a line of sycamore trees. When spinning for salmon in spring, with a couple of feet of extra water ( over summer zero ) I used to find that they would take occasionally right against my own bank. They could have followed the bait from a mid-river lie, they often do, but they also lie in the quiet edges. My old mate always advised me to fish right in to my own side of the river. My last genuine springer was caught directly below me at about 25 -30yards from the boat, with 2ft 9in on our gauge. Cheers, TC

Something the redoubtable JT demonstrates on a regular basis is how clear apparently coloured water often is. If you have a clear plastic or clear glass bottle to hand; fill it with apparently coloured river water. More often than not, you will be amazed at how clear it is. Secondly, Stuart Crofts and his snorkelling experiments (I kid you not), found that the water clears from the top down as particles drop out of suspension. That might explain those occasions when the dry fly comes good when the worst of a flood has passed. In terms of location; look for refuge from the main current. An especially good trick is trying for fish that are facing the "wrong way" in back eddies next to the bank (i.e. they are facing into the flow of the back eddy rather than facing into the direction of the main flow).
Czech nymphing with a team of flies that include a black nymph (possibly with gold bead head) as well as pink/sparkly shrimps can be good. A solid black silhouette can stand out a little better than subdued hare's ear grubs and pink is often pretty conspicuous too. Also, make sure that your point fly is the right weight to get to the stream bed quickly (on a gravelly, snag free bed this can be as heavy as you like!!). Where snags on the stream bed exist (or the spot that you are fishing is very slow water) you may need to lighten up on the point fly. As always, maintain perfect "contact" (i.e. light tension) between your rod tip and the point fly and always keep your rod tip tracking downstream of your nymphs.