I've been lucky to get a few days on the Itchen booked this season. It's dry fly only until August 1st. On my first visit this season there were very few trout rising - more grayling. In the past I've had limited success casting over trout feeding on the bottom. Or sometimes a trout can be excited by a skating sedge or stimulator. With the general decline in rising trout over the last 10 years or so, I'd be interested to hear of other flyfishers' tactics when there are no trout rising to the surface and the rules only allow dry fly.

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"Nature is the artistry of God, and there are times when one is alone with one's rod by the riverside when Heaven seems very near" TK Wilson of Skipton "Trout by all Means" 1966

I think thats a bit unfair i would cancel the days and book some elsewhere you could arive on the day and nothing moving,a waiste of money or take the gamble. theres no point in fishing a good river if your unable to catch them. why do we have wet flies ? good luck "ATB 09" Alan

It does sound a little archaic to me. I can understand imitation only i.e. nymphs or dry if the view is you are meant to be using guile to fool a fish rather than just catch as many as possible.

Perhaps a look at the Avon, which is nearer to Swansea any way. They are not as restrictive.

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Carl

http://www.wandlepiscators.net/
http://teiseangling.co.uk/index.htm

TOMORROW THE TRENT COULD BE YOUR FISHERY! When are YOU going to JOIN THE ANGLING TRUST?

I think if you "accidentally" forgot to grease your dry fly, it might have a tendency to sink....

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www.paypalsucks.com

I live most of the time in West London. If I was in South Wales most of the time I wouldnt be bothering with the Hampshire chalkstreams! Heresy though that may be. I think the dry fly only rule in the early part of the season is fairly normal there. It's ok when the mayfly is around because with good hatches you get a good rise.

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"Nature is the artistry of God, and there are times when one is alone with one's rod by the riverside when Heaven seems very near" TK Wilson of Skipton "Trout by all Means" 1966

id say the same, use a dry fly which can be pulled, use a good floatant like this...

http://www.tedcarter.co.uk/product.p...-sinkant-10374



and when it decides it doesnt want to stay on the top fig of 8 it in, cruncher style.

Looks like the sub-surface dryfly is getting a lot of votes as the answer to this issue.............

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"Nature is the artistry of God, and there are times when one is alone with one's rod by the riverside when Heaven seems very near" TK Wilson of Skipton "Trout by all Means" 1966

Dry fly rules should always be respected, it's there for a reason. When fishing you have good days and hard days.
I cannot believe that their are people recommending "cheating" by sinking dry flies.
People like that would certainly not be welcome at my fishery.

Rivers are wasted on some of you lot.

If you really MUST fish dry I'd stick to terrestrials because these are opportunist flies that the trout are likely to take not because they are actively feeding on the surface, but because floating a hopper over a trout is like offering free steak and lobster dinners. Who can resist that?

I'd throw stuff like grasshopper imitations (I think you call them locusts over there), crickets, ants, and I'm not joking with this one, I would seriously consider mouse patterns.

The mouse patter is vastly underutilized outside of a few places where they are a go-to fly. But c'mon, you can't tell me the fish in a Hampshire chalkstream would have ever seen one before, so you'd have the advantage in at least you're trying a tactic that they haven't seen a thousand times and twice on Saturdays.

Grouse