After watching the John Tyzak and Dean Andrews Small Stream Fishing and Mayfly fishing DVDs I was struck by how close they managed to catch the trout to them.

I was particularly surprised on the Derbyshire Wye (when fishing Mayfly nymph) as the water looked clear and shallow. On the rivers I fish (mostly small very clear streams) I am as stealthy as possible but can never manage to creep up so close to fish unless the water is broken/riffled. As such I only feel confident when putting out a reasonably long cast (as long as the vegetation allows me!). Was anyone else surprised how close they managed to catch fish to them? N

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Fundamentally fishing is a philosophy. A philosophy of earth, and growth, and quiet places. In it there is a rule of life, a recognition of permanences. It makes you notice the little things of nature, wherever you may be. ~Bernard Venables

Having fished that section of river on the mayfly DVD - not really (it is a bit deeper than it looks because of the clarity and there are loads of fish in it and there is also decent amounts of subsurface "structure"). You are right about the useful camouflage that broken water provides (and this is what is really in operation on the small streams).

One other thing that sometimes comes into play is that when fish are feeding really hard - this can sometimes seem to leave little/no room in their tiny brains for concentrating on potential predators! Or - at least - a lot less room than might be the case under usual circumstances.

It sounds like in your streams the conditions are quite unforgiving, perhaps you could persuade the club to turf in some big bits of "structure"......

Didn't one of those guys in that DVD used to be a detective in the 1980's?

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