There are a number of small stream fishers on here, and I know a number of you like the wild Welsh lakes, but spare a thought for the lovely little Welsh rivers. Often impoverished, but hanging in there against the odds.
I'm sure you are like me, you can't pass a stream or river without having a look. Sometimes you see a few tiny fish, or a shadow zooming up a pool. Catching said zooming trout isn't so easy, but it's fun!
You spot some interesting things along the ways. The occasional dipper passes you, almost always going upstream - why is that? Sometimes you see a fox on the prowl in midday, obviously feeling brave under the shade of the trees.
On this occasion I stumbled accross what was left of a jay. Those lovely electric blue barred feathers went into a zip pocket. I'll have to make some exotic fly out of them, or just stick em in my hat. One or the other. I'm guessing they'll sit on a shelf getting dusty for a few years till I make a decision. You can't rush into these things.
There were a few little trout about on my first trip - a couple of weeks ago. The water was at summer low level. I did spot some bigger fish. A couple that were good 1/4lbers in one waterfall pool. They were sitting just off the current as it flowed around the tree roots of an uprooted ash that had fallen in the pool. 2 really nice fish - 2 nice fish that also woudn't eat my nymphs! After a half dozen casts they slowly dematerialised. I now wonder whether they would have risen to a dry if I'd got it in front of them. All I could get that day were small but perfectly formed.
4 of these on #16 klinkhammer type parachute flies. I was quite pleased. I would have liked something with a bit more heft to it, but you take what you get, and it was a lovely day to be crawling around a small river.
So a return visit was needed last Sunday - see if I could get soemthing better. The water level had recovered somewhat. The water was clear, but with a slight tea stain to it. This time I visited two small rivers.
From this pool (where I used to feed trout with worms as a kid) I knew I had a chance of a better fish. But it's slow and deep - hard to fish. There were a couple of rises in a foamy slick on one side, but they were tiddlers. I kept to the water level and crept in at the tail. The small trout that was sitting just underneath my rod tip didn't even notice my arrival as I settled onto a flat rock under a mossy fallen tree that spans the river. He sat there in a foot square pocket just swimming like crazy - he's never going to get big using that amount of energy I thought to myself. Needs a little kid to feed him some worms! I ignored him - he was cute, but I was after a larger sardine than him. I changed the tippet, which after a couple of fly changes was looking a little short, adding a couple of feet of tippet material and tying on a lead bodied goldhead bug. I was going deep with this
mother. It's a pretty small
mother - only a #16 wet fly hook. No depth charge nymph. A plain little bug, but with enough weight to sink quickly and get down to where the better fish often congregate, alongside the bank in the deep water, although in this pool the flow if slow enough that they tend to go on the prowl periodically.
There was the smell off crushed wild garlic leaves, wet leaf mould and moss in my nostrills as I checked the knot - not for the fish, they couldn't break the tippet, but an overhanging tree branch might expose a careless one.
The recipe: Small wet fly hook, goldhead bead. A thin slice of lead (roofing lead, but you can use your own brand) wound onto the top of the hook then dubbed with any grey dubbing. Mine is from our grey cat, and the longer hairs are my own - saved from my last haircut. Mixed together they make an interesting buggy looking dubbing. Rib is a red coated copper wire.
Serve your delectable creation with a little flick and plop into a well oxygenated bubbling stream and await results. You'll know when it's ready to come out - hopefully attached to a lovely trout. I've had some big trout and grayling on the same fly in #12 on the Severn. It works most days on wild fish and looks like a slightly disreputable hunchbacked hares ear.
This little river I'm fishing has been ravaged by acid rain and sheep dip incidents over the years, but somehow the fish hang on. I've seen hundreds of fish floating belly up down the river in the past (late 80's) when some OP dip got in upriver. There are less and smaller fish than there were a couple of years ago, I'm guessing from the repeated cold winters with easterly winds bringing pollution to the conifor platations, to filter and deposit in the river in a downpour. Damn those conifer plantations! My best fish from this pool was 14 inches and weighed just over 1/2lb - it was long and lean with a great big head - definitely a fish on it's way out. I've seen bigger and healthier fish in there though and in other deep pools on the same river. Circa 1lb was the largest I'd say. They are mysterious though - appear in a pool one day, and never seen again (no - not sewin - this is an impossible stream for them).
So what could I get this time?
I flicked the fly back and forth on my 8ft budget Shakespeare Odyssey rod, marvelling at the lovely feeling of the silicon filled cork handle...haha. They're not that bad. Infact I love using a shorter rod, and it's a nice little rod that doesn't cost the earth. You can drop it without having a heart attack. It's nicely matched by a plastic Intrepid £10 reel... also expendable. I'm no tackle tart! You have to think of these things before you start jumping from rock to rock. I should write a book
Fishing on a Shoetring. Someone must have used that title surely? Kneecaps and wrists aren't so easy to replace, so always drop the rod and save yourself! Anyone who's put their whole body weight down on a stone, fist clenched around a fly rod handle will know what I'm talking about!
So - a slightly tricky side cast from a seated position, but the only way to get low enough to cast under the fallen tree. I flipped the fly upstream and watched the line sink, started a very slow retireve to keep contact, then feeling a slight tweak, a wiggle and I'm connected to a veritable monster. The fish was darting all over the pool - spooking his poor fellows I should think. He came towards me and immediately dived under a rock. I could see his tail sticking out. It's a smart move, but he's only a sardine - this isn't going to work this time. I eased him out and down to my waiting hand.
OK, only a monster compared to my recent catches.
After a quick snap he went back to hopefully grow to 14 inches or longer and certainly too big to fit under that little rock!
I headed upstream and hooked two other fish. One equal to the fish landed, and a smaller one, both on the nymph. Both I could, and should have landed. I just brought them in too quick. They were jumping around like the clappers and flipped off the barbless hook.
The other little river visited produced a decent little chap as well, again to a nymph - a slim goldhead #16 this time, for the shallow pool I got him from. I also lost a few fish on klinks and nymphs. Tidlers mainly. Not bad for a 1hr session.
I'll be visiting these little rivers and exploring them some more. Some I know like the back of my hand, but others I've only visited a handful of times - they're all worth another look...
adios
Smallstream delights
SKB tackle supporter. I love Furled Leaders.
Very evocative!
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