Beat 5 Manifold
Parking is a bit tight, could be tricky to get a Bentley in there.
The Manifold was a slightly peaty colour, as I remember this is normal; plenty of fly-life - saw some BWO's, some sedge and little tiny upwing olives, hatching off all the time I was there.
I took 3 brownies
(they run about 4 to the pound to give you an idea of size) from the far bank of the pool immediately in front of the bridge. These were on a little brown paradun size 16 - switched straight to a dry because I spotted a rise as I walked (stumbled) down the bank.
Retrieving my fly from a willow I discovered and pocketed about 2 yards of 8lb BS nylon - looks like the locals get busy with the worm...
..was quite happy grandstanding to a few onlookers when an old nutter threw a bucket on a rope over the bridge to get his water for his washing up right into my pool.
What can you do?
Of course, standing in the middle of a brook focussing all your attention on getting a tiny fish to inhale a small piece of fluff on a barbless hook clearly doesn't make
me a nutter....so I wandered off downstream. Downstream because the guide indicates it's the least fished part.
No more fish - but every time I stood still a vast shoal of trout fry formed in the slack water in front of me. Never seen so many fry in such a tiny stream.
Very encouraging & they were beauties.
You
definitely need chest waders for this stretch.
Types of cast used were roll, steeple, and bow-and-arrow.
Hope that gives you an idea of the kind of water.
Cost was 2 tokens - that's a fiver, which is tremendous value.
And there's lots more to explore. Saw a dipper downstream, took that as a sign that it was lunchtime and leisurely clawed my way back up the bank. Sadly there is still some Balsam about downstream.
Adjourned for lunch to the Manifold Inn, decent pint, decent food. This could be a popular beat...
Beat 7
The only beat which costs
6 tokens.
I had to find out why. Parking is easy - but I discovered a problem with the process. How do you know how many other people are already fishing? I don't want to post my tokens, walk to the water and find 3 other people there....I don't want to go and check then come back. So, this should be addressed in the next version of the handbook. Perhaps fishermen could simply leave their voucher book in their windscreen? Or have a simple counter stuck on the box? Anyway that's an issue to be resolved.
But today was fine - this is a wonderful stretch of river, the Dove in juvenile form, verdant, luxurious weed growth, plenty of LWD, plenty of variety of habitat.
I have the feeling there are some decent fish in here - as I walked up to the river in the corner of the first field I saw two rises.
What were they taking?
I never really found out.
In these situations I always remember Peter Arfield's words "they're taking Something Mysterious".
Yes, but is it the spinner or the emerger...
I didn't really get further than the pool in front of the bridge - took 4 fish from there, the biggest about 8 oz, all on a weighted GRHE nymph, and all in rapid succession, suggesting they were queuing up in an orderly fashion.
The stretch downstream of this has many good fish-holding spots, quite tricky to cast to them, and the fish are hyper-shy. Make the Bentley Brook fish look like brazen hussies.
I was watching one brownie, downstream of him, scratched my nose and he was gone like an arrow.
If I'd have broken wind I'd have emptied that stretch of river.
Upstream of the bridge the river changes character again - cross the ford past the metal sign saying SPRINKS and it's a very calm slow-flowing stretch, to be explored another time.
There are some spots where you can cast "normally", but, inevitably, the best fish will be in the trickiest spots. You
don't need chest waders, but you do need good footwear - the bank is really churned up.
Saw quite a few wagtails, yellow and pied. And the biggest flock of blue tits that I've seen for years, piling into a tree full of berries
It's worth the 6 tokens.
Summary - I've enjoyed the challenges of the day (including the challenges of actually finding the places).
Hearty thanks to the people who put all the hard work into this to make it happen - I hope it gets the success it deserves, from what I've seen today the waters on the list so far are gems with their own distinct character, and let's hope there are soon many more.
There are one or two tweaks to be made (a recommendation to use barbless in the guide would be good, and the issue about working out how many fishermen are alread there needs addressing, then there's the issue of poaching and pressure on fish being repeatedly caught and [hopefully] released....)
BUT this is a wonderful scheme and I intend to support it from hereon in.
It adds significantly to the choice of high-quality day-ticket fly-fishing for wild trout in this area.
Peak Passport scheme up and running!
best of luck
Linear Mode
