We had our first outing on the Test last week and boy, was the weather inclement. Winds gusting in our faces with showers and downpours and an English Chalk Stream running high with colour.
Oh well, British upper lip and all that, we just got on with it and in the end had a rather smashing day. The hut was basic but comfy and the lunch was excellent
but more to the point I got to try out one of Mikes Small Stream 2 lines.
We were at Chilbolton on the main river, which is actually quite wide in places. We mainly tend to fish the Itchen which is narrower. Consequently I think the Small Stream would be superb on the Itchen. It did cast extremely well across the wind, but struggled a bit into the wind, might have been my casting though.
It landed very well and floated nice and high in the water. All in all, I am extremely pleased with it. As I wanted it to load my rod (Hardy Sintrix 9' #5) quicker, Hamish, Mike and Sandy suggested a #6 , which I have to say, all in all, worked a treat and I can't wait to use in on a smaller river.
I did switch back to my GT90 #5 and well, as to be expected, got that little further in the blustery conditions and on the wider stretches.
Thanks Mike, great lines as always.
Conditions were against us as there were very few rises, so we tried a mixture of Hawthorne and Sedge Dries and then Nymphs. I had a couple of splashes on the Hawthorne but the Nymphs won the day for my fishing buddy who had 2 gorgeous little wild Brownies and a lovely male Grayling.
