I stopped off down South on the way back from work last week and had a day on the River Dever (a tributary of the Test) and the following day on the Test itself.
The River Dever is a beautiful chalkstream with a good head of wild trout (75%) and a massive Grayling population. I fished the Bullington Manor Beat 4 on Thursday and the weather was just about perfect; warm but overcast with little wind. The beat is all within woodland so you are totally secluded and I didn't see another soul all day...perfect.
The river is relatvely deep and very slow-flowing meaning the crystal clear water was like glass. The fish are easily spooked on these streams at the best of times but this lack of any ripple or turbulence meant that even the most delicate of presentations often sent the fish scurrying for cover. A lot of stealth and patieince was required.
There was no dry fly action when I started but loads of fish were visible feeding sub-surface, so on went a goldhead PTN. Plenty of large Brown Trout and huge Grayling to cast at and pretty soon I was into a nice 1.5lb Grayling to kick off the day. These things put up a terrific fight and are all in excellent condition.
A second 1lb Grayling soon followed and I was into a third much larger one (probably about 3lb) but lost him at the net - they've got very soft mouths...
Grayling are all very well and good but I was here for the Trout! I soon came across three trout lying on the far side of the river, two of them were line astern about 5 feet from the far bank and a third, larger one was hugging the bank level with the first two. I chucked the PTN at the two nearer fish (couldn't help but cover both of them at the same time, the way they were lying) and, too my surprise, the bigger fish under the bank tore out into the flow, barged the other two out of the way and nailed my fly! A tremendous fight later, and a 3lb Brownie lay vanquished on the bank! I could have gone home then as a happy man...back he went to fight another day.
The day passed quickly as I continued with a nypmh varying between PTNs and Killer Bugs and I had a couple more nice Browns and lost several more.
By mid afternoon there was a hatch of Sedges and few fish rising to them so I wasted no time in switching to a dry deerhair sedge pattern. Rises were sparse though and I only managed to prick a couple and lost one (very nice!) obvioulsy wild fish that tanked off up the river giving me absolutely no chance...
One fish was particularly active under a tree on the same bank as I was fishing. He was in a top spot as he was protected from above by the tree branches and obvioulsy felt completely safe. However, he was almost impossible to cast at because the same tree's branches actually hung down into the water just in from of him. He was feeding on the surface and sub-surface at anything that drifted past him. After losing a couple of dry flies in the tree whilst trying to drop it on his nose, I remembered something I'd read in a book recently (I think it was Clark & Goddard's book) about "plopping" a weighted nymph just behind a trout that is lying in a position here you can't place your fly upstream of him and let it drift down past him (e.g. under trees or downstrem of a bridge pontoon). The theory is that you cast your weighted nypmh just behind the fish and it turns round to see "what the hell was that?", when he sees the fly he often goes for it. OK then - here goes...Goldhead PTN on, Plopped it behind him and bugger me! He turned round and followed the fly, pointing downstream right at me. A flash of white in his mouth as he went for it and...pricked him. He turned round and went back to his spot. I thought that would be it but he just carried on feeding so I tried again. Several times he turned and followed the fly after hearing the plop and eventually he took it! A nice 2lb Brown. You learn something new every day!
As the evening drew closer I was looking forward to the "Evening Rise" but, alas, nothing happened. By 7 o'clock it was too dark in the woods to see much so I packed it in for the day knowing that I had another day to look forward to tomorrow.
Report on that day to follow.
