Just a quick session on what was a beautiful afternoon yesterday ….. fifteen degrees and lots of insect life when I bowled up at one of my favourite beats on the River Edw. Upwings, some sedges and hawthorn flies were present this afternoon …. I had a hunch dry fly sport may be on the cards ….. had with me my old timer, the six foot, two weight rod and my fly of choice initially a Parachute Iron Blue …..
Stealth is required here, and yesterday was no exception, fluff things up on movement or the cast and you’ve had your chips !!!! These may be small tubby ten or twelve inch brown trout but trust me, as a bit of an expert on these wild streams, having fished them since I was fourteen, they won’t give you a second chance, so top tip is “slowly slowly catchy monkey” and of course casting right under that tricky alder is often required … It’s a bit like chalk and cheese my fly fishing likes …. Open wild mountain llyns and small secretive babbling brooks …… what could be more different !!!!! Variety is the spice of life folks !!!!
I kind of download all worries here, as soon as I slip into the stream, life all of a sudden is calm, relaxed and almost in slow motion ……. The activity in the stream and its surrounds keeps you busy … oh look a kingfisher!!!! A queen bumble bee busying frantically as it searches for a suitable nesting site …. Dark olives dancing over the water, nettles and brambles in competition for light on the banks and of course our destiny ….. that all too beautiful sound and sight of a splashy rise as an eager brownie rises to its lunch …….. it’s what drives us on !!!!
‘Twas a few pleasant hours yesterday, I managed five gorgeous Edw fish to the net, all on the dry … now that’s the absolute cream of our sport, the rise, covering it, a good cast, you know he’ll take it, your ready, a splashy rise, he’s on and puts a jagged bend in your stream rod ….. a beautifully spotty brownie to the net, quickly admired then slipped back in, all of a sudden the worlds good ……. And this piscatorial chappy is a happy man !!!!
