John
My success was not quite as great as it may sound and probably not that noteworthy, all three fish came from the one pool. I am guessing that they must have been recently stocked fish to be residing so close to one another.
I had struggled with the rain and high winds all morning, good presentation of a small dry was very difficult (and at times frustrating). I missed a couple of takes from what I think were small fish, and then a brownie (of about a quarter of a pound) jumped on and off in an instant. I did spot some nice Trout very tight under the undercut banks, but the winds made it impossible to cover them.
Following lunch the weather improved, the rain was gone and the wind had dropped a little (although it was still gusting at the most inopportune times!), I had decided during my meal that I would resort to the nymph for the afternoon, and so I tied on a Goldhead Hares Ear. After fishing for only about an hour I was into my first, and as it turned out, best fish of the day.
I estimated this fish to be somewhere between 2 and 2 1/4 lbs. This fish fought well and after around 5 mins it was at hand, I nursed the fish at the bank until it was fit enough to swim cleanly away.
Whilst I had been playing the first fish another had risen in the same pool, not feet from all the commotion. I covered the area of this rise (still with nymph) on my next cast and was instantly into another fish. I banked the second fish, a little smaller at around 1 3/4lb, once again the fish was allowed to recover then released.
It was solely to test my assumption that “there cannot possibly be another fish in there” that I sent the Goldhead through again, once more there was a pause as the fly line travelled through the pool and I lifted into my third trout.
I did not cover the pool again, it would not have been sporting to do so. By now the afternoon was marching on and as I approached the fishing hut I saw three anglers upstream of me, this was my cue to “give it best” and return to the car. I will be purchasing another day ticket for later in the year, when hopefully I will enjoy more favourable weather conditions, its a lovely river and I would really like the chance to find a few wild fish on the dry. I don’t have any photos of the day, generally I prefer to get the fish back quickly so I don’t carry a camera.
Thanks for your interest in my day.
Kindest of regards
Adam
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