Silver & Gold From The Ledwyche

I received an order of flies from Spiders Plus last week and it has got to be said, they are superb.
Well done Phil without doubt the best i have seen, so today it was off up the Ledwyche to try them out.


On my last visit here, during the Mayfly season, some very beautifully marked trout were caught, mostly on a dry fly.
So walking downstream with fish rising on went a small P/T nymph under a Klinkhammer, this duo is often an unbeatable combination on these smaller rivers.

The river was low and clear and so the trout were easily spooked, especially in the more shallow areas.

However i caught plenty of very nice fish, heavily spotted with golden flanks and fins, typical of the Ledwyche. Most of the trout took the small nymph with only a couple rising to the Klink.

A pleasant surprise was four Roach and a Chub also falling for the nymph, the first Roach i have taken on the fly.

This piece of water is tree lined almost throughout and i am sure this helps on bright days, as it was today, giving the fish plenty of cover and the confidence to feed.

Flyfishing With Wagtails

The Clun is fishing really well at the moment and on Sunday afternoon i had five hours of excellent Grayling fishing.



This particular beat was a first for me but after hearing good reports i decided to give it a go.
It is a varied stretch of water with lots of deep silty pools in which Grayling thrive, but also plenty of riffles and shallow glides.



Plenty of good Grayling came to the net, mostly to a small pheasant tail nymph, with a few taking the Klinkhammer on the surface.
The Trout seemed to have been having an off day, with just a couple of small fish caught.
However the river is full of very small 'fingerling' Grayling, which is a sign of a good breeding season and bodes well for the future.



As always the Clun valley is a wildlife haven and many birds accompany you whilst fishing, including Dipper, Kingfisher and this pair of Grey Wagtails.

Thymallus Time On The Clun

On Saturday it was good to be back out fishing, this time on the river Clun with my brother Colin as a fishing companion

On arrival the weather was perfect, warm, light cloud and a slight upstream breeze with the river having a nice colour to it.



The last time i fished this river Trout were feeding well, taking both dry flies and nymphs, Grayling were also starting to show.

We split the beat into two, Colin taking the top half and i walked down to the start of the stretch. With no fish rising and very little fly life about, i opted for a two nymph approach, tying on a red tag and pheasant tail.



This method proved successful on a surprisingly tough day with some decent Grayling caught up to 14" plus a few Trout, but they were of a smaller stamp with the best at 10".

After 7 hours i met up with Colin just in time to see him hook and net a good Grayling, his best of the day.

He had caught the majority of his fish on a tungsten headed hares ear nymph under a Klinkhammer. In fact all the fish caught by both of us were taken on or near the riverbed with few seen rising all day.
Overall it was a most enjoyable flyfishing trip with some lovely hard fighting Grayling caught, all the fish were returned as always!

Ledwyche Trout on The Rise

The last time i fished the Ledwyche Brook in South Shropshire was back in the seventies when the BAA had a stretch on it.

When i arrived at the car park at 5.00pm the weather was warm, sunny and humid and the Trout were rising like crazy!



Some Trout were taking insects with a splash, others with a gentle sip, and the only obvious flies about were spinners.
On went the recently successful Balloon Caddis and a fish came quickly, but after a quite spell i switched to a Grey Emerger. This proved to be a good move as Trout came to hand on this throughout the evening and later to a Sulphur Emerger.




The fishing was good with plenty of Trout being caught to 13" and lots lost.




I have been amazed that these small rivers have such a healthy head of Trout, due mainly to good invertebrate life and plenty of cover from predators.

Its sad that once great rivers like the Irfon in Wales now have a much reduced population of Trout, probably because of acidification in its upper reaches, which has had an adverse effect on the invertebrate life of the river.

On the downside a poacher was seen fishing our water with worms, he was asked to leave and his car registration number was taken.



Monkshood was seen growing alongside the Ledwyche.

An Evening Well Spent.

On Thursday, fellow blogger Mick and i paid a visit to the Lugg for a late afternoon/evening Trout fishing session. This was Mick's first chance to fish this beautiful stretch and i was interested to see how he would fare.



I left Mick at the bottom of the beat and walked up to try some of the deeper runs and pools. Fishing these swims with heavy nymphs, i hoped to find some bigger Trout as the Lugg fish seem to peak at about 11-13"



Fish were caught on this method but no big Trout showed , however some decent Grayling up to 15" were netted, most taking the Hares Ear nymph.

In the evening clouds of rust coloured Spinners danced in the air and Trout began rising to these as they floated down spent.
On went the dry fly and the next two hours turned out to be frustrating, as is often the case when fishing the dry fly. I did manage to catch 6 good Trout but only after trying lots of different patterns. With no imitative pattern in my fly box various emergers were used to catch the fish.




When i met up with Mick he'd had a similar experience, seeing lots of rising fish but only catching a small percentage. He did catch on the Pheasant Tail nymph earlier but struggled when the Trout began rising, again not owning a good spent spinner copy.

It was almost dark when we reached the car park and we had caught 25 fish between us, with Mick catching 15, mostly Trout with a few Grayling.




The Beautiful Demoiselle a stunning damselfly was seen, the males rest on bankside vegetation waiting for females. Only two species of damselfly in Britain have obviously coloured wings. They both belong to the genus Calopteryx. In this species the wings of the mature male are very dark blue-black and those of the female are iridescent brown-green. The body colour is metallic blue-green in the male and green with a bronze tip in the female.

Rea Trout In A Spin

Fished the river Rea on Thursday and Friday evening, the later was just a couple of hours however due to heavy showers.
On Thursday there were one or two Mayflies coming off, clouds of spinners in the air and the Trout were rising.

I tied on a Balloon Caddis with a Pheasant Tail nymph below and quickly caught 2 fish both taking the dry fly. After a while with Trout rising freely, off came the nymph and the rest of the evening only the Caddis dry fly was used.

The fish were of a reasonable size, up to 13" and fat having been gorging for the last week or so on Mayflies.

I walked up the beat covering lots of fish and if the presentation of the fly was correct it usually resulted in a netted fish.

It is a good idea to carry a wading staff on the Rea due to its rocky nature and deep pools, also a 7 ft rod will save you a lot of frustration as it is tree lined throughout, expect to lose some flies!

At the end about 18 fish were caught all taking the Balloon Caddis and of a good stamp. These bigger fish being less cautious due to the feast created at this time of the year by hatching and spent Mayfly.

During the evening i saw two female Goosanders, one of which had about six to eight young with her! small clip on video bar

A welcome sight were Dippers and Kingfisher a sign of a healthy river with plenty of insect life and a good head of fish.

On Friday i used exactly the same method, catching 8 nice trout in a brief couple of hours between the heavy rain.

Hot Fishing On A Cool Lugg

Fishing on the hottest day of the year so far, must be mad , indeed fellow P-Tail Flyfisher Nick and i just might be!
The Sun was blazing down when we arrived on the Lugg at high noon for a friendly fishing shoot out.

Nick suggested we do a bit of kick sampling which involves disturbing a small area of gravel/stones in the river and catching the small creatures in a net.
This proved to be successful with Rhyacophilia, Hydrosyche larvae, Baetis nymph and masses of Shrimp drifting into the net.




Walking to the bottom of the beat we passed another fly fisher half way down, but saw no rising fish.

This was Nicks first time on the water and he set off up the river searching using a Balloon Caddis with a couple of nymphs underneath, i decided to upstream nymph, using a Pheasant tail and Hares ear.
Nick ties up some lovely fly patterns and after a couple of hours, when we met up he had caught about 20 fish, all to the nymphs.

With the bright, hot weather the river turned off during the late afternoon with only one or two fish being caught. On top of that we were fishing water that had already been fished through earlier.



In the Evening a few fish were rising as we neared the car park, Nick caught a couple on the dry fly and i had five decent fish out of a riffle.

Over forty fish were caught, Nick having about 25 and me 16, not a bad day considering the conditions. Most of the fish were Trout with a sprinkling of Grayling, all looking fit and healthy.



We both enjoyed the fishing and being out in the unspoilt Herefordshire countryside.

Mayflies reign on the Rea

A forty minute drive took me to the Shropshire/Hereford border to have a look at the River Rea late this afternoon. On arrival at about 4.00pm there were Mayflies in the air and a few tell tale rings that indicated the Trout had seen them too!






I had never fished the Rea before and it turned out be a surprisingly good looking river with a healthy head of Trout.

As the fish appeared to be taking the May's on went a suitable imitation. Walking upstream i covered fish after fish with plenty coming to hand, but many turning away or spooked by poor casting.

The size of the fish was on the small side,being between 5" to 9" ,although some of the rises seemed to be from bigger fish.





The Rea flows through a clay soil here with a Red Sandstone bedrock so wading can be a little tricky in parts. Further up the beat the bedrock gives way to leave some dark and silty pools, too deep to wade through.

Eventually the fish stopped rising to the Mayfly, so i switched to the NZ method, however a setting Sun behind the trees made it difficult to see takes.

I did manage to catch a few more Trout later with the biggest at 11" and they did start rising again late on, probably to midges.

It was a very enjoyable evening, catching 18 Trout, all returned as always, in quiet and peaceful surroundings.

This beat is owned by The White Swan Piscatorials and they have two other beats on this river.

The Trout go Cuckoo.

The Lugg fished well on on a warm and bright Saturday afternoon/evening.
There was the odd Mayfly about, but not enough on the water to get the Trout interested.
In fact i only saw one or two fish rising as i walked to the very bottom of the stretch.



I had only fished this lower part once before and that was in February so it would be interesting to gauge the Trout population.
As there were not many fish rising on went the duo of emerger and nymph, starting with an Olive dry and a size 14 Tungsten Hares-ear nymph underneath. However i soon changed to a Grey Emerger as it was difficult to see the Olive in the dappled sunlight. The dry fly was on a short dropper, with the nymph suspended about 2.5 feet below, i tend to lose more fish when tying the dropper directly to the hook.



The NZ method is a great way of searching the river as both riffles and slower glides can be fished , but presentation is very important, always trying to get that perfect drift.
As i said the river fished well with 34 fish being caught, 23 Trout and 11 Grayling. The biggest Trout at 12", which seems a good fish from the Lugg, the biggest Grayling at 15".
The Grayling were in good condition having watched them spawning back in February, they have recovered well.



Although a lot of fish took the dry fly most were taken on the nymph, especially in the riffles.
The Lugg contains a good mix of Trout and Grayling with Trout being the more active at this time of the year, but it will be a different story later on.
During the evening masses of spinners were dancing over the river producing quite a spectacle against the setting Sun.



I fished to the accompanying calls of a Cuckoo, a bird which has declined in numbers over recent years, and to the repetitive drumming of a Great Spotted Woodpecker.
In the riverside meadows i noticed Comfrey, an important source of nectar for bees.

A Good Soaking

The forecast for Sunday was for heavy showers turning to prolonged spells of rain. Standing in the garden at midday, there was a strong wind blowing, but the sky looked quite bright, so i decided to head for Herefordshire.
During the journey the sky became darker and as i pulled into the car park it had started to rain . A quick look over the bridge showed the Lugg was clear and a swirl said the fish were feeding. Walking downstream the rain became heavier and on reaching a pool with fish rising i was drenched.



Looking up the river with the rain easing, there were at least three fish taking insects off the surface although no obvious flies could be seen. Recently in this situation the Grey Emerger has worked well, so on it went. The first fish i covered took on the third cast, a 10" Trout, followed by two more as i moved upstream, best at 11".




After a hour or so i noticed the river colouring up and the fish had stopped rising, so a switch to the Pheasant Tail nymph under the Grey Emerger was made. Unfortunately other than a couple of lost fish on the Emerger no other fish were caught.
The wind strengthened which made casting difficult and the temperature dropped as i made my way back up the beat. So after four hours i called it a day and went back to the car.



A slightly disappointing afternoon, still it was good to have been out in the fresh air with the birds singing. In between the showers i did see a few Olives and Large Brook Duns, both refused by the Trout, but no Mayfly were seen.
As the year progresses, the woodland floor and bank side plants are growing fast, including the invasive Himalayan Balsam which is growing in patches along the riverside.

There's Trout about

I had a fantastic fishing session on the river Clun in Shropshire this afternoon.
Arriving at about midday i was greeted by the call of a Yellowhammer from the edge of a field planted with rape seed - great camouflage. The field contained a crop circle feature, see pic below.
The sky was bright with scattered clouds and just a slight, upstream breeze, but with a low river the Trout would be easily spooked.

This was my first visit to this particular beat and five weeks since i last fished the river, when Trout were only just starting to show.
The Clun tends to meander through meadows and so offers a good mix of slow bends, gentle glides with quick and often deep riffles. The banks are lined with trees and bushes which along with some submerged woody obstructions provide plenty of cover for nervous fish.



On reaching the river there were fish rising everywhere in the riffles and alongside the steep bank. I cast to one with the fly from my last outing on the Lugg, a grey Klinkhammer, the fish took and i soon netted a plump buttery Trout of about 12", what a start!

Moving upstream i caught six fish using various dry fly/emerge'rs, however stealth was needed as it was easy to put fish down with poor casting or clumsy wading.
After an hour or so i switched to the NZ method with a gold head P/Tail nymph under a brown hi-viz Klinkhammer as it was difficult to see what fly the fish were rising to.



This proved to be a good decision as fish continued to take both Klink and nymph plus it also enabled me to search pools and riffles.
The Trout were of a good stamp with seven fish of 11 inches or over, biggest at 14.5" and beautifully spotted.
The river also holds a good head of Grayling with fish to 17" not uncommon and today two fish took the P/tail nymph, one at 15".



For the next four hours i worked my way slowly to the top of the beat taking 16 Trout and two Grayling, many fish were caught and lost or put down after refusing the fly.

Large shoals of fry were seen, of which some, hopefully will survive floods and predators for the coming years. The Clun appears to be a fish rich healthy river, although parts are predated by
Goosander and Cormorants during the Winter months.



A great days fishing was had in the wonderful Shropshire countryside in the company of some of its inhabitants. Redstarts were calling and Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming from the riverside trees, with Kingfisher and Dipper sharing the river. A welcome sight was that of a Yellow Wagtail a not so common bird these days and of a Red Kite near Ludlow.

Trout with Garlic

With the weather looking settled for the afternoon i took a hours drive down to the Lugg hoping there would be a few Trout rising. Walking down the beat i noticed fish taking flies off the surface in the pools and along the edges of some riffles.

The woods were full of birdsong with Blackcap, Redstart & Chiffchaff all calling, announcing their arrival after a long migration.The heavy aroma of Wild Garlic(Ramsons) was in the air, some areas of woodland had its seasonal white carpet of this plant, whilst other parts had the blue mist of Bluebells. Fluttering through the trees were Brimstones, big yellow butterflies looking for Buckthorn on which to lay their eggs.

Having seen fish rising and as there were no obvious flies coming off the water on went the olive Klinkhammer. I took a couple of fish from a long glide and spooked others so they were definitely interested. Then i found a few fish rising alongside an over-hanging bush, carefully approaching upstream i cast in anticipation but they would not take. Switching to a rusty coloured Klink tempted a take and then a grey pattern caught me two nice fish. I continued up the river, taking ten fish, all Trout bar one Grayling with the grey Klinkhammer being the successful fly. It was a decent four to five hours fishing and as the weeks pass more Trout are starting to show even though the river is very clear.