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.