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.