Where Have Alder Trees Gone ??

What a surprise i had when turning up for a few hours trout fishing on a favourite small, Shropshire river. The fields adjacent to the car park were full of recently cut down trees and across the river even the local rook community seemed to be shouting about the destruction.


When fishing this particular stretch of river last year, i was sure the reason it was so prolific, even in low river conditions, was because of it being tree lined. This giving the trout plenty of cover and allowing them to feed with confidence.

In fact when fishing many small rivers along the welsh border counties it becomes obvious that the best fish holding areas usually have trees on both banks. Often more open rivers, such as the Ithon, are only worth the trip when their flows are normal or even slightly up with a tinge of colour.

The problem with letting someone loose with a chain saw to create this type of habitat vandalism is that it cannot be repaired.....trees grow very slowly!
What i fail to understand is why every tree was cut down to the base, thus opening up the water to predation from goosander and even cormorants.

By felling trees like this it can do permanent damage to the ecology of the river, as they support a community of invertebrates and therefore food and nesting sites for many species of bird.

Rant over !

I fished the river for four hours and caught plenty of trout with two beautiful out of season roach. Fishing conditions were difficult with a blustery downstream wind blowing and a bit of colour to the water. All the fish were caught on a size 16 tungsten headed pt/nymph but with no fish coming from pools where the trees had been hacked down!
Some of these pools, last year, produced some very nice fish and i hope that they will recover later in the season.

Lizards Emerge From Long Hibernation

After a particularly cold winter in Worcestershire, it was a relief to see my lizards emerge from their five months of hibernation. The P. muralis were very active today searching for food after basking in the warm spring sunlight.


When they first emerge the colour of the male L. viridis is very dull, being a pale green with a greyish head. How different he will look in a few weeks time, being bright green with black stippling and a beautiful blue throat.


The outdoor vivarium is two metres square with 4mm glass walls on a breeze block base. When it was first constructed underground chambers were built in to act as frost free hibernaculi, the lizards tend to use these both for hibernating and for chilling out in very hot weather.
At the back there is a log pile on one side and a stack of boulders on the other, it then slopes down to the front where there is a sandy area with more logs and a small, shallow pool. The vivarium is planted up with various plants to attract flying insects and is home to woodlice and ants, on which the lizards feed.

The back metre of the viv is covered with glass to provide a permanent dry area over the hibernaculi which are under the log/rock piles.
Today the garden pools were awash with over fifty mating frogs which croaked loudly all day!

The Bleating Of The Lambs

Fishing in March can be an uplifting time after a long cold winter. With the bleating of lambs, Snowdrops and the calls of courting Ravens overhead

a feeling of change is in the air.

The fishing though is often frustrating with the Grayling season ending and the Trout not ready to start feeding with any purpose.

Fishing the Clun on Saturday this proved to be the case, from the first pool i caught five Grayling, on a red-tag tungsten nymph. However the next four hours or so only produced another three fish with a couple lost.

All the fish were Grayling......with a couple of decent ones, its now time to look forward to warmer weather when hard fighting wild Trout will be caught from the prolific rivers of the Marches.

Chilly Willy

A late post about my first trip this year on the Lugg, a couple of weekends ago. In fact it was my first flyfishing sortie for about ten weeks, due to the persistent high river levels.

Mick has already covered the day on his blog, so just a few photo's to show you....it was cold!

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!