Peter Anderson is back this month telling us about a few trips that he has embarked on all in a great cause
A regular readers will know, I am a big supporter of the Wild Trout Trust annual auction. The Monnow Fisheries Association also holds an annual auction and this too is well worth participating in, either as a bidder or, indeed, a donor. The Monnow anglers are passionately committed to the wellbeing of their system and deserve every support. They are, for example, working hard towards the eradication of the menace that is the Himalayan balsam.
This year I bought two lots and have hosted one and in each case I had a wonderful time.
The Brue
Late May saw me crawl out of bed at some stupid time to meet my host, Luke Kozak, for a session on the tiny River Brue deep in the Somerset countryside. We met at 6am on a glorious morning, worth getting up early for. We walked alongside a field of oil seed rape to reach the river bank…..which was steep! Luke demonstrated how to get in which basically amounted to sitting down at the top of the bank and sliding down into the water uttering a silent prayer as we went. Luke went first and survived so in I went.
This is a truly wild stream, it has never seen a stocked fish and the banks could not be described as “manicured”. Fish were dimpling though. My dry fly skills are limited and our early efforts were for naught. After half an hour or so, though, Luke switched to a cdc emerger and that did the business, a lovely wild brownie.
We pressed on through a tunnel of trees and I picked up a fish on a nymph from a deep pool. In that same pool Luke popped on a bullhead imitation and a fish promptly nailed it, great fun.
The sun was getting high and the rises tailed off. I hooked a fish on a small nymph but it quickly came off. Luke reckoned we had no more than half an hour before the sun got too high and we moved towards what he was promoting as a “dead cert” pool. We never got there. Round a corner and we were faced with a couple of cows and a calf in the stream. We hummed and haa-ed. Cows with calves can be jumpy at the best of time, in a stream 10 feet wide with steep bank either side might be chancing it. As it happened, the decision became very easy when a cow moved to one side to reveal a bull in the water – that did it, out we climbed. Off for a very civilised breakfast to round off a really enjoyable trip.
The Meon
A few days later, my second MFA day was on the Meon with Denise Ashton who I knew from her work with the Wild Trout Trust. This was an afternoon session and with the mayfly at its peak I was hoping to catch some on the dry. The river was a picture and very attractive, a beautiful chalk stream. Before we started, Denise unpacked our picnic lunch and this was the finest picnic I think I have ever eaten! Sandwiches, sausage rolls, pork pie, asparagus, crisps and all enjoyed on a fold away table sitting on fold away chairs……when I host my guests get a sarnie standing by the car!
Eventually, I dragged myself away from the food and got into the river. My usual approach on a new piece of water like this is to fish the duo. There were plenty of trees overhanging the river and my first cast caught a branch! Second cast brought a lovely little fish to the nymph. This was a productive pool, 2 to the dry, 2 more to the nymph and 3 others lost!
I continued to move upstream. Denise had said that most of the fish were in the 6-8” range and a big fish would probably be a chub. A deep pool and a change to a bigger, heavier nymph brought a cracking fish…..not a chub but a wild trout of well over 1lb. I had asked if there were grayling in the Meon and Denise informed me that there were but she hadn’t seen one for some time. She wondered if the floods had washed them away. They hadn’t, I picked up two, one of which was around the pound mark.
Denise tempted me out of the river with strawberries and cream and we then had a final hour on the dry. Plenty of mayfly were coming off but the rises were spasmodic and my grey wulff was thoroughly ignored. Once again though, a wonderful session.
Box Brook
This was a day I hosted for an old friend Andy Wren who used to run winter grayling days on the Kennet. This was due to be taken in 2012 but the floods scuppered that. We went in early June and the river was quite low and very heavy tree cover, a couple of weeks later and it wouldn’t be fishable. Andy is a dry fly aficionado and his roll casting skills were given a thorough work out. He picked up 10 wild fish all on the dry. He was happy. I was relieved!
I do recommend participation in auctions if at all possible. Some great fishing opportunities are available but it is also very rewarding to host a day. I have met a number of good friends this way and have never had a bad day. These things are worth supporting!
Catch up with more of Peter's adventures via his blog