Monthly Archives: May 2015

And what a spring it has been. Sometimes I wonder if it is just me; but the river has been staggeringly beautiful this year,and the fishing at least as good as I can ever remember it. I’m talking about the Eden and its tributaries, particularly the Lowther. Here is a section of the lower reaches of the river last week, in late May: In spite of generally poor weather, for the season, the hatches have been steadily growing and as I write this it is actually difficult to keep track of all the species that might be simultaneously on the surface. Yesterday, for example, up on the Appleby AA Sandford stretch, I counted seven different species of upwing, including danica mayfly. I did not see a single mayfly taken, however, and I have barely seen any taken this year. For some reason(s), so long as there is another species of upwing active at the time, the trout, and grayling, seem to ignore the danica. I wonder if they take the nymph, but they certainly don’t bother with the adult, not, at least, when there are medium olives or iron blues about, even pale wateries – and these species are all currently active on Eden. I’m spending more time on the Lowther than almost any year so far, completely enthralled by the huge fish we are regularly catching. This one came to a 19 plume tip, using a 6’6″ S-glass rod from Polish Rods. Excuse the ‘grinning idiot holding fish shot’, which I generally hate because they are only usually manifestations of our egos; but Lawrence was on hand to snap a few photos as I dealt with it and the fish was in the air for less than 10 seconds, returned completely unharmed. This ‘Lowther leopard’ was a fat 55cm and we reckon somewhere around 4lbs. It is not exceptional by any means on the Eden system. I am grinning because I am just so happy that these magnificent wild fish still exist in England, and it did take some catching!Not that the Eden has been dull; in fact, for big trout, it has been similarly outstanding, at least on the parts of the river I fish most. There is the worry about a comparative lack of juvenile fish, of both species, as well as salmon parr, on the middle and upper river. This does not seem to apply to the Lowther, however, which seems to have good populations throughout the age range (though, oddly, no or few grayling on this river). I haven’t nymph fished since the early spring. It has been exclusively dry fly, which has meant the plume tip, nearly always in a 19, though increasingly now (which will continue into the autumn) with the 21. This fly is simply never rejected. Only if I spook the fish by a careless approach do I fail to rise it to this fly. A great tip though is that if you do notice rejections then simply changing to a smaller size, say from the 19 to a 21, nearly always solves that particular problem.  Black gnats can also catch us out – they did me, anyway, a couple of weeks ago. The tell-tale here is rising fish to flies you cannot see. Right about this time of year black gnats swarm and drop as wind falls (even on a calm day!) on the river’s surface. I think they are just about the only insect, one of the few anyway, that can shake fish off their pre-occupation with upwings.

It is fascinating watching the feeding behaviour at the moment, particularly how both trout and grayling tend to focus, sometimes exclusively, on one of the smaller upwing species, even when the comparatively huge olive uprights or danicas are in abundance. But a comparison between the trout and the grayling is most fascinating of all. The latter usually make the gentlest rises, almost imperceptible unless you are looking in the right place, and most especially the larger specimens. Big trout, too, have seemed to have learnt not to waste energy, although trout are never as subtle, even enigmatic, as the big grayling. I think for me that the big, wild brown trout is and always will be my favourite target fish, though I admire grayling more. Right now, though, we’re only thinking about the large trout that are turning up, feeding subtly or not, almost everywhere we visit on the system. This (at somewhere around 45cm and 2lbs in weight) was one of a catch of a dozen similar fish from a four hundred metre stretch of river. On the 19 plume tip, of course. Odd, in a way, how these big trout have been so active through the generally windy and cool weather this spring, but they have also lulled us into a sense of promise for the future of this river system. With the lack of juveniles, in many areas, at least the existence of large numbers of spawning stock must surely give us hope.

One more week on Eden before I’m back to France for most of the summer. I will not miss it, but neither will I forget the magnificent fishing we have had this spring. I shall be fishing the chalk streams of northern France, with a little sojourn in the Massif Central with Lawrence, Neil and Paul, and this will be completely absorbing. I shall report on it all, here and elsewhere.

I hardly know where to start, so forgive me if this is a bit disjointed. I have never experienced such a spring, fishing mostly on the Lowther and Eden in Cumbria, and the Aa in northern France; probably the most wonderful chalk stream habitat surviving in the world. Here is the Aa at Saint Martin d’Handringhem. Clear water over river water crowfoot.Up-wing hatches with trout and grayling focused on the surface, until September, October, maybe even November… The nymph is a memory of, certainly, a wonderful winter with the grayling, and some enormous grayling; but just that, a memory. Now is the time of the wild brown trout, and dry fly; which really means the plume tip, of course. This is the contemporary incarnation of the generic up-wing representation. With heron herl, or yellow quill – irrelevant really – those twinned CDC plume tips on a size 19 103 BL… Up-wing representation at its best, in an impressionistic sense, and in a pragmatic sense. There is something else now, too; Tom Bell’s (Sunray) micro-diameter fly lines. Fly lines, as we have known them to this point, are stale. French leaders, presentation leaders; these are refinements towards better presentation. The new lines take the very best properties of fly lines and leaders, combining them, and leaving behind those problems of coiling, shine, shadow, poor casting… It is the perfect marriage. The perfect storm of fly lines, for the river, for trout and grayling. This is not marketing. I have no need to market. This is bringing the best fly line for single handed river fly fishing to the fore.

Lowther and Eden have been remarkable, and I think particularly so the Lowther, probably because this major tributary lies entirely in the national park and so is afforded some extra protection from the agricultural abuse that is wrecking the main river. The hatches have been breathtaking, and at the time of writing this, in mid May, one can easily observe six different species of up-wing species, during a day on the river. Danicas are coming off now, though the fish are, typically, ignoring these, except for the juvenile trout. Medium olives and olive uprights are currently the favoured targets. The grannoms came and went, but rarely did I see very much interest in these, except on two occasions locally where there was a flurry. There have always been up-wings on the surface, and these are always preferentially targeted by both trout and grayling. It has been the size of the fish caught this spring, rather than numbers, which have been spectacular. These are fish in the 45-55cm bracket. I have also hooked and lost (with the hook opening) two fish on the Lowther which were both upwards of 60cm.

But it has been the chalk streams of northern France that have completely captivated me, more even than last year. Increasingly more possibilities are coming to light on these numerous streams. Best of all, at least for me, is that these rivers are nearly always more challenging than their English equivalents, being essentially wild and uncultivated, un-commercialised, rivers, in considerably better environmental state than those chalk rivers of southern Britain, or really almost any English river. I am in a state of wonder by these beautiful waters, so reminiscent of my childhood days in southern England, and they haunt me when I am not there. But then, from June onwards I am spending most of the rest of the summer in France, including a trip to the Massif Central, along with lots of visiting fishing friends.

Last week, I enjoyed one of the best fly fishing days of my life, on the Aa, working up from the downstream limit of the section, I covered only 200 metres of river bank in four hours, during which time there was a steady trickle of medium olives. Every single trout I targeted was risen, to the plume tip, other than one which was spooked by drag. The Aa is rather like the Itchen in many respects, or the Kentish Great Stour, except that I was struck, as always, that the magnificent fish it holds are there naturally (mostly). It feels like the wild chalk stream fishing we once enjoyed in southern England, before it all went wrong.