This section is proving to be one of my favourites so far this year. It was several challenging pools and runs that require a certain level of standard. My first approach was a small pool that was fairly deep directly underneath the bypass bridge. Several rises from fish sipping off the flies from the top. A quick look at some of the flies hatching it off and decided to stick with the Klinkhammer but try a red body size 14. The trouble that i had was that i approached the river on the wrong side. As i am a left handed angler, i need to be on the right hand side as the river flows downwards. Anyway, with just some thigh wellies i waded in about 4ft from the bank. There was no room behind me to cast in the usual method so i had to side cast but doing it on the reverse. I saw this technique on a youtube channel that i would definitely recommend to new anglers, Totally Awesome Fishing, the main guy Graeme used the reverse cast to land his fly in a position that was not on his natural fishing side. To do so he began to side cast down stream but on the back swing of his cast let the line out to land his fly where he wanted it. Its very difficult at first but a good technique as you can watch the fly as you navigate obstacles and release line upstream knowing you wont get snagged. This is perfect if you see rising fish that would naturally be on your wrong arm side. Adopting this method will mean you will always have a chance of getting a fish no matter what side of the bank you area.
After several failed attempts at the reverse cast, i had 2 or 3 decent chances to tempt the fish. No success. I must have scared them with my heavy fly line landings and constant shuffling on the river bed. Anyhow, not to be beaten, i gave it ten minutes for the fish to return and sat on the bank side hoping i could net one of these risers. On my second cast i was in, right on the money with the reverse method and it hooked me onto a little fighter. About half a pound little brown. What a good start to the evenings fish.
It was time to move on from this section and move down stream. About 300yards or so through the woods was a redundant / broken bridge. Just underneath was a heavy running waterfall that dropped down into much faster flowing boulder runs. I opted to try my luck in the runs just off the waterfall. Unfamiliar territory for me as usually i would usually try a shallower run into a pool where i can visibly see the fish. Anyway, resilient as ever i added some more floatent to the fly and tried to see what i could tempt. Nothing much to be honest. One or two fish did emerge further up underneath the bridge but my wellies wouldnt have helped me enough to protect me from the fast flowing rivers.
On i went further down the stream, several pools later i found a lovely calm area just above a small cascade. It was showing good signs of risers, with a large boulder being the main source of cover for the fish. I opted to change fly to a Caddis size 12. It was a brown colour and worked a treat. After a few missed takes i got a little brown. No bigger than 7 inches but a wonderful specimen non the less. He was swiftly released and i called it a day. Happy that i had caught another two fish having spent only 2 months
This was going to be my last action for a month or so as me and the mrs were getting wed on september 6th and off on honeymoon couple of days after so no fishing until I return at the end of september. Im hoping to share with you my new autumn / winter fly box i am putting together!
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