I was invited as a guest as this water is controlled by 'The Pheasant Tail Fly Fishers' club, myself and club member Graham set out early afternoon to give ourselves a good few hours to fish.
On arrival we geared up and headed downstream where my fishing partner and 'guide' pointed out some of the likely fish holding spots. He has fished this stretch many times and has normally scored well taking good amounts of both trout & grayling.
I was left at the start of the stretch while Graham headed back upstream and with no obvious fish rising I decided to go for an upstream dual nymph approach using two tungsten headed nymphs (2mm & 2,5mm). Although this is a relatively small river here there are some deep pools with a strong flow so this approach would enable me to get the nymphs down quick.
I was soon unhooking my first fish...a nice brownie of about 10" quickly followed by a couple more including a decent hard fighting grayling of about 13".
This stretch has a variety of water from deep pools to long riffles and meanders through some of the most beautiful countryside you could wish to fish in...uncultivated meadows and wooded valleys accompanied me on my way steadily upstream.
I took fish from the likely areas pointed out to me and as the sun started to set the masses of spinners began to fall sparking quite a bit of surface activity, a lack of good imitative fly patterns led to a frustrating couple of hours as I struggled to make much of a connection with the rising fish taking just a couple on an emerger pattern.
A final change back to the nymph took a couple more as I met up with Graham who had a similar story to tell. We walked back in the closing darkness where we were fortunate to spot an otter cruising down river and we were urged on back to the car by the loud grunting of a nearby deer.
Last fish of the day went to Graham - caught around 10pm!!!
Lots to talk about on the way back but a sense that there was probably more fish that we should have both caught on the dry fly, I feel a few hours at the vice tying some spinner patterns is called for before my next outing.
You can read Grahams' views of the evening at his blog http://aflyfishersdiary.blogspot.com/
