Wellow Brook - 03-05/06/2010
Entry posted by Nicholas S
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Unsurprisingly it wasn’t long before James and I returned to the Wellow Brook. The glorious weather and hatching Mayflies meant that we spent three wonderful evenings on the river in a row! On the first evening we decided to try slightly further downstream than we had on the first visit. The fishing started well with James missing a good rise to his dry fly straight away! Despite the fact that there were fish rising along the whole stretch catching them proved to be tricky due to the low clear water and their spooky nature. This was despite practically crawling along the riverbed to avoid scaring them! A lovely deep pool yielded four Trout which I was delighted with and from then as the light dropped the fishing only got better. We stayed until it was practically dark and I think I ended up with around 8 Trout much to James’ surprise (he only caught a few!). Not only was the fishing spectacular, the wildlife on show was equally special. On one particular large pool we were treated to the sight of a set of Badgers which casually traipsed past us much to our amazement. That was followed by the fleeting sight of a female Roe Dear and her fawn running past just metres from where I stood. Finally as darkness fell a Tawny Owl silently flew into the tree opposite me and just sat there staring for a while before quietly flying off. It was a great evening.
If the first day was good the next surpassed all expectations! The fish seemed to be ravenous and were taking anything that was put in front of them with gusto! We fished the same stretch as the night before and both caught around 12 fish each providing us with some of the best fly fishing we has ever experienced. Again, the wildlife on show was spectacular with abundant insect life, fish life (obviously) and one of the most magical experiences I have ever had whilst fishing. This occurred when I was knelt down in about 6 inches of water fishing into a productive deep pool. As I was casting something shot past me at great speed heading directly into the pool, probably not more than 2 metres from where I knelt. My casting obviously spooked it and in a one smooth motion it turned and shot back from the direction it came from causing a small disturbance to the water and frightening me in the process! The creature was far larger than anything I had seen swimming in the river and although my initial thoughts were of large Pike it seemed improbably large for such a small river. I turned my head in the direction it swam off and much to my amazement a large brown head was looking back at me around 20 yards downstream. An Otter, I couldn’t believe it! We stared at each other (probably both in shock) for what seemed like eternity before it dipped its head and swam off. It was an amazing experience and a fantastic evenings fishing, one that I will never forget.
The next day we chatted to another fisherman who lives in the village and whose house in on the river (lucky guy). He informed us that he had only seen the Otter three times in the past four years. Evidently I had been exceptionally lucky to have seen in the day before! The fishing was not as good as the previous two evenings and I think I managed about 2 trout with plenty more lost. In the first pool I fished a small rustle behind me drew my attention and as I turned I was amazed to see something brown and furry swimming in the water! However, this was not Otter but rather a very tame American Mink which had a small bird in its mouth. Not quite such a welcome sight but still interesting to see one so close. As we left were treated to the lovely sight of a Barn Owl hunting over the adjacent field. It had been three wonderful evenings fishing.
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