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Following heavy rain the previous week, I'd hoped to find the river full of fresh oxygen and extra water, but the levels were even lower than before, when I arrived during the late afternoon. Fish were rising, again mostly dace, but there were a few trout among them and found that a small Deer Hair Sedge worked it's magic and returned to service with a few false casts, when a fish was released. My first fish of the afternoon was a healthy wild brown of about 8 inches. It was rising steadily in the fast water between two rocks and fought well on my 7 ft rod. Most pools had at least one rising fish. My last trout, was another of the silver variety, having that purple sheen found on sea trout, but with this Thames tributary being 90 miles from the Estuary, it is highly unlikely, that it was. My Blog http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/low-water-brown-trout-rise-to-the-occasion/

A lovely deep dace Paul. One of my favourite fish to catch on the stick.

Another five weeks have passed since my last visit to the little Hampshire chalk stream and the Himalayan Balsam is in full bloom. The club usually have a balsam pulling session in early June, but this seems to have been missed off the calendar this year, which is much appreciated by the local bee population. I was pleased to see fish rising for a change, although they turned out to be mostly dace, but managed to fool a few wild browns into taking my dry Sedge. landing a pair of pound fish. As always, barbless hooks allowed a quick release. This was my blog http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/wild-brown-trout-dry-fly-bonus/

Why don't you try good old fashioned bread Steve? OK you won't catch any perch, but then there are always worms. This was my latest blog catching dace on the bread punch. http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/bread-punch-dace-from-the-common/

It had been over a month since I'd last visited my Hampshire syndicate trout stream, arriving in the evening of one of our hottest days yet, to find the river running at a good level and covered in fly life, but no rising fish again. Two hours of wading with upstream nymph tactics produced several small browns and a couple of chub, but no larger fish. These two browns, caught that evening, are examples of the contrasting colouration present among the wild trout in our river. My Blog: http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/wild-trout-top-a-lazy-day/

Having joined a club with fishing on the mid Kennet, I'd been keen to try my luck for wild trout during the mayfly hatch on one of their more streamy stretches. Predominantly a coarse fishing part of the river, I'd often caught brown trout when stick float fishing on another club's waters just downstream and arrived this week armed with my 7 ft 4 weight. The mayfly were gone and so were the rising fish, but was fortunate to net a wild brown on a Hares Ear goldhead nymph. This was my Blog http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/trout-duffers-fortnight-gives-way-to-slim-pickings/

Thanks for the blog Paul and appreciate your thoughts. I would need a sit down after only one of those tench.

I managed only a brief, late evening visit to my syndicate river this week, hoping for plenty of rising trout to the hatches of mayfly, but was disappointed to find the surface rise free. After covering the likely holding spots, with a variety of dry flies, I changed tactics to a mayfly nymph, on a leader greased to within a foot of the fly. The lightest of takes produced two brown trout, one of 14 inches and the other 16. This was the larger of the two, finally coming to the net after a prolonged battle on my 7 ft 4 weight rod. Both fish were allowed to fully revive before being released. My Blog :http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/mayfly-bring-out-the-big-brown-trout/

I was out for a late evening session, back on my urban mid Thames tributary on Wednesday. I'd missed the main mayfly rise, but still managed to find some more beautifully marked and very fat wild browns, this, the first of the evening, taking a mayfly nymph, fished just below the surface, with a greased leader. The remainder came to an unweighted Hares Ear, rubbed with floatant and fished as an emerger. This was my blog of the session http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/urban-trout-stream-springs-into-life/

Hi Steve, I fished an urban tributary of the Thames yesterday evening, less than a mile up from the main river near Maidenhead and had this fin perfect wild brown among the factories. It took an unweighted gold ribbed hares ear fished just below the surface. Difficult fishing, but worth the effort, when you get one like this. This was my blog. http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/evening-trout-rise-on-urban-river/

Well done Steve! A fat healthy brown from a clean river. My little river rises from chalk, but runs through nitrate rich farmland, the gravel being coated with brown gunge by the time it reaches us ten miles downstream. Great pics.

I took my first wild trout on the surface this week, having concentrated on the nymph, but a few rising fish made me swap to an emerger, as there were no apparent flies going airborne. Many of the wild browns in the river have this blue/silver sheen to them. The following day I had a larger, 13 inch trout also taken on an elk hair emerger. This was a more traditional coloured brownie and was quite lean, but was just as energetic. This was my latest blog. http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/small-river-brown-trout-begin-to-take-the-fly/

The trout seem a bit slow to get going on my little river, the few that have been out, have blanked, or caught dace so far. Beginner's luck for me last week I think. More warm weather this week should improve things. I might give my urban river a try this week, running through a town the water is warmer.

Beautiful wild fish, a bit on the thin side, but taken on the top I see. With the warmer weather this week, I'd hoped for a few rises yesterday afternoon, but apart from a couple of dace on an emerger, didn't see a trout.

The Thames at Cricklade has masses of character, I would think that once the weather warms up and the Hawthorns and Mayfly get going, you will be able to cast to individual trout. Twenty years ago my Windsor fishing club fished a knock-out competition against Swindon Talisman and beat them at Cricklade. During practice, I had several on the stick float, while in the match, I fished a waggler with maggots and had half a dozen browns to a pound. We couldn't weigh them in. They fought like the clappers compared to the 8 to 12 oz chub I was catching. I also drew Lechlade in the Thames Championship, fishing below the Coln confluence, again on the waggler with maggots. More trout among my chub, including a big rainbow, that broke my 1.7lb hook link at the net. As I said, plenty of trout up that far. My membership of a club on the Kennet allows fly fishing after April 1st and will give that a serious try this year. My last coarse season session put a 12 inch brown and a decent grayling in the net. Maggots again!

Hi Steve, How far up are you on the Thames? There are a lot of trout in the Thames, but they are outnumbered by chub and dace below Lechlade on the fly. There used to be a few taken each year in the weirs between Windsor and Maidenhead on spinners and live baits, I caught two, a poor result considering the number of chub, pike and perch I also caught on the above methods. On my trout stream, if you have followed this thread, you'll see a fair few chub and dace. I even caught a roach on the fly.

The 2015 season on my Hampshire syndicate chalk stream began well this week, with a healthy wild brown trout on my third cast. The previous two seasons have followed flooded winters and a slow start for most members, but no floods, mild weather with lower levels, resulting in a clear river, bode well for the spring. This perfect brown took a nymph, fished along the edge, the only rising fish being dace.

Thanks for the info Paul, although from the bridge it looked very challenging, more suited to my 7ft fly rod with bow and arrow casts.

A very comprehensive blog Paul. Those chub look more like roach, their quality beating the quantity of my slimline chub from the Cut. Access is the main problem with the Emm Brook, but I found one bit with a layby, trouble was, I was out searching on my motorbike at the time, without a rod. Next winter?

I stumbled across Jeff Hatt's blog, Idlers Quest the other day and saw that he contributes to Fallon Angler and was impressed with the quality of his writing, which made me link to the site. A good read on a cold winter's evening, I would think, but a bit steep for this old pensioner.

They hibernate in the winter, burrowing deep into the banks, which is another reason to get rid of them. I caught several mini lobster sized ones in the Basingstoke Canal this year. On a quarter mile stretch of the Whitewater, six nets trapped over two thousand last year. A pike that had entered a net, was stripped bare in days.

My method for worms from the lawn is, dig a garden fork into the lawn 6 inches deep, then begin wiggling the fork back and forth an inch each way. Take a hammer and holding the head, tap the shaft of the fork. The worms just fly out of their burrows. Just select the ones you want Sink the fork in further and more will appear within a 3 ft radius of the shaft. Repeat a couple of yards up, until you have enough. The grass has to be short, or you'll miss most of them. If you don't have a lawn, it works well in parks, golf courses and cricket pitches. This is a day light method. I assume the worms think a mole is burrowing down after them.

When wire stems came out I switched over from cane, cane lying flat, when held back. These days I am an advocate of Middy, or Woody Ali stems in all sizes. They trot and hold back well and give great bite indication. On the Kennet I tend to use a shouldered balsa stick, but for the Thames, Colne and Blackwater it's an Ali stick. I've even started using a Middy 3 No. 4 trotting down the inside with bread punch for roach on the Wey Nav. My New Year outing on the Woody Stick http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/chub-and-roach-on-bread-flake-welcome-the-new-year/

Mine was this roach taken on stick float and flake on Jan 2nd. My blog: http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/chub-and-roach-on-bread-flake-welcome-the-new-year/

Went out a few days ago for some trotting on the bread, but found the river chocolate and bombing through. I held the float in a slack on the far side with a worm for half an hour, then the line stripped from my fingers and I hooked into a large fish, that took me down into the snags. Lost the lot and went home. A couple of working parties coming up, so I'll leave the river to settle down again.