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Wild trout thin this year?


kenj

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  • 4 weeks later...

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.

 

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This was my blog of the session http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/urban-trout-stream-springs-into-life/

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  • 2 weeks later...

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.

 

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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/

Edited by kenj
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  • 3 weeks later...

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.

 

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This was my Blog http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/trout-duffers-fortnight-gives-way-to-slim-pickings/

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  • 3 weeks later...

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.

 

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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/

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  • 4 weeks later...

Another five weeks have passed since my last visit to the little Hampshire chalk stream and the Himalayan Balsam is in full bloom.

 

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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.

 

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This was my blog http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/wild-brown-trout-dry-fly-bonus/

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  • 2 weeks later...

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.

 

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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.

 

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Most pools had at least one rising fish.

 

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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.

 

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My Blog http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/low-water-brown-trout-rise-to-the-occasion/

Edited by kenj
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  • 1 month later...

Due to abstraction in it's upper reaches, the river has suffered low water levels all summer, despite regular rainfall, so I was pleased to see springtime levels on my most recent visit, plus a bit of colour. Dace seem to have been taking the place of trout this season, although many are of a good size and well worth catching.

 

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I walked down to a pool I'd not fished since June and after an initial burst of dace takes, hooked and landed my best wild brown from the river this year.

 

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This hard fighting wildie took an upstream Hares Ear flash back gold head nymph on a size 14 hook, leaping clear of the water, when hooked. After a few minutes being held upstream against the flow, it swam back to the pool.

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  • 4 weeks later...

With the trout season over on my river, I was ready to put my fly rod away, until one of my blog subscribers put me onto a bit of free grayling fishing tucked away in an urban setting. Tree lined banks, meant that a 7 ft rod and waders were needed, but the fishing was rewarding.

 

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Six grayling of this size and several others down to six inches, gave unbelievable sport, first on a Flashback Hares Ear goldhead, until lost in a tree, then on a red nymph of my own tying, bloodworm, or red maggot? My Blog http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/grayling-see-red-in-urban-river/

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  • 6 months later...

When I began this post in April 2013, I was concerned that the wild trout I was catching were very thin, possibly due to the prolonged winter floods of that year. Now in May 2016, it would be nice to see a wild trout on the bank.

 

So far six visits to the upper reaches of three Thames tributaries have resulted in a total of three lost trout from half hearted takes. A rising trout and fly hatches have been a rare sight. Other disillusioned souls, that I have met on the bank, have the same down cast look, with talk of missing the only take of the day.

 

My wife says that I am losing my touch. Maybe I am? They are catching trout north of the Border, what's gone wrong in the balmy south?

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