Down to its bones

The picture although clearly not a fish is something that I was very pleased to see.  This Sunday I ventured up the headwaters of a local river although as the pictures show the river is struggling for water and the quantities of rising fish were pretty low. The rivers are generally struggling, which is as to be expected given the long hot and dry summer.  levels of in river invertebrates are very low ,  however in the fields and woods on the banks the insects are thriving.. 

As you see the river is way below its normal levels.  long stretches are barely flowing and only the long deep pools are holding decent volumes of water .  Luckily there are many of these deep slow pools where fish can hold up..

This stretch is usually a continuous riffle about six inches deep ,  as you can see its just about dry now.

There was less rising fish than I would expect .  The level of invertebrates in the water must be having an effect on hatch levels .  However the high number of terrestrials will be offering an alternative food source .

One thing I noted during the day was the number of ladybirds that were visible ,  now that means to me that there are certainly big numbers of Aphids on the trees.   Certainly leaves on the trees are quite sticky from the residue the aphids leave behind. 

The days catches were less than I would expect at the time of year but as the fish were bunched up in the deep holding pools the long stretches of previously " pocket water " were now pretty much devoid of fish .  You can see on the photo below where the usual summer level of the pool is .  We need rain and fast...