First trip of the Season on the River Seven..( and the third )...

This post is a bit late coming .  But its here now   I am fishing a new stream this year ,  the little Lower Yorkshire Seven.  I decided that I would spend opening day ( the post covid lock down one ) not the real one on the river . So on a cold day in mid may we ventured forth.  Myself and a companion to a very low stream on a very cold day .   Amazingly we did pretty well in the few hours fishing I finished with seven pretty little wild browns.

two from the first day ,  For those technical souls amongst you size 18 CDC IOBO was the winner on the day 

I followed the trip up a week later with a return visit .  The day was much brighter and warmer sadly the river was even lower but in the few hours managed a dozen fish .  Should have been more but missed a good few .  Mayfly were hatching but the fish were not really taking them.

The river is delightful , quiet unspoilt away from both crowds and dog walkers .  Interesting varied water with a suitable number of long flats. Short rapids and everything in between to require varied approaches ,  requiring at varying times either a machette or the wading skills of a ninja assassin.

The fish are pretty and up to a suitable size to put a bend in a two or three weight . little wildies can create quite a fuss when they realise they are hooked.  This was the best of the day..

In places the casting is a bit tight .  Not impossible I might add but tight enough to be interesting and keep you coming back . Yes  I am going to enjoy it here....No I didnt catch the one I was after .  Fluffed the roll cast and spooked the bugger...

Normal Service restored ( well nearly )

So things are gradually returning to normal, or should I say things are settling into the new normal .   There is this new thing called Social Distancing . Well its new to some folk .  Personally have never been a lover of crowds and given that casting a fly on a secluded stream  is probably near  the polar opposite of being in a crowd . Anyway apart from that  given how Society normally works there are some pretty fundamental changes to how we live heading our way.  In a lot of ways not a bad thing I guess . 

 Anyway this last week or so has seen me get back to my local streams a couple of times ,  The streams are very very low . We have had no rain of any consequence now for several months .  But at last we are allowed out to play . The rivers although low are full of lovely free rising trout.  Even Grayling appear to be free rising at the moment . 

 I always feel immensely privileged when I fish my local streams . We still have several that are relatively unspoilt and no longer stocked .  Sadly there are still many clubs and syndicates that stock quite heavily. This impacts on both the Native Trout and also the Grayling . It is also becoming more apparent  that it impacts on peoples desire to fish them .  The club that I am Chairman of has seen a noticable change in what people are looking for. .Increasingly people are enquiring if the club waters are stocked or wild , with a preference for the latter .Also do they contain Grayling . I really believe that there are enough put and take fisheries stuffed with willing stockies and people are looking for something a bit different .  Quality over Quantity I suspect.

Anyway for now the sun is shining the rivers are buzzing the Mayfly are starting to hatch and I have a trip planned for the weekend to one of the Classic Dales rivers. So for now all is well with the world .

Well a little bit of a late addendum .  The weekend trip to the Dales didnt happen due to the ultra low water levels there . Also hearing some bad reports of the area been overun by visitors .  So as the Mayfly were starting to do there stuff and the local streams are always quiet it was another weekend spent locally.   So the pictures below are all from a couple of trips on another local stream. 

 

Just to confirm what I said about the Grayling I was surprised to catch this on a dry fly the other day . Out of season as well. The fish was lifted very briefly from the stream and I could not resist a photo and to briefly reflect on what a beautiful fish they are .  Interestingly on both these local streams the Grayling grow to a better size than the native browns do. 

In places the fishing is very tight . Roll casts and short rods are the name of the Game .

The fish are small but free rising and fight harder than there size would have you expect.

On this stream and those like it this is may favourite outfit .  A very light 7ft 3 wt . 

The lack of any rain for many months have left the streams very low ...

And left them very clear.....