No Pressure - Spring 2015

Hiraeth - longing, yearning, nostalgia 

I miss the trout season already. Strangely, it’s not the eagerly anticipated dawn ‘til dusk sessions on new beats that I miss the most, but those stolen hours on the Usk by my house. I must be getting old. 

I feel the need to relate an entire season’s worth of thoughts and experiences but, for now, I'll restrict myself to the Spring and on this unseasonably warm October evening I hold high hopes that the fish overwinter as well as they did last year.

A fat Usk trout, March 2015

Spring low

Following the mild winter, the cold dry spell in March and April resulted in some of the lowest early season Usk levels on record. At the lowest point, I noted half a dozen dead trout and a dead salmon on the Bryn Derwen beat. I also observed a fish go belly up on the Eden, momentarily concluding it was the strangest rise form I’d ever seen! I suspect that these mortalities were a result of the harsh conditions, a combination of low levels and diffuse pollution. 

Dead salmon 

Grannom

The grannom hatch proper commenced in early April and as one of the most eagerly anticipated periods on the Usk it attracts anglers from far and wide. This year was no different and ‘hatch chaser’ Paul Procter enjoyed a long weekend fishing the Bryn Derwen beat and Gwent Angling Society water.

Unfortunately (for me) I had to work on the Friday and had other obligations on the Saturday. It was a torturous test of will and commitment as a husband as I knew the grannom were hatching in force and had this confirmed by Paul over a pint or two each evening. At least someone was making the most of it.

I had pinned all my hopes on the Sunday as Paul, Dave Smith and I were due to fish Bryn Derwen. Sod’s law dictated that we awoke to a howling gale and, as I lay in bed listening to the windows rattling, I anticipated a difficult day ahead. Thankfully, my guests caught a few fish including Paul’s 19 inch adult grannom feeder. 

Paul's adult grannom feeder

A trip north

In the latter half of April Dave, Morgan and I ventured north. I had never fished the Rivers Eden and Ure and, despite a busy schedule, couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do so with two good friends. We stayed in Hawes, fishing by day and consuming beer and whisky by night. The rivers were low and clear and the fishing was challenging, but a good number of fish were returned to grannom emergers and nymphs. 

Appleby  trout

Eden Grannom

As the grannom hatch occurs later up north, we coincided with the back end. Hatches were usually over by 10am and we took a few fish in the slower water on emergers and adults. However, most of the well-marked, beautifully coloured fish were taken on small UV backed quill nymphs.

UV backed quill nymphs

On the last day we were fortunate to be hosted by Matt Eastham on a superb Eden beat. We very much enjoyed the variations in the beat and the fantastic quality of the fish, and I can’t thank Matt enough for hosting the day. 

Well marked Eden trout

Matt with a lovely trout to the dry fly

The Monnow Social

Yet again, the Social lived up to expectations - both the company and the fishing. I took a bit of flack for staying in a B&B rather than camping, but it was well worth it. On the first day I fished with Neil on one of the Monnow beats above Pandy. The beat is lightly fished and this was reflected in the stamp of the trout. 

Neil on the bank of the Monnow

Monnow Trout - image courtesy of Neil Hotchin

On the Sunday I fished with Kris Kent on a private beat further down river. Kris concentrated on the few fish that were rising while I followed employing a more pragmatic approach... We caught no monsters, but returned many trout and grayling to around 15 inches. The middle section of the beat is special - braided and heavily wooded - and as I peered through the trees it seemed as though some channels were flowing in opposing directions. During another surreal moment Kris and I were confronted by a startled roe deer crossing the river within feet of us.

Woody debris

Thanks (again) to the hard work of Rob, Patrick, Neil M and others, this event was one of the highlights of my season and long may it continue. 

Pink holo DHEs - a great fly on the early season Monnow

No pressure

Experiences on the Monnow and Usk this year have yet again confirmed that the less pressure a beat receives, the more likely it is to produce large fish. Further evidence was gathered when I managed to gain access to a short unfished beat of the lower middle Usk.

The way down

The route to the river plunged fifty metres over a cliff-like bank and I trembled as I slid on my backside until I came upon an old rope buried in the leaf litter. Clearly the beat hadn’t always been unfished… 

Hot and sweaty after the ten minute scrambled descent, I realised the beat was only fishable along a twenty metre section. Slightly disappointed, I sat and watched the head of a fast run.

After a few minutes of observing hatching yellow may duns and noting no discernible rise forms, I elected to fish two size 16 light coloured jig nymphs on a french leader rig. On the first cast, as I deliberately lifted my flies through the water column, I pricked a large fish close to the surface that made a huge commotion. I cursed, but my concern proved to be misplaced as, over the next twenty minutes, the same spot yielded four fish of over 16 inches (including one of the biggest I landed all season). The mouths of all of these wild brown trout were coated with YMD emerging nymphs. I made the slightly more strenuous journey home in no doubt that I’d just made the ten most productive casts of my life.

Usk favourites

Usk YMD emerging nymph feeder

Tempus fugit

The older and busier I become, the faster time passes. I suppose the only advantage to this worrying trend is that next March will be upon me before I know it. 

The birth of my daughter has prompted me to re-evaluate and, after an honest discussion with Matt on the banks of the Eden (while my wife was at home caring for a teething infant), we concluded that being a time poor fishing enthusiast makes me a selfish bugger. As the weeks flash by, and with another season gone, I can probably live with this. 

False Starts - River Usk and River Taff, April 2014

What a Difference a Day Makes

Bryn Derwen, River Usk, 12th & 13th April

 

It was Saturday morning. I had grilled a few cuts of Raglan pig and was relieved when Welsh exile and itinerant angler, Morgan, arrived on time. We had not fished the new beat together and, even though the river was up 15cm and (worse) there was a stiff easterly wind, I was eager to get out.

We had two days and, so rather than just fish a single beat, we drove a mile or so downstream to Llan Farm (GAS water). Upon arrival, the wind funnelled upstream and it was clear I had made a poor choice. A false start.

Back upstream we fished hard until 5pm with only a few fish taken on nymphs. We located no surface feeders and saw very few flies, even in the sheltered spots. The wading on this deep wide beat again proved challenging. The river appeared dead, and we concluded the grannom emergence, that promised much at the end of March, had fizzled out. I was not disheartened as the forecast was far better for the Sunday and the river was dropping fast.

Following more local bacon, and with heads as clear as the spring sky (we must be getting old), we were pleased to be met by still conditions. Immediately, we noticed a few egg laying grannom bouncing on the surface film and were delighted by the sight of a few rising fish.

A better day

We assumed they were feeding on the spent sedge and selected size 16 split wing CDC and Elk patterns. As fish were again feeding on the far bank, to achieve successful presentation we had to wade deep and cast long; a large upstream aerial mend and a sixteen foot leader helped to achieve the essential drag free drift. When the cast was timed correctly and the presentation spot on the fish accepted our flies and we caught most of those we targeted.



17 inch Bryn Derwen trout

Deep wading reaps rewards

Morgan is a purist at heart and I was pleased that he had some top of the water sport in the peaceful surroundings before his two hour drive back to the rush of the City where they ‘don’t have weather’.

Spectator sport

The Leviathan

Upper Taff, 26th April

Dan arrived for breakfast at mine (more pig) before we planned to fish the Usk. I was worried due to the previous day's rain. As we walked, river bound, through protective ewes and curious lambs, I could make out the reddish brown water. Another false start.

Retracing Dan’s journey, we arrived at the elevated and slightly stained Upper Taff at 10.30 and elected to fish duo tactics with small silver and copper bead PTNs on the dink. This was my first time on this part of the Taff this season and I was excited by the prospect of the eighteen inch plus fish that we often spot in the shallow river.

We worked our way upstream taking it in turns to fish through the runs, with both of us catching four or five fish to nymphs. The river had changed over the wet winter and there was a strong and gusty southerly wind that I thought would kill any top of the water sport.

Upper Taff trout

At a favoured long, slow pool the recently arrived house martins were hammering a big hatch of Large Dark Olives (LDOs) and Large Brook Duns (LBDs); a superb site in these urban surroundings. Dan nodded at the river – ‘here we go butty’.

I know no one that understands this piece of water like Dan. He is an instinctive angler and can spot and catch Upper Taff trout in water that most would walk past (or wade through). Just as Morgan was my guest at Bryn Derwen, I was Dan’s there.

We started fishing LDO (emerger and then dun) patterns and caught a few to fifteen inches. We missed only one that I put down when the wind caught my line. Frustrated, I stood and waited until Dan beckoned from further up. In the fast water above the pool, LBDs were hatching in abundance and we needed to change patterns.

Before and after - Large Brook Dun nymph and sub-imago



Large Brook Duns

Hook: Size 14 - Hanak H 130 BL
Tail: Moose mane
Body: Golden olive quill or light hare's mask ribbed with brown Hends body quill
Thorax: Darker Hare's mask with guard hairs
Wing: CDC












Dan gave me one of his LBD patterns (see similar above). We targeted feeding fish that were on the fin traversing the shallow, clearing river. When fish and fly coincided, we connected. These fish were in superb condition and Dan caught the largest at eighteen inches.
 

18 inch Taff trout

Another to the LBD imitation

We continued to another deep pool, spotting a good trout, I covered, hooked and landed it. It was a wild late afternoon with driving rain and howling wind. We were nearly ready to go home but I elected to have a few last casts with a nymph. As I changed my fly, Dan commented that he could make out the movement of a fish lying deep.

He was right, and it took my size 18 silver bead flashback PTN first cast. For a second it felt like the bottom, ‘Big fish butt!’ I shouted, then all Hell broke loose.

It was a monster brown trout that tail walked and then jumped three times. I swore repeatedly as the fish ran to every snag in the pool, then at me, then at Dan who turned to laugh at the bend in my rod (and the look on my face). In what must have been a comical scene for passing motorists, I bellowed over the wind (melodramatically),

‘It’s going to pop!’ With one hand on the handle and the other on the blank, I kept the rod high and applied side strain as smoothly as my shaking hands would allow. During the ‘jumping phase’ I had noted that the fly was visible in the fish’s mouth but now Dan, who was in the water waving my net, had some unwelcome news.

‘I don’t want to worry you, but the fly is now in his back’. I suspect it dislodged, and relocated, on the last jump and felt sorry this was no longer to be a fair catch. I still wanted my picture with the bugger though and so, with pulse booming in temple, did my best to pump the rod and bring it over my inadequate net. There may have been a split-second opportunity for a lunge (I doubt it would have worked), after which the angry trout ran hard towards a boulder and the fly worked free. As he saw it for longer than me, I asked Dan,

'How big?'

‘It was a leviathan!’ was all he would say.

On the walk back to the car we made determined noises about ‘getting him again’.

Like a Pig

This April, the local rivers didn’t disappoint and from what I’ve seen and heard from others, some quality fishing was had throughout Wales (particularly on the Upper Wye and Usk). I’ve recently seen a few Usk Yellow May Duns and Mayfly; with these hatches to look forward to, and the river on my doorstep, I’m (as a neighbour recently joked to my wife) ‘like a pig in shit’.

Yellow May Dun

 

New Season's Greetings - More River Usk, April 2013

There was much excitement on my part as I knew weeks ago that two guests would be coming to fish the Usk and, as I counted down, the Met Office App on my phone was under regular scrutiny. As described in my previous entry, it rained heavily on Wednesday afternoon, and for most of the night, so when I awoke to find that the river level had barely risen, it felt like Christmas morning.

Llanover, Llanover Estate - Thursday 11th April

At 9.30am, Pete and I met river keeper (Tim) at Llanover Church Hall and, after a brief tour of the top of the beat, we were fishing. There was the occasional oncer rising to midges, but we agreed that nymphing would be the most effective method until the anticipated large dark olive (LDO) hatch.

As on the previous weekend, the fishing was slow for the first hour but I managed to briefly connect with two very slow, deep takes. A move to a fast run, that deepened into a backwater on the far side, produced another slow offer and the first fish, a fat 14 incher. It fell to a size 12, 3.5mm nickel bead, HE jig that I loosely copied from Terry Bromwell. I was relieved to land the fish early in the day as I hadn't previously fished with Pete and was keen to show what the river had to offer (and that I wasn’t a numpty).

This is a serious business



I cast again into the same spot and hooked and landed another, slightly smaller fish. In this type of run I suspected that the fish may be lined up, perhaps with larger fish in front, and so called Pete over. I looked on appreciatively as, on his third or fourth cast, a large fish slowly took his PTN fished on the dropper. The river’s gift to Pete measured 17 inches and kicked very hard back into its lie, before we had the chance of a good photograph. No matter, Pete had caught his largest Usk trout, as denoted by our wide grins.

 Pete's fish being netted

Later in the day there was a good hatch of LDOs and the fish responded accordingly. We had a few hours of dry fly action that Pete compared to a mayfly hatch on a chalk stream. Pete is great company and a skilled angler who exudes contagious enthusiasm, not that it was needed today. Over the session (much of which Pete spent taking photographs) we returned approximately 17 fish between us with over half falling to LDO dun imitations.

Trying to look effective

 



 

Covering a fish

 

On the way home, I stopped at The Clytha Arms to meet my friend James, who had helped arrange our session on the exclusive beat. I have to admit that I was tempted to buy him a half.

For Pete's version of events see Issue 17, Eat, Sleep, Fish.

Bakers, Gwent AnglingSociety – Sunday 14^th April

Morgan arrived at 5.00pm on the following wet Saturday. I had been tying flies since after breakfast and was looking forward to trying them the following day. But, before we could go fishing we needed to catch up and, as such, were sinking our first pints of HPA in the Black Bear by 7.00pm. My long-suffering wife had ‘volunteered’ to drive and a couple of pints later we went into Usk for a meal, and a few more.

The next day, it was with two expensive hangovers that we found ourselves on the river. It had rained for much of the night, with long spells forecast for the rest of the day. If Morgan hadn't visited I probably wouldn't have fished the rising river. As he is a fisherman whose skills and attitude I learn from and, over the course of a day regales many humourous anecdotes, I was keen to stay out for as long as possible.    

By 12.00 the water was high and colouring slightly, and Morgan had been snapped by a salmon that thrashed around furiously on the surface after breaking off his nymph. Had the occasional fish not started to rise to sparse flurries of LDOs and (possibly) the occasional March Brown, we would have left.

We walked the banks looking for rising fish but, as the river had become treacherous, none were within reach. When we finally found one that was, it looked like a very good fish. Morgan was changing his set up and so, ever the gentleman, I cast a horizontal slack line with a split thread CDC quill dun on the end.

The fish rose and I tightened with the sound of Morgan’s, ‘Good fish!’ ringing in my ears. I was using a meaty #4-5 weight, but this trout wouldn't be bullied and it was three or four minutes before I slid the net beneath the 19 inch beauty. After a very quick snap on Morgan’s phone it was off like a rocket (under the near bank in the spate conditions).

Dry fly fishing in the rain

We found no more rising fish within reach and left by 3.30pm. Later I noted that the gauge had been at 1.2m, a level which I would normally deem too high for salmon fishing.

Mixed blessings

As I write this, I am on the train travelling back from a meeting on Anglesey. This morning, on the outward journey, I passed over the bottom of the Llanover beat at the same time we were tackling up exactly a week ago. What a difference a week makes!

I have a day off tomorrow and, conditions allowing, will fish the Usk at the Mardy Beat, MTAA with Dan Popp. I’ve not seen Dan yet this season and am looking forward to catching up.

It also looks likely that we shall be completing on our first house tomorrow. This house is less than half a mile from the Usk, but requires a fair bit of work (and on a tight budget) – a mixed blessing indeed.

 

The Usk - April 2012

As I'm new to this I'd like to share some pictures from last year, and do my best to describe what's going on in them. This feels a bit like boring someone with my holiday snaps, but I'm going to enjoy doing it anyway.

April Usk Trout

This picture was taken mid April on the Mardy beat of the Usk (MTAA Water). It was the first decent trout that I'd caught last season and the first on the Greys Streamflex 11ft #3 that I now use frequently. I made a meal of landing it in the fast water -and on the unfamiliar light soft actioned rod- so it took longer than usual to revive.

This dry spring day was the most productive I spent on the Usk all season. There were sporadic Large Dark Olive (LDO) hatches and the fish were feeding hard on the the emerging Baetis nymphs in the falling river. I landed many trout of the stamp pictured above, most hooked in the faster water (including three from the same spot). All of the fish were caught on PTN jigs (see below) or a Baetis nymph pattern that I'd copied from Graham Rawson after seeing it pictured on Twitter.  

Rabbit PTN jig


Hook: Size 16 jig (I use Hanak)

Bead: 2mm or 2.5mm tungsten slotted nickel or copper colour (dependant on conditions)

Tail: Brown cock (less fragile than three cock pheasant barbs)
Rib: Ultrafine red wire
Body:Cock pheasant tail (coppery)
Thorax: Rabbit (well mixed blue underfur with guard hairs)




The next day I learned that many of the other Usk beats had fished  very well, especially Llanover where David Jones (a very experienced angler) had been amazed by the number of feeding fish.

A true red letter day signalling the start of a great few weeks of trout fishing on the Usk.