Flyfishing FWSW

It would be a beautiful sunny day this Saturday the 13^th, luckily the cat I passed on the
way was not black…
During the week it had rained on and off continuously, still I had not expected that it
would cause the stream to rise as much as it did.
Fly off choice was the squirmy as the water had less visibility than usual.

Insects where on the water but nothing was rising.
The probing of deep pool surprisingly did not yield any fish with the exception of a small roach.
I had one following trout as I tossed the squirmy under a bridge but could not coax a take.

Things where not going the way I wanted at my usual honey holes so I had to search for fish
elsewhere.
The way to go was downstream at a spot where a ditch entered the stream.
A few big rocks provided some structure and it usually held some dace.
I tossed in the squirmy and had an instant hit, not from a dace but from a trout.

I then decided to cross to the adjacent bank and climb the steep shore to get on the fields
to walk a good distance downstream.
I entered the stream again at a spot where an old dam had been removed.
The fast flowing water and stones could be a hiding spot for trout but it turned up empty.

I waded upstream from the old dam into a wide section with mainly sand bottom.
In general a featureless section but still holding dace over the sand.
The banks where of special interest as they where undercut with a little deeper water.
I got dace on the dry fly but switched soon to the squirmy again as I wanted to get another trout.

There where a few small deadfalls in this sandpit that caused some deeper pools
where I caught numerous dace.
At one of those deadfalls I ran into another trout who took me for a ride as it was larger than
the one I had caught before.

With the light tippet I had to take care fighting the fish, if it would go for the deadfall I would loose.
Luckily I managed to get the fish over the bright sand after a few hairy moments.
I was happy to land he fish in the end, almost 40cm / 16 inch.

While moving further upstream I noticed a few of the big mayflies  moving about.
Still not enough to raise the interest of the fish as my imitation was ignored.
This could change in a couple of weeks providing numbers are great enough.
Could be the ticket to get some trout in locations not fishable with nymph or streamer.

A look at the clock made me realize that it was later than I had expected so off to the pub.
With the main wave of day trippers gone home on this sunny day waiting time for chow was minimal.
Soup of the day was either Mushroom cream soup or Asparagus cream soup, I choose the latter.
Went for the Paprika Schnitzel again.

Since the mill pool visits where pretty fruitless I skipped the purchase of a day ticket.
Instead I focused on the main stream.
Curiously I had no hits on the squirmy and the Perdigon nymph was apparently also not in great demand.
I sticked to the Perdigon and fished it deep.
That paid off as I battled my first brown of the day.

The silver fish let me down with only two dace.
I figured the pool I fished might hold more trout and boy it did.
After catching trout nr.2 from the pool action went dead.

Next I concentrated on fishing the spot under a bridge.
My strike indicator was hit by a trout and on a second cast I hooked the fish.
I lost the close quarters battle though as I had too much slack in the line, fish lost.
I kept trying though and within an hour I had caught three trout from under the bridge. My day was made and with the knowledge that it would be unlikely to get more fish from these marks I moved on.
 The remainder of the day I tried several marks of the beaten path but they where totally dead. I could not even get a bite, weird.

Next stop the pub and the landlady told me that people had been stocking fish a day before.
That sounded mighty interesting and just as I was zipping on a cold I noticed an
Fisherman moving to the mill pond.
A familiar face as it was the guy in charge of stocking for this stream.

Went outside and chatted with the guy whom I knew well.
Supposedly the mill pool was stocked with several brown- and tiger trout.
Finished my meal early and fished the mill pool.
Water still higher than normal and wading extremely difficult because of all the rubble
used to stabilize the banks from way back when.

Tried nymphs and squirmy’s to no avail and for a while it seemed as dead as the other
stream I had finished.
The day was ending but suddenly I noticed rings at the end of the pool.
With nymphs being ignored I went for a sinking polyleader with a streamer and
hooked several perch in succession, no trout though.
Vacated the place near sunset as the action died down.

Had another go at the stream and started a little earlier because a rain front was 
predicted to roll in early evening.
Tried to sure shot spots but could not get any fish to bite, water was clear but could not spot fish.
The squirminator was useless, a perdigon nymph yielded a small dace.

With the mill pool void of people I gambled on purchasing a day ticket 
hoping I would have the pool for myself.
Unfortunately it was not to be … as soon as I had purchased the ticket
two other syndicate members turned up with the same intentions.

The bait guys fished one side of the pond, both with two rods.
I had the other half but nothing was biting, even the bait slingers had no hits.
We blamed it on the east wind, always bad fishing when that happens.
I got bored and fished the outflow of the mill pool.
Managed a nice little brown trout on the perdigon.

In the mill pool itself I tossed streamers about and finally hooked one trout
but lost the fish.
Several hours later I hooked a larger trout but ran into trouble as the resident
pike intended to eat my catch.
Tried to land the fish quickly before the pike attacked but again lost the fish
prematurely … trout gone and pike gone.

The skies got darker in the afternoon so I called it a day.
Skipped the pub as I wanted to be home before the mess started.
Reached home as the first sprinkles fell.
Still early season on the stream so not much happening.
Hope it gets warmer and some foliage appears on the trees.