The weather looked ideal for an evening at my local stream, after the little wild brownies that live there. I was hoping that something would be hatching and the trout would be rising, but alas, still nothing! No terrestrials about either, and a grub around the gravel and reeds with my landing net revealed a meagre banquet - a few little stone loaches, one minnow, a stonefly nymph, a caddis, a couple of odd flat little beatles, and a few small shrimp. So I tied on a small goldhead hares ear and hoped for the best. I am still in the early stages of 'mastering' the upstream nymph, so any fish caught on it are very precious. The trout in this stream are suckers for a dry when there's a decent hatch, but with nothing hatching they can be downright impossible. The upstream nymph for wild brownies is without doubt the most difficult fishing I've ever done.

As all the bugs and grubs I found were close in near vegetation, I decided to concentrate on areas I usually ignore - those straight, boring stretches lined with irises and reeds. I started at the bottom of the stretch and worked my way upstream, searching out the fish, watching the end of my fly line like a hawk and stripping in the line to keep in contact should anything grab the fly.

I'm pleased to say that something did! It took me quite by surprise, the end of the line just stopped and I instinctively struck and felt the jag of a fish. After a very exciting battle in the fast water I landed this fine fellow:



A beautiful brownie of about a pound - what a lovely surprise!

He was from this spot, not far from the near bank:



When they start rising you can expect half a dozen in an evening, but this one was worth 6 on the dry fly

Nice fish and a very nice looking bit of water as well. For me small stream fly fishing is where it's at it's so intimate and yet totally absorbing.

Nicely done, I'm envious of your nymphing success! You should now have the confidence in the method to make it work.

Well done. As you say, it is not an easy method to master, and if you like difficult fishing, try fly-fishing for mullet ! ....or if you ever get to the Caribbean, fly-fishing for permit.

I had a chuckle about Alan's remark about small streams though. That big picture you posted was what I would call a medium sized river !

Brought back memories of the late David Carl Forbes, who wrote a book about fishing small streams, and I used to rib him about it, saying he had never seen a REALLY small stream. In return I would get a playful thump on the shoulder. Playful thump ? This guy used to box for the Navy, so the "playful thump" paralysed one's triceps for twenty minutes ! His untimely death robbed the world of a great angler, a great writer, a great artist and an all-round good bloke.

It's true, it is a proper river rather than a true small stream, although in most places it is much shallower than the bit in the photo (which is why I fished there! I could see the bottom almost everywhere else).

I still call it my little stream though

In Fly Fishing small streams Gierach describes a small stream as one you can roll cast across. Seems a good working definition.

Cheers,
OT

Well, you can certainly do that, and in many places you can cross it in nothing more than wellies

Yes, I've fished the St Vrain in Colorado (Geirach's local stream) and not only could one easily rollcast across, in many places you could dibble a fly below the rod tip for a trout under the far bank!

Steep, rocky, narrow, fast-running and with a wind howling across the divide and downstream into your face. The perfect "pocket water" stream. I found it pretty testing, and the trout were all hard-won. Wouldn't have missed the experience for worlds. Right up near the ridge the St Vrain gets even narrower, but as the gradient eases off you can find the odd pool full of brookies.

BTW "Fishing the High Country" - another of Geirach's masterpieces, is also required reading for small stream enthusiasts.

Well done Anderoo and smashing pic's. I'm just in the process of learning a bit of fly casting, Alan gave me a lesson a short time ago. After having a bit more practice on the field behind our house I think I'm doin ok....not brill but ok.
I'm looking forward to actually going out on some water and hopefully connecting with a trout or two. I think my real passion is trotting with the pin but learning to cast a fly should be a nice alternative.

You'll love it, Tigger. I used to do a lot more fly fishing than I do now (tench fishing in the closed season has ruined it for me a bit) and used to be able to cast a whole fly line fairly easily. Not any more! The furthest I managed at Farmoor a couple of weeks ago was about 20 yards. It's surprising how you lose the timing so easily. Luckily with the little streams there's not much casting needed! It's so nice to be beside flowing water as nature wakes up.

A lovely fish, well done.

They've started rising!

I grabbed a couple of hours early evening on Saturday, and had a very enjoyable little session. The trout are still fairly hidden, but the weed is beginning to sprout and a few sedges were hatching, and a few fish were rising. Judging by the tiny splashes, they were mostly small fish, but they're wild and beautiful and I don't mind how big they are.

The river is still extremely low and clear, and the fish were in the shade and cover of hawthorns and reedbeds. I managed to fool one tiny brownie after countless refusals, so I was off the mark for the season Even the tiddlers zoom and jump about like mad things! Further downstream a better trout was splashing at sedges in a very tricky spot, only reachable from upstream, so I had to do a wiggly downstream cast to get to him. It took a while, but eventually I saw him streak across the stream to nail the sedge, before jumping about 6 times in 2 seconds and then trying to get stuck in the sedges along the bank. Great stuff! I brought him in and slipped the hook out - just under a pound I reckon, a decent size for there, and more than a match for my #2 outfit

I walked back upstream very happy, but didn't see another rise until I was almost at the car. Right in the edge a decent trout was doing a kind of head and shoulders rise - taking emerging nymphs, I think, but occasionally supplementing them with the odd unlucky adult sedge. I managed to get close enough without spooking him (although he did move upstream a little bit, so he knew I was there - maybe he thought I was a sheep) and after a few casts he rose and onfidently sipped in the sedge - and then all hell broke loose as he zipped downstream so fast I burnt my fingers on the fly line! The little rod was doubled over, he didn't jump at all but stayed low and occasionally burst away with amazing speed. It was so exciting, and reminded me why I love fly fishing so much. I eventually drew him into the net and slipped out the fly. Unlike coarse fish I never suffer trout the indignity of weighing (I wonder why?) but he was a good pound and a half of powerful, beautiful, wild trout. What a lovely evening

(I also had a dig around in the gravel and weedbeds, and found scores of immature mayfly nymphs, so in a couple of weeks things will really get interesting. Less pleasing was a huge signal crayfish and two baby crayfish - until now, this tributary has been free of them, but I suppose it was inevitable really. It'll make the chub fishing both more annoying and potentially more interesting - maybe they'll start growing big there now...)

Sounds very promising!

Steve, let me know if you're free at the weekend (Sunday, ideally) and we can have another go. There might even be the odd Mayfly!

Apparently my presence is required on Sunday, but I'm free Saturday.

This sounds like an absolutely idyllic way to fish. Small stream, rising fish.

I've never fly fished. But I will.

A lovely report Anderoo.

A good read on fly fishing is John Aston's 'A Dream of jewelled Fishes'. Charts his fishing life from float fishing for roach and ledgering for chub and barbel though various types of fly fishing. It made me understand its allure.