As I walked down through the fields towards the river I knew it was going to be a good day. I decided to walk about a mile and a half downstream and fish the river upstream using a duo of nymphs. Upon arriving at the somewhat dangerous footbridge, I peered into the water and noticed a shoal of small browns darting for cover. I crossed the bridge and tackled up. A size 16 tungsten bead hares ear and a size 16 pheasant tail nymph, Sawyer style. I attached them to my cast the New Zealand way – not usually for nymphs but it works fine.

I continued through the field of cows, keeping a close eye on the bull and started to fish at the bend. I took one fish from the pool, a nice little 7 incher. I continued upstream and released a few more. Upon arriving at the next pool I continued to catch and release a dozen trout in quick succession, all between 6 and 8 inches.

The PTN was the preferred fly. Unweighted, except for the copper wire, it probably moves more enticingly in the current. It was the point fly so it also didn’t have a length of 7X hanging from it’s ass. I continued upstream catching a few more fish, losing a few flies and generally getting tangles. From then on, sport started to slow. The day was getting warmer and the cloudless sky didn’t help. I should have been at the river earlier! I continued upstream catching the odd fish on the hare’s ear. It wasn’t until I got to a pool below an old bridge that I haven’t fished in maybe 5 years that I hooked the best fish of the day – a nice 10 inches.

I carried on fishing upstream, but my heart was no longer in it. After wading the river for a mile, I was tired and hungry. I spotted a monster fish in a pool where I can’t present my flies. The left bank the bank is fine but on the right bank bushes hang into the water ready to take my flies. It was actually while retrieving my fly from a branch that I spotted the monster dart past me for cover. Maybe I’ll get him tomorrow.

Anyway, to the fishing…
The river was flowing a bit higher than normal and a bit dirty. I fished down a couple of pools with a Czech nymph and a Sawyer’s PTN to no avail. It wasn’t until around 12pm that I had my first fish, a lovely brown of over 10 inches that took a Czech just as the sun came from behind a cloud.

This fish was quickly followed by another in the same pool. It wasn’t until I fished below the footbridge that I was able to persuade a fish to have a go on a dry fly, which was missed. Continuing up the avenue stretch I noticed a sparse hatch of large dark olives. I watched a fish rise close in to the far bank, just above the hut, for about 10 minutes before I put on my LDO Comparadun. A few casts later and the fish was hooked, a nice brown.

I continued up the Avenue stretch and lifted a few more browns until there was a change in the weather and it started to rain. Before it got too heavy I had a few more casts and managed to hook a brownie from under a bramble below the green hut. It put up quite a fight and turned out to be my best brown of the day – over 11 inches.

After I released the brown I clambered up the bank and sat in the hut until the rain passed. After the rain, there was a flutter of activity as fish rose to the emerging LDO’s. This didn’t last long, but long enough for me to hook a few more trout.

It turned out to be an enjoyable day, although the westerly downstream wind did it’s best to put me off.