RIVER KEEPER: April 2011

26th April 2011

Tuesday morning and much cooler with a fresh breeze , dark clouds threaten to drop a shower , river level remains unchanged .

Wednesday morning dawns on what is set to be another fine day , river conditions remain unchanged and fishing remains difficult , fish are starting to show but not in any numbers as food remains scarce . I managed to raise four fish to an f fly missing three and losing a good fish after a short struggle during a 30 min spell , very rewarding and challenging placing the fly with a combination of aerial mends and tuck casts to eradicate drag .

19th April 2011

Tuesday morning and another warm sunny day in prospect , river level remains unchanged and those anglers I talked to yesterday where finding it tough going , with very few fish showing .

Lots of Grannom on the wing pushing upstream with the help of the warm conditions , unfortunately not readily presenting themselves as menu items , as they are migrating from lower down river .

18th April 2011

Monday morning 0800 hrs and the fine weather over the weekend is set to continue , river level remains unchanged .

14th April 2011

Thursday morning and level remains unchanged .

Small brown taken on the dry yesterday .

Close inspection of this Signal Crayfish found two canine puncture holes in the shell , which clearly match those of a mink . Ironic that both species are non-native and both escapees from man`s attempts to farm them in the past .

13th April 2011

River remains unchanged , good cloud cover and very light rain at present with the risk of it turning heavy , although it is forecast to pass .

12th April 2011

River level remains the same , decidely cooler than the weekend and much more in line with what we normally expect early season .
Fish are proving difficult to come by , and I am spending most of my time encouraging and picking up defeated anglers and willling them on , for those that don`t buckle then the reward of a fish given the early season challenges , should leave you stronger as a flyfisher . After all isn`t that why we do it ? or have I got it wrong !

11th April 2011

Monday morning following an exceptionally hot and dry weekend , the river as you can see is low and very clear , conditions which always prove testing , and my conversations with anglers on the bank yesterday mostly centred on lack of fish to the net , and very little movement at all .

However one new season rod reported landing a fine 2lb brown at Barden .

Under these conditions fish can be difficult to locate ,with many seeking cover or refuge especially in the absence of food abundance to stir them to take risks , so a careful approach is vital to improve your chances , think chalksteam tactics , low profile upstream approach and observation , these conditions will suit a well presented and naturally drifted dry fly or try Klink and nymph , or upstream wets .

08th April 2011

Clear morning and river is good , breezy south westerly wind will test those loops !

07th April 2011

River remains settled following a small lift yesterday , still carrying colour but very fishable , favouring nymph and wets , however good chance for dries given a hatch and as the colour improves .

06th April 2011

As you can see the river has dropped considerably overnight after a heavy lift yesterday , and the colour is good , forecast looks good and very mild .

05th April 2011

As a result of yesterdays rainfall , the river is up 12 " which is ok however the colour is Cadburys which is not ok , it is on the fall steadily and clearing but with more rain on the cards this could easily be reversed .

The other picture is of one of a couple of small browns coming to hand in the shallows after having fell to a dry during an olive hatch yesterday afternoon .