27th May 2011






Friday morning and river level is good with little change on yesterday . The second picture shows a young Roe buck being forced to cross the river following a territorial dispute , the other buck ( out of picture ) had chased it from woodland to the right of the picture .










26th May 2011

River level is good . Overcast with the risk of showers later , no sign of the wind at the moment !

25th May 2011







Wednesday morning and the river has settled down and thankfully for now the wind has eased considerably .

24th May 2011



River is currently currently falling after peaking once again during the night following yesterdays showers . Level is good and colour is fishable , with the risk of more showers the situation could be reversed .

Monday 23rd May

River level as at 0800 hrs showing evidence of yesterdays showers , stepping stones just visible .
Colour is ok . However the wind is strong and set to get stronger ! Strid Wood will offer respite in places or perhaps an opportunity to try czech nymphing .

20th May 2011




Conditions as at 0800 hrs this morning , slightly down on yesterday and looking good . Yesterday fished well to both dry and wet fly/nymph .


19th May 2011


Following yesterdays blog showing conditions as at 0800 hrs , the picture above shows the river at 1300 hrs after the river rose rapidly carrying alot of colour and large woody debris !!



However as can be seen from the picture above taken at 0800 hrs this morning the river has dropped overnight and is running clean .





River down !! 18th May 2011




Following yesterdays lift the river has dropped and importantly the colour is good and will hopefully improve as the river runs off during the day . Currently very overcast with light drizzle as at 0800 hrs this morning .

A few rods ventured on yesterday despite the conditions and most if not all ( one was still trying last I saw ) were rewarded with fish , one of them with a good 2 lb fish ! from the margin .

River up !!! 17th May 2011








As you can see 24 hrs later and the river is up 18 " and coloured , a far cry from yesterdays conditions which saw this and other fish being caught on the dry .

Monday 16th May 2011




Monday morning river remains low and is running very clear , overcast and light drizzle as at 0800 hrs .


12th May 2011




Thursday morning and an unsettled day ahead weatherwise with gusting wind and showers , with the sun pushing through at times . River level remains unaffected by the showers over the past few days .



I expect the grey and windy start and the rain resulted in few anglers out this morning , so I put up my rod and decided to look at a pool that had recieved some attention yesterday . Much of a challenge really , anyhow after renewing my tippet whilst keeping low and one eye on my chosen area I dressed my Klinkhamer`s wing post with Dilly wax and placed it up the rod on a rod ring and looped the butt around my reel and tentatively entered the water .




Two slow steps into the river and I reached for the fly and unlooped the leader butt , snaking the line onto the water with the rod tip a short cast of six foot another short cast allowed the Klink to sit upright . Another cast a little longer to a spot 10 ft upstream and the fly was taken confidently after a short drift , the reel screamed as 10ft bacame 30 ft as the fish tore upstream before I managed to turn him , pleased he was on fresh tippet .



After what seemed an age I was able to slide him to hand .








A stunning brown !! with no more than a few short casts and a slow stealthy approach , after taking a few hurried pics , I watched him swim powerfully away still marvelling at his beauty as I smoked a celebratary cigarette , before tackling down .













Monday 09th May 2011



Monday morning and the river is carrying a few inches of fresh water as a result of some welcome rain over the weekend , the river fished very well last week .

04th May 2011

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Wednesday morning clear skies and temperature set to rise after a cold night , the easterly wind has dropped considerably and swinging to southerly . River is fishing well recently despite the low water , abundance of fly available , as you can see the Hawthorns are about and very numerous on beat 6 below the road bridge , Brook duns , olive uprights ,black gnats and aphids !!

Fish are rising freely however this may not last as angling pressure increases , particularly in accessable spots !!