Monday – River Plym

Heavy rain was forecast for midweek with a chilly north wind. Bizarre weather for late May. The morning was warm and humid with a gentle south-westerly breeze. I sat and pondered which Beat to fish. After too much pondering I decided that I would visit my favourite Beat on the River Plym. I might not catch anything but the scenery is beautiful.

I concentrated on the flat water immediately above the bridge. The intense sunlight occasionally penetrated the cloud cover and illuminated the deep water behind the large stones and the crevices in the bedrock. There was a lot to aim at. I fished hard, exploring the small pools with sandy bottoms and the darker water where woody debris had collected. The water was crystal clear and there were very few leaves tumbling downstream.

The Sage #3 ESN and the Rio line were a perfect match, it was a joy to flick the size 14 GRHE nymph upstream, looking at the tip of the line for any unnatural movement. The rod was designed for this sort of work. Some would call it Euro-nymphing. I don’t, it’s just fishing. I lengthened the line and covered more holding places before paddling upstream in the margins and repeating the process. After about an hour I was convinced that I had exhausted all possibilities and moved further up the river to a much bigger and deeper pool.

I slid down the huge slate outcrop on my backside, keeping low and using the trees behind me to break up my silhouette. I ran the nymph through the throat of the pool and let it swing around the eddy in the middle of the pool. By extending line and feeding slack into the current I was able to cover the far bank. I snagged the sunken tree about twenty yards away, confirmation that I had presented the fly close to cover. I walked upstream to a rocky beach and ran the nymph along the far bank. My knees took a beating on the granite stones.

I’d had no takes and didn’t see any fish rise but it had been a nice walk through the bluebell woods. Rain threatened as I reached home, thunderstorms and heavy rain are forecast for Tuesday’s visit to the River Tavy.

Tuesday – River Tavy

The heavy rain stopped just after 5:00pm. Homes in Tavistock were flooded while Plymouth bathed in bright sunshine. Unusually, the wind had dumped most of the rain on the northern part of the moor. The moorland streams and the runoff from the main roads, had overwhelmed blocked drains in the town.

On the Lower Beat I wandered both upstream and downstream, the water was rising and leaf debris filled the eddies. The spate peaked as I left the river which dropped overnight, close to it’s normal level. Hopefully, the spring tides and rain will encourage some fish up the rivers.