Sussex Trout Fishing … and Devon

I didn’t spend the bank holiday on the bank. I avoided the river at the weekend because a lot of members would be fishing and I like the river to myself. Early in the morning I visited all of the lakes and every beat on the river to collect the catch returns. I also took photos of the lakes to update the club website. I delivered the returns to the office and was free to fish at 2:30pm.

The weather over the weekend had been cold and windy. Some nice fish had been caught including a 3lb 8oz over wintered brown and a 5lb sea trout.  I should have been on the river bank.

Although I’ve made several visits to the river since the season started, there are stretches that I had not fished. The Fish Pass, Keeper’s Bridge and Perryfields all warranted my attention. I was undecided where to fish. The new riffle kept calling me back. The fast water is well oxygenated and there are millions of shrimps there for the trout.

The river level was steady at 0.032m, slightly down since last week despite the overnight rain. The promise of fish in the new riffle drew me to Keeper’s Bridge. I tackled up and walked very slowly downstream looking for fish. I didn’t see any. My first cast into the shallow water at the top of the riffle produced a take but I missed it. I concentrated and fished hard all the way back to Keeper’s Bridge but I didn’t get another take. I saw a sea trout jump, it was not interested in my nymph.

I left a remote camera in the woods while I was collecting the beat returns. It had been there for six hours but when I returned it had not been activated. A blank day but I enjoyed it.

On Thursday evening I planned to walk along the river and show a new member the best pools. We would chat about rivercraft. With a rod each. It would be more walking and talking than fishing. There were big clouds and a stiff westerly breeze which would help presentation. Excellent fishing conditions, no excuses.

We started at the Ladymead pool. We watched the water for rising fish while discussing the currents and sand banks. Polarising sunglasses were essential. We started exploring the run under the near bank with a weighted nymph. A fish splashed in the tail of the pool, right in the middle of the fast water. A few  casts down and across failed to get a response. We walked upstream,  stopping to look at the river’s features, the depth, the speed of the current and the weed beds. There were no flies hatching and the trout were well hidden.

Below Taylor’s Bridge the river had great potential, the flow and colour were perfect. A few beds of streamer weed were just reaching the surface. We sat beside the shallow pool, it was my turn to explore the pool. I worked a black nymph down and across the top of the pool, just below a bush. After five minutes a good fish rose and took a fly from the surface about twenty yards downstream. I continued edging down the pool, gradually working towards the critical square yard. I shuffled down the bank on my knees and covered the area, there was a swirl which could have been a ‘cats paw’. I lengthened the cast and swung the fly across the current. The line drew tight and the fish felt like a good one. It was a wild trout and it scrapped all the way to the landing net. It was about eight ounces and looked like a sea trout. It had a pronounced dark trailing edge to it’s tail, just like a chub. It swum away very strongly.

It was getting chilly and the light was failing so we adjourned to The Badgers to continue our discussions. We had converted the theory into practice and caught a trout.

Hot sunshine, 64 degrees with a southerly wind. I applied sun factor 30. The water level had dropped to 0.042m at Halfway Bridge. That is the normal summer level. We have had very little rain during the winter and no serious flooding. Stocked trout have over wintered but with low summer levels, they will be vulnerable to cormorants and mink. No fish are introduced into the river until late April so there are only over wintered and wild trout. It makes the fishing interesting because the next fish could be 3oz or 3lb.

We met at The Badgers at 10:30 despite three road closures and diversions around most of the County.  It was a long, hot walk to the new riffle but the water was in excellent condition.  The deeper runs through the gravel bed and the streamer weed were clearly visible in about three feet of water. At the downstream end of the riffle there was a drop off into deeper water. It all looked very fishy. We covered all of the pool without success and so moved downstream to the stretch above Rotherbridge.  There were fish rising below the big alder, they were testing the debris from the flowering tree to see if it was edible. We didn’t impress the trout and adjourned to Keeper’s Bridge for lunch.

After lunch we invoked Plan B and withdrew to Great Springs. It is impossible to blank at the lakes. My guest’s split cane rod was christened with a nice rainbow and we departed at 6:00pm having caught two pristine fish. It had been a long tiring day but it ended well. Another visit to the river was discussed for a month’s time when the Mayfly should be hatching.

I decided to fish in the afternoon,  I thought that the trout might be feeding later in the day. On Tuesday afternoon I had seen a few terrestrial flies along the river and a few buzzers had hatched.

Nobody had visited the fish ladder and nothing had been caught at Rotherbridge. A couple of wild fish had been caught from the middle beats. I parked at the end of the old railway line and walked around the edge of the field to sign in.

Ladymead looked good but despite working hard mending the line and casting into the wind,  I didn’t get any takes. I went back to the long straight below the bridge and tried a nymph but again, nothing.

The shallow run above the Monster Pool always produces a fish. Nothing. I had high hopes for the Monster Pool,  the water swirled around the entire width of the river,  surely there would be a trout waiting for my fly. Nothing. I was losing heart but I had to give the Long Pool a few minutes. I trundled the fly around the head of the pool expecting a take but there was no response.

I walked back upstream and as I came to the Monster Pool, a big fish rose confidently on the bend at the top of the pool. I fished that area thoroughly but the trout was not interested.  I had the impression that the fish were there but were spooked by my casting or the flies. Another member had fished the beat just before I arrived, the trout may have been put down. The weather is settled and the water should be in excellent condition at the weekend.

 

The BBC weather forecast predicted a southerly wind veering around to the north by noon. I chose to ignore it in favour of ‘looking out of the window’. The topmost leaf on the willow tree was not moving and a soft rain fell vertically. Good fishing weather.

I had cleaned my fly line and glued a new leader into the tip of the line. Where should I fish? Yesterday, Rotherbridge looked uninspiring but the top beats looked great and I had seen a good trout rise. There were no cars at Keeper’s Bridge and I decided to start on that beat. The water was a little coloured by the run-off from the overnight rain. I got tangled in a tree before the first cast. Oops.

When I eventually got the black nymph in the river I worked it down and across, concentrating on the leader. There was no response above Keeper’s Bridge. I moved down to the new riffle. The water was fast moving in the centre of the river leaving a slightly slower channel along the near and far bank. At the end of the first cast, a small trout splashed but did not take the fly. I searched down and across and took a step after every couple of casts. Just like salmon fishing. About half way down the riffle, just after I had put a mend in the line, there was a savage take and a large angry trout burst onto the surface of the water. It shook itself, jumped and thrashed about. Then it used the strong current and moved downstream to the end of the pool. I followed. Without the landing net. I subdued the fish but it was hard to bring it back upstream against the flow. I beached the trout and lifted it out by hand. Then I put it in the landing net to recover.

The fish was 3lb and bore the scars of several encounters with cormorants. I felt a bit sorry for the trout. It had survived the winter, predators and was obviously hungry. After it had recovered, I dropped the edge of the net and let it swim back into the pool. It looked about 4lb in the water. I will recognize that fish if we meet again. I walked downstream to Rotherbridge and missed a take just below the big alder tree. It felt like a small wild trout. Half an hour later I returned to the riffle. I had four more takes but couldn’t connect.

I went back to the Land Rover and drove to The Badgers for a pint. It had been a successful day. A good start to the river season.