If you've fished the river in the last few weeks, you'll know that the fishing has been pretty hard work. Lots of trout to be seen, especially at Harpers, but they've been stubbornly unresponsive. The Grayling have been hard to catch too, though that's not unusual, but the trout have definitely been strange. This has been reflected in catch returns; lots of blanks or very low catch levels, but also anecdotally, and in my own experience.
I've begun taking temperature levels every week, and last week, for some unexplained reason, the temp shot up to over 20 degrees in a few days, then back down again. That was warm enough to stop the trout feeding, but it's back down to 16.5 now, and shouldn't get any higher now that the air temperatures are finally dropping (at night anyway). Time will tell, but I think there is some change on the way, and we'll start to get better catches as October progresses and the temperatures continue to drop.
If you manage to catch a half-decent Grayling, you may be lucky enough to see the beautiful brightly coloured dorsal fins on the cock fish. Handle them very carefully, and don't be tempted to try and lift the fin, as they can easily be damaged. Well worth the patience and perseverance to try and tempt them, especially if the trout do remain obstinately indifferent. Some success has been had with tiny olive nymphs, and the famous Sawyer's killer bugs, though I recently did quite well with my fly of the season - the Indicator Sedge (a.k.a. Hi-Vis sedge/caddis). I knew it worked on trout, but now it appears to work with Grayling too, though once again in its drowned form.
Don't forget that it's very helpful to note on on your catch returns what fly you were successful with, so that others can share your experience.
Tight Lines
PeterB
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