Weather for fishing... and festivals?

The thunder storms started to roll over last night and it was very much welcomed - to break through the muggy, humid feeling. Today saw a steady fall of rain through the morning but when I made it to the river this afternoon, it was dry and overcast. It felt like perfect conditions.



I stood on the foot-bridge over the Wellow for 10 minutes or so and gladly watched several fish rising. I started procedings with a #19 CDC Comparadun and took two fish quite quickly. Lovely little sipping rises they were, but spunky little scrappers they turned out to be.

As I moved on upstream, I missed a few rises before the heavens opened. Tree canopy is very welcome at these times, as it can be pouring with rain, but you remain almost spotless. However the water was starting to colour - but this can be useful to give them some confidence to feed.


Compare the water clarity here with the first picture - the colour picks up very quickly!


Duns were hatching sporadically and there were a few sedge around. A change to a CDC & Elk gave instant reward - two fish from the same pool snatching at the fly, despite not seeing either rising before hand.

The fish then started to pluck at the fly - as I have seen before: they seemed to want to sink the fly first and then go back to collect the goods. A tricky one to call. To strike or not???


Rains started to fall heavily and, as the sedge imitations started to invite only splashy rises, it was Parachute emerger that brought the next batch of success.

Whilst crawling under the trees I caught sight of this Vapourer Moth caterpillar. Stunning little things. Just consider the imitation possibilities...

Orgyia Antiqua - The Vapourer Moth

Eventually it was back on with the CDC Dun patterns and a few more obliging fish. The day I stop being amazed by the beauty of these small browns will be the day I pack away the rods.



If Wednesday saw the largest fish for me from the Wellow this year, then today gave me the smallest - my penultimate fish being just 3 or 4oz. A great sign for the future.

A lovely afternoon with eight wild browns to the net. Great fishing weather. Could be fine for festivals... If you're at Glastonbury this weekend, I hope you have a great time.

~Dave