It had been a week since I got back from Madeira
and I was getting the fishing withdrawal symptoms. The trout season had ended
and I wanted to fish a river so had a chat with fishing buddy Graham and we
decided to have a go for grayling. I hadn’t ever fished the River Tamar so that
made our mind up to go and fish Netherbridge.
To set the scene here, I had had several phone calls the day
before cancelling a trip for perch with Chris Yates and Ed Whitby on the Kennet
because of the drought and the water just being too low. We would have
slaughtered the trout and scared the perch in the process, so we have postponed
it until the rains came.
So off we went the following morning and found the Tamar a
foot up and coloured, not the best conditions, couple to the water being full
of leaves. Obviously someone up there doesn’t like me enjoying myself just too
much.
So, I’d brought my trotting gear and Graham had brought his
nymph tackle as he prefers fly fishing, and we gave it our best shot.
Unusually for the very end of October, we fished in a shirt
and fly jackets, and the water was still quite warm with an air temperature of
between 12 and 13 degrees.
After an hour of trotting, and managing to hook up a leaf on
virtually every cast when I slightly checked the line, I hooked into a decent
grayling which put a good bend in the rod before shedding the hook. Graham had
a similar experience a bit lower down but managed a small brownie. I then lost
a brownie – it was going to be a tough day.
I moved further down into a slack pool trotting by the
crease and was rewarded for my perseverance with… a minnow. A grilse also leapt
out just in front of me using the high water to forge a path upstream.
I resorted to trotting the faster water and after watching Graham
catch a peal (sea trout) I tried trotting the faster water catching a brownie
at the close.
A tough days fishing but we enjoyed it and were encouraged
enough to plan a return trip when the water is clearer and the leaves have all
been flushed through.
