Small Stream Addicts

well where do i start.  with work, family and other commitments i Havant really been able to get many fishing days on the calender so share with everyone.  but i have managed to do some sort of fishing on the local stream, river Taff and River Usk.  I have fished the Main river on the upper reaches of theTaff mostly but not to much success with the low conditions of late and clear water the fish are just not responding very well and are spooked very easily.  However on the lower reaches with there has been some rather large brown trout being caught by Terry Bromwell , Sion Lewis and Kieron Jenkins
Terry's monster trout from the beginning of the season

One of Kierons monster early season fish from the River Taff

On the River Usk i fished it when the river had a little of water on it.  There was plenty of fly life about but hardly anything rising or interested in our dries or nymphs in the main runs.  Myself and Lee Evans fished mostly all the main pools on the Mardy but it wasn't until we started nymphing some pocked water we started to nail into some really good fish (5 fish in one pocket) which saved the day from a blank for both of us.  My biggest fish from the day was a very nice 16 inch Trout caught on a 3ml with a silver tungsten bead  PTN jig :)

As to the stream it hasn't been fishing very well this year so far with the harsh spring/summer which we has been having with very little or nothing caught at all at times.  There has been plenty of fly life such as brook dunns, pale wateries, large dark olives, cainis etc etc mostly if not all fish have been having a free passage down stream.  But i suppose if there is that much activity above the water you can just imagine how much is going on under the water so why would a trout want to rise to a fly.  However things have been looking up in the past week or two with a few being caught on the dry and a few yellow may dunns and may flies coming off the water so hopefully it will bring the fish up feeding more prolific even though it is still pretty cold even now in May with snow on the hill tops.

Also in my spare time i have been experimenting with cdc flies and have tied up a small collection which have caught me a few nice trout so far this season as i am experimenting with different variations and styles of dry flies :)




The rivers have now had a good bit of rain and are running off a spate as i write this post so hopefully the fishing trout & salmon will pick up a little :)