The Fisherman’s Diary: a trout from a weed-choked sluice

It was early morning and the water felt cool to the touch. I measured the temperature to find an ideal 16.7°C. The sun had barely touched the water’s surface. Noticing a few upwings in the air, I was hopeful of trout or grayling rising to the duns, though I did not see a single rise. The stream here was thick with ranunculus, with very few clear areas, so nymphing would barely be possible. Large clumps of weed were drifting by, so either it was being cut somewhere, or swans or cattle were displacing it further upstream.

I persisted with a dry-fly for half an hour, but this was utterly fruitless. I reasoned that whatever fish were present were either hidden among the ranunculus or seeking shelter in the deeper water nearby. I wandered off downstream along the wooded path by the river, glimpsing deep, dark pools, which seemed still and uninviting for the fly-fisher. I came to an open area where the river splits into two channels and was brought to a halt when I noticed a rise in mid-stream. The water here was barely a foot deep and I could clearly see every stone on the bed, but I could not see the fish that had risen. I waited some minutes but there was no further rise and I assumed the fish had left the area.

Invisible until it moves

I waded across the river so as to be able to walk down the farther, larger stream. As I was halfway across, I suddenly saw the trout bolting from where I had seen it rise. I marvelled at how fish, like most animals, can be completely invisible when they are still, only to be observed clearly when they move.

I walked another 100 yards to where the stream tumbles along a tree-lined corridor, terminating at a sluice beyond which is a large pool. Fish would be here, for sure, in the coolest, most oxygenated pool in this section of the river, with plenty of cover and a constant stream of food items washing through the sluice.

Solving the sluice

My problem was how to fish it, or rather, how exactly could I deliver a fly to where the fish would be holding. I could not approach from below, because it was too deep there, so my only realistic option was to stand on the sluice itself and roll cast from there. I tied a sacrificial heavy tungsten-beaded nymph on the dropper, with a more realistic pattern on the point. This is a tried and tested method of delivering a fish-catching pattern to the right depth.

Almost every cast resulted in both flies hooking up on the ranunculus that was running through the sluice, though the very first time that did not happen there was the unmistakable rattle of a take, which I missed. Several casts later, as I was lifting off to recast, there was a swirl – a trout had followed the fly on the point all the way to the surface. My excitement made me persist in repeatedly clearing off the tangle of accumulated weed before rolling the nymphs back into the flow.

Then at last I had a clean delivery to a depth of 5ft, and the moment I tightened on the line there was a firm take resulting in a secure hookhold. A minute later, the lovely trout lay at my feet on the wet sill of the sluice, where I could turn out the hook and watch the fish dash back into the maelstrom of the pool.

Adapting to the drought

I wondered about carrying on, because for sure there would have been a lot of both trout and grayling in the area, but I had accomplished what I wanted and there would have been little more to gain. Solving the problem is a huge part of my fishing, and gone are the days when fly-fishing had anything to do with numbers.

I cannot say that many of us enjoyed the interminable drought, but there are ways we can adapt to solve the problems, even if that necessitates turning our attention to non-salmonid species. I have been lucky to be in a region where the water temperature has not been too high and the river flows are still reasonable, though many of our fly-fishing friends have not been so fortunate. It has been tragic to see so many rivers throughout Europe in dire need of rain.

Jeremy Lucas is a lifelong fly-fisher, multiple England team member and author of the landmark Presentation Fly-Fishing. Now he focuses on the conservation aspects of the sport and dry-fly.