• ”Why?”
  • ‘Musings’
  • La Belle France
  • Land of my Fathers
  • Wild Trout Trust

Who's Counting?………….. A Fisherman's Journey

~ My mission…'to catch a trout from a river in every county'

Who's Counting?………….. A  Fisherman's Journey

Tag Archives: Ebble

CHESHIRE

18 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by Tony Mair in Cheshire

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bate Mill, Bay Malton AC, Chess, Chris Lees Jones, Dane, Dunham Massey AC, Eaton Fly Fishers, Ebble, Golin, Gowy, J W Lees, Lymm AC, Middlewich Anglers, Nigel Rogers, Paul Jennings, Peover Eye, Prince Albert AC

Why did I think that Cheshire was going to be easy?

I remember attending a conference in Macclesfield years ago, and thinking then that my road trip passed through what looked like, trouty terrain, and the Pennines are close so, too…but trout streams are few in reality.

Several angling clubs claim that in their waters trout can be found alongside fit barbel, and impressively chump chub, and my early enquiries elicited a response from Nigel Rogers, a real gem of a fellow

 016

and then Chairman at Bay Malton AC, who confirmed that his Committee supported and endorsed his own enthusiasm for my task and a date was set for us to meet, for his club was one where what I sought might be found.

As it happened, we arranged to meet on the day following my success on the Goyt when I ‘netted’ Greater Manchester, so my confidence was high!

Our meeting place close by the Bolin, near Manchester Airport, probably was not in Cheshire, so it was on to Congleton, most definitely in it, and to another BMAC beat.

A couple of hours on the Dane there delivered two salmonids,

021

but genus thymalus thymalus, which could not count! So where next?

I took another look at the Clubs’ listing I had identified which included Eaton Fly Fishers, Middlewich Anglers, Dunham Massey AC, and the renowned Prince Albert AC, and all responded with helpful advice, but it was the Lymm AC which seemed to offer the best chance of what I sought, and they were taking new members! I joined!!

Recce-ing waters is never easy/convenient from a home 200 miles away, and my first visit to my new Club’s waters followed the rains which punctuated the early weeks and months of season 2012,

003

004006

and not a cast was made on that visit, nor was another possible in that year.

This year (2013), the early season was cold, very cold and fishing was pointless when Nature still slept. Then, just a couple of weeks ago, the Jet Stream, finally moved North, of the British Isles, from its seemingly permanent residence over Central France. We have now what we have yearned for, for seven years…a Summer!

I observe that the trout streams of the south have more ranunculus than I remember. The Wylye is full of it, the Ebble is trickier because of it, and Paul (Jennings) tells me that in his stretch of the Chess it is strangling the fishing! The weed is keeping water levels high, aquifers being totally full, and even early weed cuts are having marginal effect. This is a challenging year.

In the Midlands (Cheshire, at least) streams, where weed is scarce, levels now are low. Today (July 15), I ventured to the Gowy near Chester, and the Dane in Congleton, but did not cast a line. In fairness, parking Tonka in Congleton at the prescribed place, travellers had taken up residence, which made my staying there less likely, for some reason. And so it was to –

July 2013 – the Peover Eye

This Lymm AC stretch at Bate Mill is close to the magnificent Jodrell Bank,

CIMG1616and its massive telescopes. I visited it last year, and saw a fish rise in a side stream, but there is also a mill pool there and I convinced myself that this not only held trout but there was one with my name on it. Whilst the spate made fishing then, a little pointless, I made a few casts with weighted nymphs in idle hope. But this still felt like the place where success was most likely, a thought endorsed by chum, fellow Brewer, and salmon mad, Chris Lees-Jones of J W Lees, and also because of the optimistic description of water by Lymm AC – “(the river) is located in an area of such beauty it needs to be seen to be believed. The river abounds with trout, both resident browns and escapee rainbows….”

The Peover Eye is a lovely and fascinating name. It seems to be the combination of the word Peover, which comes from the Welsh word for ‘dart(ing)’ or ‘sparkling’; and the Anglo Saxon, Eye, meaning small stream. It rises near Siddington and flows for some four miles and joins the Smokers Brook above Lostock Gralam, to form the Wincham Brook.

This day, I arrived post Gowy and Dane at one-ish. The sun was high. It was unbelievably hot, but I could not resist a couple of casts. Then off to my hotel to rest up after too many hours driving, from London.

Returning to the river at seven in the early evening, I spoke to Sue en route, and suggested that my mission might be coming to an end. Merseyside seems impossible, Bedford, much the same, and Cheshire…well just how many more times should I bother tripping up the M6?

I had a look, but did nothing. The waders stayed bagged. The boots delightfully dry. I had already checked out some fishing in a real trout county (Derbyshire) for tomorrow, in scant consolation for the disaster which is Cheshire.

Oh well! Then I saw what looked like an angler upstream of the disintegrating mill, and walked up to chat to him. “I am looking for trout”, I opened. “This is club water” he responded. “I am a member” I replied. We were connected!!

The water above the old mill is stuffed with trout, and a members’ return chit of just a few days prior, revealed five rainbows in a couple of hours in June. My new friend showed me a picture of a handsome rainbow taken by his friend shortly after their arrival just before mine. And he himself, had had a memorable visit with a net full of trout from this slow moving stretch earlier this year. So there are trout here! That he is a coarse fishing specialist made my interest in catching on the fly more intriguing to him. That his pal had a 2-lber minutes before I arrived, was intriguing to me. The high water and early Spring flows may have flushed some fish below the mill, he suggested. My head said that if these were rainbows, then a 7x tipped was a risk, as was a short rod less likely to cope with a warrior rainbow. But I was enthused, and got kitted up, accordingly.

CIMG1613Down in the water, my first offering was a brown elk hair caddis #14, below which, NZ style was a #20 bead head nymph. The first cast produced a swirl, but to which I had no idea, but Boy, was I motivated? And then two more splashy swirls to what was hatching, and I was in determined mode.

Off came the nymph. Away the feeble tippet. Spotting a solitary May, with a white body and black thorax, in flight, it was on with a bushy caddis….the second cast with this offering delivered me my Cheshire trout, a 2-lb wild brown.

CIMG1612A few casts later, a fish, another brown, took a good hard look, and then yet another was mine!

Paul and Jack, and Phil

I am indebted to Paul, who was fishing and tutoring son, Jack, and to Paul’s pal, Phil, who pulls trout from the Peover Eye, with ease.

My kit worked worked for me when it mattered. Their’s did, too, and in spades!

Cheers, Guys…have a great season, and let me know if your methods out fish mine below the mill. I suspect they will!

 Thank you, Lymm AC…mission accomplished.

Advertisement

WILTSHIRE

03 Friday Dec 2010

Posted by Tony Mair in Wiltshire

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Avon, Bourne, Ebble, Salisbury & District AC, Wylye

I have been a member of the Salisbury & District Angling Club (SDAC) since 1995, and whilst living in Kent, but now in London, I have managed to get down to fish the club waters on some ten days or so, every season.

I have always been intrigued by Salisbury and the Plain, and have read Edward Rutherfurd’s marvellous fictional historic novel “Sarum” three times!!

I just love this part of the Britain because for me it resonates with mysticism and wonder, with its big skies, its tumuli, its sleepy mornings, rolling chalk hills and rape covered acres, colourful lanes, (I can forgive the noise of its military presence) …and it reeks of history. The Roman spirit lives on in (Old) Sarum, and those VERY straight, slightly elevated and angled (for run off) roads….and its biggest attraction to me is obviously its luxuriant streams, offering the angler the ubiquitous Avon and the elegant Wylye, and the challenges of the diminutive, but gin clear, Ebble and Bourne.

The Itchen excepted, I prefer the Wiltshire streams to those of Hampshire.

I feel comfortable in Wiltshire.

It is the most serene and most peaceful County in our Land.

The change in pace from the Capital is obvious and agreeable.

Sustenance during the important lunchtime break is available from a myriad of great pubs, where the quintessential English Ale is the norm; food is generally local, seasonal and therefore fresh; and overnight accommodation is easy to find and a welcome is guaranteed.

I am excited every time I hit the M3, knowing the exit to the A303 is 45 minutes away, and I am about to enter another place…may be I am a Druid!?

My favourite SDAC beats are –

Avon

Preferring solitude when fishing I will always plum for the beats between Amesbury and Salisbury, where, whilst taking mainly stocked fish, there is a good head of wild browns (and grayling), too. I enjoy the Simon Cain re-engineered and wild fish beat below the iron bridge in Amesbury; the wading beat below the Mill;

and the wading beat above the sleeper bridge at West Amesbury, but less so since the extraordinary excavations and diversions by the new owner of Moor Hatches. So I have not fished there for a couple of years, and must try it again next season….it has always had a good fly life and free rising fish, and just before dusk, can be manic!

The Durnsford beats are my favourites, though, and working downstream, 18, 11, 12, and 1 & 2, have been the most productive over the years. The joy of the Durnsford stretch is the extraordinary variety it offers.

Wylye

Stapleford and Druids have both given me hours of pleasure. The water depth some years ago during the worst abstraction, fell so much that the resident swans would swim upstream, in formation and, heads down, eat all  the weed, removing cover and food and ruining the fishing. Happily this is in the past!

Fishing into the right hand bend below the old hatch pool, from the Druids bank has yielded my largest fish. And there is always a number of good fish holding below the left bank on the bend above the hatch pool, too. Olives, Iron Blues, Beacon Beige, BWO and Elk hair caddis have proved to be the catching flies through the season….

Nadder

The Nadder is a greensand river and tends to colour up, but offers a different challenge to the chalkstreams. The Meadows beat wins hands down for me, and I am delighted that wading has been introduced. Dry fly catches the browns…nymphs might attract a chub, and there are plenty under the trees toward the bottom of the beat.

Ebble

This year I fished the Ebble for the first time at Longbridge.

What a pretty piece of water, which yielded a handsome fish of a pound from among the flowing weeds towards the top end, and away from the roadside distractions.

Bourne

I love the tricky waters of the Hurdcott beat, as much as I dislike the turgid Upper Bourne Fishery! It was in summer 2009, when in bright sunlight, and reeds as high as they would grow, I stood on the wired sleepers, across the mid-beat section, and cast into the narrowed stream where only about a five foot width of water could be fished at that time….and first cast had a fish which crashed into and out of the foliage, and when netted, turned out to be the largest grayling I have caught….circa 2lbs. The water is four or five feet deep, but to catch a specimen from there was a surprise as well as a wake up call!!

I have never tempted a brown into my net from the Bourne!

SDAC

‘Our’ Club is very special.

The twelve miles or so, of pristine mainly, chalk stream fishing it offers is very varied. Free fishing or via the beat and disc system, I have rarely, if ever, been unable to fish my chosen water for that day. Members are courteous and always willing to share what they see of the day, and the fishing is ‘patrolled’ by a small team of bailiffs, protecting the Club and its members from incursion.  Investment in fishing quality is constant, and the Club is always eager to expand its offering, for an annual subscription, which is modest for what is available. We are lucky to be led by an energetic team, and we Associates (resident far from Salisbury) are also lucky for the local volunteers who support riverside initiatives with the generous giving of their time.

Blog Stats

  • 161,276 hits

My Counties

Favourite Sites

  • FishPal
  • FlyFishForums
  • Salisbury & District AC
  • Salmon&Trout Conservation UK
  • The Wheelyboat Trust
  • Wandle Piscators
  • Wild Trout Trust

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 327 other subscribers

Follow me on Twitter @mailmair

My Tweets

Recent Comments

Tony Mair on SUFFOLK
Tony Mair on SUFFOLK
Peter Warren on SUFFOLK
Charlie Watts on SUFFOLK
Hannah on Wye & Usk Foundation

Accidental Angler Albury Anglers Trust Arundell Arms Balcombe FF Billericay & District AC Burford AC Burwash Fishing Club Cam Charles Rangeley-Wilson Chess Chris Satterthwaite Dart Dave Champness David Thompson Derek Holmes Derwent Dudwell EA Ebble FishPal Fly Fishing Forum Fly Fishing Forums Geoff Hodgson Great Eau Grey's Missionary Howard Mann Inn at Whitewell Isle of Wight Freshwater Angling Association Itchen Izaak Walton Hotel Jack Gartside John Anderson John Aston Keith Passant Kennet Lark Lark Angling & Preservation Society Loomis Lugg Mark Owen Medina Midlands Fly Fishers Moreno Borriero National Trust Orvis Ouse Ouse APS Oxfordshire trout streams Paul Gaskell Paul Jennings Peacock Hotel Peper Harrow Fly Fishing Club Peter Cockwill Peter Everden Peter Ward Philip Fleming Robert Gibson-Bevan Rob Hartley Rob Mungovan Sence Steve Webster Surrey trout streams The Bull Tillingbourne Tim Jacklin Trout & Salmon Wandle Piscators Wandle Trust Wey Wightlink Wild Trout Trust (WTT) William Tall WTT Yar

Archives

  • November 2021
  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • February 2020
  • November 2019
  • August 2019
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • August 2017
  • June 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • October 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • September 2015
  • July 2015
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Who's Counting?.............. A Fisherman's Journey
    • Join 68 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Who's Counting?.............. A Fisherman's Journey
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...