• ”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: Lugg

HEREFORDSHIRE

25 Monday Oct 2010

Posted by Tony Mair in Hereford

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

David Thompson, Herefordshire trout streams, Lugg, Midlands Fly Fishers, Worfe

Midlands Fly Fishers is a private club of sixty anglers, who for the reasonable sum of £400 every year have some 12 miles of beats on rivers in the Severn and Wye catchment areas, including the smaller, more intimate Lugg and Onny, and also on the Welsh Dee, and so a plethora of opportunities to target our four major salmonids. Only the Onny beat is stocked so it is wild brown heaven ! In addition, this area between the West Midlands and the Welsh Marches is teeming with small brooks and larger streams, such as the Teme the Arrow.

David Thompson is a workaholic, a serial Director, a colleague on the Court of the Worshipful Company of Brewers….and an outdoorsman and angler, whose preferred headwear is the beret (there is a row of them, hooked along a picture rail in the hallway of Albrighton Hall !!) who dresses to fish in a blue boiler suit, was quick to grasp the point of my mission, and immediately bought into it and offered to take me onto a river where it forms the boundary of Shropshire and Herefordshire so that I could score in “two counties with one fish!”

Good man !!

June 2010 – the LUGG

By reputation the Lugg is difficult to get onto because its waters are protected for club and syndicate. But David invited me stay, and after an evening on the Worfe which runs through one of his farms it was partridge for dinner cooked by Marika, and washed down with Palmer 81…’great life, init?’  Then off under grey skys and through Ludlow and into Herefordshire, chatting easily and unbroken for an hour until we reached Mortimer Cross.

We split up, and David’s advice was to work upstream crisscrossing…he spotted midges and recommended black gnat as a starter fly. I saw a rise…and crisscrossed…battling through wet bankside mud, and Himalayan Balsam, to a bend in the river. I, lazily, still had tied on the Tups from the previous evening, and two casts later I had my Herefordshire brown. Now…why did he take it? I read an article recently that such is the decline in fly life that trout are becoming less fussy…this may be true.

Moving on upstream, I encountered runs and riffles and  bends below which were many and seemingly deep pools. There were few fish moving and clearly they were lurking in the deeps, but true to my Halfordian principles and practices, and in spite of the obvious temptations, not a nymph was tied even though I knew they were there, and for the taking.

The river here was wooded and was accessed by treading carefully, hands and rod upstretched through fields of nettles as high as a man. It took too long to realise that the occasional white posts were there for a reason !This lovely stretch opens up some one mile upstream. Here the river meanders gently through open meadows, and with a cloudy sky, the fish were feeding, although rises were infrequent. Here, David and I caught up, and both took a brace.

Thank you, Hereford….thank you, the Lugg….thank you,  David.

We ventured to the Onny, to try to capture the second county of the day, but were thwarted by the colouration of heavy overnight rains coming off the Cambrian mountains. So I must  wait to add Shropshire until next season!

Advertisement

Blog Stats

  • 161,265 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

Create a free website or 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...