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| David with a drag free drift on the dry |
The anticipated improvements in the weather throughout April have been a long time coming I'm afraid, with bitter winds and low water temperatures really holding things up, we have certainly been up against it from a fishing point of view, and although there has been several salmon caught on the river, some being recorded over twenty pounds, the fishing has still been relatively slow. That said, we only need to look back as far as last season and given the right water conditions some of the best salmon fishing of the season occurred in May and June, so time will tell.
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| David with a small trout on the Nymph |
The insect life has also been slow, thus effecting the numbers of trout being caught, especially on the dry fly, and it has to be said, that up to now at least, there hasn't been the usual early season enthusiasm we often see from the trout given our sub surface offerings either. However it was noticeable that as we approached the end of April we were beginning to pick up one or two more fish off the surface as better numbers of Large Dark Olives begun to appear along with the odd Late March Brown too. It was also noticeable that there were some relatively decent hatches of Grannom Sedge in attendance, although definitely not in the numbers we have encountered in years gone by.
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| Simon with his first trout on the Dry |
So although things are a little behind this year, the usual signs of potential improvement are all there and with the last few days of April being a little warmer in Cumbria, despite those persistent winds, an improvement in the dry fly fishing is definitely on the cards for May. I am sure many of you will agree when I say, that despite the fact we can, and do, target these magnificent fish with a variety of flies, fished at all levels in the water, there is still something very exciting about the visual experience of catching a trout on a dry fly!
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| Ian's first trout on the nymph |
With water levels as they are at the present time, and given the obvious probability of better temperatures ahead, we should be looking forward to some good dry fly action as we move into May, but we will surely need an influx of fresh water for some of the middle and upper beats of the river to see an improvement in the salmon fishing. However it is still early days yet and with many of you having already been for casting tuition in April I am sure you are itching to put it into practice and get at them.
