Feedback & Reports

With the good river level and mild weather continuing I was looking forward to fishing The Creel with the hope of finally doing it justice, having had little reward on my previous visits at a beat that clearly holds plenty of fish. Starting off in the church field, a barbel first cast gave me hope, but this was short lived as two hours later I had failed to register another bite. A move further down the field did not produce any bites either, so I eventually settled in a swim well below the island. Regular baiting soon resulted in another barbel, which was followed by a steady succession of them until it was time to pack up. I ended the day with 8 barbel to 9lb 10oz. Single 8mm Sonubaits oozing pellets proved the most successful bait along with hemp and pellet in a feeder.

8 Barbel

River in flood

24 x trout 10-16 inches, mixture of spiders and dries - Waterhen Bloa, Dark Moorgame, Woodcock and Hare's Lug, Olive Jingler, Humpback Spider. The last is a Paul Proctor pattern which is actually fished at the surface as an emerger. Today was another cloudy but mild spring day, large dark olives through the morning with fish coming to spiders and Olive Jingler. Then between 12 and 1 o'clock a short but intense hatch of march browns which seemed to get every fish in the pool showing at the surface. It was quite spectacular for a while. However, they wanted an emerger rather than a complete dun imitation and, after some wasted time, Proctor's Humpback Spider turned out to do the trick. All quiet on the river by mid-afternoon with a chilly wind picking up. March Browns seem to show up earlier every year now.

24 Trout

Fished from 12.00 to 14.00. A few fly about - March Browns?

Since this was the first time on this beat and it being fairly local to me I was prepared for it to be a recce. I fished the lower half of the beat and didn't complete the whole of it. No fly life to speak of so I prospected with nymphs. Hard going with no sign of fish at all until around 2 pm when the only take of the day occurred..a really powerful 14" trout that took a size 16 tungsten bead PTN and put up a serious fight. Interesting beat with plenty of deep pools easy wading but flowing over gravel and silt with little cover for fish or the angler. I look forward to another go when flies are hatching and fish rising.

1 Trout

The river was clear but pushing through a little making wading a little more precarious than usual. A modest LDO hatch and a few short flurries of March Browns had a handful of fish rising. I lost a good 2lb fish on the spider but then got a 2lber on a CDC Dun. A couple more to the Jingler followed. By 2pm, the flies were gone and the sport stopped.

3 Trout

1 Barbel, 4 Chub

8 Trout

Green Maribou damsel.

1 Trout

1 Barbel, 4 Chub