You will have noticed that my posts on Tales By The River Bank have been few and far between of late., simply work pressures makes finding the time to write, go fishing or source vintage tackle are a thing if the past.
My good friend and fishing companion of over 30 years, Shaun Madle gave us the opportunity to be his guest on the Bentley Ass. water on the Rivee Wey that runs though the boarder of Hampshire and across Surrey. The stretch of river we were fishing for brown trouta syndicated water meanders through pasture between tree lined hills. It’s a difficult water, challenging to say the least. Although stocked with Brown Trout it holds a good head of natural browns.
We walked the river to observe any movement in the water, the sky above us was grey and heavy with cloud. The water ran slow across the shallow, it was coloured possibly from the rain the preceding evening. The bankside vegetation was lush, reeds and Irisis narrowed its course and it was in the dark hollows that fish could be found. We were all fishing Mayfiy patterns from light #3-4 rods no more than 7ft in length.
I set up young Tales with a small Grey Wulff, great sport was to be had with this over the rippling water with eager small trout. I used a small vintage spent Mayfly pattern of yellow partridge. Shaun however opted for a large white winged and silver bodied fly.
Having met several other fly fishers during the afternoon it seemed that fishing was tough with few fish showing, that said one fellow fisher had caught and released over a dozen fish. For us there was the occasional swirl in the water and I had three good follows only to see the buttery colour of the underside of the fish as they turned away. This gem of a river kept up to its reputation of being a hard water to fish for those less familiar to the lies of the territorial browns. Hopefully we will return another day.
tales by the riverbank 