With the river trouting season about to begin, Fin and Fly asked Hardy expert and consultant, Nick Hart, for his tips.
Whenever I’m out guiding early season in the rivers, I say to my clients the most important thing is to stay warm and make sure you are adequately layered up. Get your base layers right and often a couple of fleeces on top. Warm socks.
Chestwaders checked through for any holes and a good wading jacket. EWS system really comes into its own at this time of the year. If you’re wet and you’re cold then you just won’t fish well. Mind you, it’s well worth being out on the bank early doors because the fish are often naive at this time of the year. They haven’t seen anglers and flies for a good six months and you can often catch real crackers off their guard.
My first choice rod will probably be a ten-foot, five-weight. In part that’s because I’m expecting to find higher water early in the season and a longer rod gives me a bit more control. I also like that bit extra length because primarily I’ll be bugging. I’m expecting to find the fish deep rather than shallow, holed up in the deeper runs. That doesn’t mean to say though that I’ll be using anything but the usual floating lines.
What are my top flies? Well, if you’re in Yorkshire, there will probably be a lot of spider work but on many of the rivers, I like dark flies that are nice and heavy so you can get them down in the deep water. Caddis imitations. Copper Johns. Tungsten beads. Birds’ Nests, that sort of thing. Generally I’ll fish two or three as a team but if it’s really windy or if I’m with somebody that’s not too experienced, a single heavy bug will work, generally under an indicator.
When I am bugging, I fish the slower, deeper, meandering pools, weighing them up very carefully to establish where the fish are. I fish them really slowly. I mentally grid the river, if you like. I divide each of the pools into mental squares and fish each one of them absolutely fastidiously. This means that I’m not rushing over fish and missing them as I hurry.
Even early season, dries do have their place. I like nice big imitations that can pull a fish up from deep. Sedge patterns and especially March Browns work well. I like to use a size ten Klinkhamer for example. But, even though I like these bigger flies, I still keep my eyes open for hatches of midges. If just a few are coming off, you will often find the trout are really hooked on them. So never be blinkered, always keep your wits about you. When I am fishing dries, if the water is particularly clear, then I might use fluorocarbon, but, again, the fish are comparatively naive and they’re generally hungry, too. A good combination.
At this time of the year, I’m loathe to get clients on the water too early. I like to wait until the sun has been on the river for a while, especially in heavily treed areas. It’s doubtful whether I’ll ever make a start much before ten o’clock and my prime period is probably between 11.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m. when the water is at its warmest.
What I’ve said really relates to my West Country rivers but the rules remain good anywhere around the country you find wild browns. Don’t forget, it’s always worth checking out the Hardy and Greys Academy members because a lot of them have real gems of rivers available at this time of the year. Talk to the one geographically close to you and you might get some really top-notch early season sport.
