Novice

[Ashe Hurst]

hi.

have been trying out a bit of fly fishing for about two years.
get a bit confused with what fly to use, also there seems to be so many paterns or they come with no names and prefered situation of use.

i realy enjoy fishing my local River Cray in Kent/SE london and as a course Angler at heart have caught many species, including Brown Trout on feeder.

yet on the Fly i have only had dace, chub, perch and small pike, all great fun, but why they went for that particular fly i used at that time i dont know, I just tie one on that looks good.

i tend to Up stream on wet and dry, have an OK cast but this can sometimes be difficult in tight swims with trees and shrubs, have tried casting side ways whilst kneeling low in the water.
is this fly fishing Technique?

migratory asnd non migratory.

the cray has a huge sluice before it enters into a tidal stretch, the rest of the Cray is cut up with sluice and a few large weirs.

if trout are restriced to say a 200/300 meter stretch and cant move up or down river, are they migratory as they are in a river or non migratory as they are restricted to several small stretches?

 

[Ron Troversial Clay]

Welcome to fishing small streams Ashe.

Of course you are doing it right. In fact by catching only coarse fish, you are doing it spot on. Keep at at, you will be sure to catch a trout.

I don't know what sort of flies you are using but generally speaking, trout in small rainfed streams are much less selective of the fly you are presenting than they are in stillwaters and chalk streams.

Here's a simple fry fly pattern to try.

Hook: size 14 or 16 dry fly type

Silk: Brown

Tail, about four or five pheasant tail fibres.

Body: Dubbed light brown hairs ear ribbed with stripped cock hackle staik.

Hackle: Brown cock, about 3 turns.

Wings: None.

This simple pattern works well early season when the fish are taking March Browns.

 

[Ron Troversial Clay]

Sorry, that should read dry fly pattern.

 

[Ashe Hurst]

My wife got me a kit for ?100ish as a pressy
and a selection of wet & dry flies, Bob church i belive.

self taught, no pro lessons. GOD Help me!
but seem to have picked the cast up from books and US videos.

To be honest, im not too fussed about what i catch, though a trout on fly would be nice.
Bet you pro`s could rip me to bits.
i havnt the transport or cash to join a trout lake or river, so make do with whats on my door step.

A coarse angler getting hooked on the fly.

 

[Chris Cook]

Hi Ashe,
once your confidence in fly fishing is up and you can cast a decent line, then you have Bewl Water near to you I believe. That might be a good place to fish, especially if you can find someone who fishes there a bit.

As far as rivers go, if you can't specifically see the fish you are targetting a lot of it is obviously hit and miss. I am a great believer in nymphs in running water - especially suggestive patterns such as the Pheasant Tail Nymph and the Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear.

Chris

 

[Rod MacAskill]

I think that you have done well to catch so many different species of fish from a river on the fly, as I find river fishing more challenging than still water fly fishing. Moreover I am surprised that you havent had any trout because I have usually found them to be more suicidal than coarse fish.