This account is from fellow member Patrick Heaton- Armstrong.
Today was an opportunity, at long last, to take Lynne with me so that she could envisage fly fishing on the River Wylye ... just upstream of the village of Wylye. We arrived at Wylye at 10.30am ... and we came away at 4.30pm. Again it had been chilly overnight ... so initially not much fly life ... and therefore no rising fish. The river was still running high and very turbid ... with a green tinge ... where’s the murkiness coming from?* On the homeward journey I noticed that a carrier stream in Great Wishford was running gin clear. Weather ... 12 degrees at 10.30am rising to 17.5 degrees by midday ... initially it was slightly cloudy and overcast but as the day warmed up there was some sunshine and the afternoon was most enjoyable. There were very few trout rising during the morning so we decided to have an early bankside picnic lunch at 12.30pm under the big alder tree just upstream of the A303 road bridge. As we sat and watched the wildlife so Mayflies began to hatch and a few trout began to rise. Between 1pm and 3pm the Mayfly we’re coming off the water surface at roughly one per 10 minutes ... they were all very pale yellow … after 3pm it all began to fade in terms of hatching flies … its undoubtedly the warmth of the core off the daylight hours that encourages the flies to hatch. In the hour after lunch I caught three brown trout 8” + 6” + 8” (all nice and plump) ... I rose many others ... but nothing sizeable! I fished with my Grey’s 8ft rod, a 4 weight floating line and a new Grand Riverge 9ft tapered fluorocarbon leader, a point length of 18” in fluorocarbon and a large light bodied Mayfly all day ... the small trout can’t resist a big mouthful! Again the Chaffinches were darting out of the wood opposite us, as we ate our picnic, catching anything that flew in their direction. As we sat under the alder tree a robin sang in in bush on the other side of the river ... how beautiful! As I fished a family of four yellow wagtails flew up and down the river calling to each other and settling from time to time to pick out flies from amongst the dams of scum and floating debris caught up in front of the trees that were dropped into the river in September 2018 … the benefits of that work are not just for the fish! A word of thanks to the River Keepers who have recently cut the grass and weeds along the river bank on Beat L. The long grass is not really a problem although it makes for easier access to the Beats, but what’s really needed is for low hanging branches to be trimmed to allow casting underneath them ... that’s why I always carry a pair of secateurs ... but sometimes a longer handled lopping device is needed where the water is too deep to access the trees. It was an enjoyable day out in lovely countryside … again a change of scenery ... particularly since we have now been in lockdown for 10 weeks and not been into a supermarket, bank or even a post office in that time ... everything is being done on line!
Thanks to Patrick for permission to print this.
* the river Wylye can run coloured when carrying heavy flow.
Matt Gregory