Since it was raining cats and dogs last week fishing the stream was not possible.
As I looked at the online rivergage I found it odd that the waterlevel had not receeded
even though it had been dry for a couple of days.
So I decided to take a gamble and had to the river anyway, a wise choice as the
stream looked just fine.

My first port of call was off course the roach hot spot and well it did provide some fish
but only for a short while as everything soon went silent.
Soon I found out why my hot spot provided only short time action as a jack pike scooted
past me. I might have a go at that fish later in the season.

I fished a section of the stream inside the village and allthough I caught a fine dace and a really
fat roach I found the spot too crowded.
There where festiveties going on at the waters egde and there is only so much band music I can
cope with on a fishing day especially when they play abba tunes 🙂

Fish where plenty in the village and mayflies where fluttering around attracting both attention from the fish
and the waterfowl and other birds.
With bright sunny skies I and the mayflies around I figured it might be an ideal time to fish a big dry mayfly
and see what it would yield.
I choose a stretch of the stream that was open and slow moving and scouted for targets.
I soon found a school of dace working the surface and allthough they had no trouble attacking a large
mayfly from the surface I could not hook any of them, I guess I was too slow.

My attention got drawn to a fish I saw lying stationary in the sunshine.
The golden color indicated to me that it was a brown trout but I found it rather odd that the fish choose
a lie in the warm shallow section of the stream.
The fish was selectively feeding from the surface but I guess on emergers as it would steadily refuse any dries
I offered the fish.
I did get three strikes though so catching the fish was a possibilty, I put in over an hour before I finally hooked
the fish.
The trout was not big but it was great that persistance payed out this time.
Now I had enough of the village and moved further upstream to the section of the stream that flowed
through woodland.

In the wooded section dace where rising actively to the abundant mayflies but with the lush
foliage and steep banks made a presention impossible.
At a neaby bridgde I watched the water at the “no fishing” section which was off course teeming with
fish as such spots usually though.
What caught my eye was a pretty decent rainbow trout zipping flies from the surface like clockwork.
One proper cast with a mayfly over that fish and an instant hit was certified.
Off course if somebody would see and report me my membership with the syndicate would be
terminated on the spot so I resisted the temptation this time.
To make matters worse and noticed an even larger trout moving about.

It was late in the afternoon so to clear my mind I headed to the pub and enjoyed a good meal
and some cold beers, perfect on a summers day like this.
After my break I tried some of the spots in the forest and had some hits from the dace on the large mayfly.

As it was late in the day I pondered about where to end my fishing day.
With so many mayflies around the otherwise quite tricky task of spotting trout was easier so I headed
to a spot where I suspected trout would be present.
As the stream was shallow and heavily covered approaching wary fish was difficult to impossible.
I noticed a rising fish but when I had finally positioned myself for a cast the fish was already gone.
The deep pool in front of me could hold fish and if they would notice a mayfly overhead they would surely
race to the surface to intercept it.
Unfortunately despite several casts no fish materialized.

There was a shallow spot where I suspected a trout could be lying in ambush.
To get the fly there was tricky though as the tree branches where lying low over the water.
It was a spot where you would get only one shot at a proper presentation.
With some luck the fly landed right at the edge of the treeroots and the fly was immediately
intercepted by a very nice brown trout.

That brown trout was the perfect ending of a perfect day.
On the way back home I noticed that hordes of mayflies where dancing over a ditch that ran from
the nearby hills, quite a spectecular sight.
With all that dry fly action it might be time to inspect some of my big chub fishing spots on other
parts of the stream in the upcoming weeks.