Insignificant Fish

It is early March here in mid-Wales and spring is trying to bring a burst of new life to town. There are daffodils on every grass verge and new lambs are starting to populate the local fields, despite the lingering winter chill. It isn’t warm but it is warmer than it was, which means that at least the grass and car have been devoid of hard frost most mornings. The breeze, if it appears, will cut through you to your kidneys, and the trees are yet to regain their foliage, although it shouldn’t be long coming. In short, there is new hope, everywhere you look.

The trout season on the rivers opened up a week ago and my only foray within season to date, resulted in little more than a damp sock and a cold foot; the waders are going to require some investigation as to the problem, which is minor, but annoying all the same.

Daffodils (and lambs) the true harbingers of spring.

So today, as a pre-amble to the Wales-France Six Nations Rugby I decided to put in a couple of hours on the Newbridge Water. It is close enough that if things turn horrible outside I can easily pack it in and be home in front of the fire in not more than minutes.

The Wye, which has been raging and discoloured for the most part has dropped down and cleared nicely, even the tannin staining which seems to put the fish off a bit has mostly dissipated. It would have been nice if the sun had decided to join the party, but at least the rain held off and the waterproofs were left back in the Jimny.

The valley is now filled with the sounds of bleating sheep and lambs, it seems that the noise level is greatly increased when there are newborns about, mothers trying to locate babies and the children doing much the same. Such that there is a cacophony of bleats on all sides.

Lambs everywhere

One cannot help but smile at the lambs though, they are cute as buttons, with that big baby eye thing going on, which simply makes all baby animals and in particular mammals, seem so much more attractive than their adult counterparts.

Boringly, apparently it has to do with the fact that baby animals are born with pretty much full sized eyes, whilst the rest of their bodies have some catching up to do. It would seem, that because the cornea has no blood supply and can, therefore, grow no more, the eyes have to be pretty much fully formed at birth.

This “big eyed” face picture, used much in cartoon characters, eye lined and mascaraed ladies and prevalent in babies causes some level of over-stimulation to our brains, making us feel the need to love and nurture. I am not quite so sure that all of that was affecting me as I tackled up next to the sheep fields, but certainly I wouldn’t have found it easy to look at a lamb chop squarely in the face, having watched this neonates gamboling with one another around the pasture. 

However, musings about lambs and eyes needed to be put to the back of my, obviously overly active, mind, there was fishing to be done.

It was only my second trip out since the start of the season, it was still pretty darned cold and the river, although lower than previous days, wasn’t exactly stagnant. I had tied up some 4mm tear drop bead nymphs in preparation should they be needed, although, as things turned they weren’t required. I didn’t require much heavier than 3mm tungsten. I would have preferred to have been casting dries, although that can’t really be expected to produce result this early in the season and I was keen to get my score card ticking. So opted for a  Euro-nymph outfit, whilst hedging my bets and keeping a double taper line and long leader in the back of my vest, just in case.

As things turned out, I did see a few small mayflies come off the water and a single, small and splashy rise.

I probed the currents with the nymph rig and produced nothing but the odd twig fishing through the first run. I hadn’t planned on being out long or trying too hard, but was keen to at least find a fish.

In the next run and having changed flies, weights more than patterns really, to better suit the conditions at hand, I had a very subtle take and landed my first brown trout of the season. An inconsequential fish, but for the fact that it was the first trout of my first full season here in Wales.

My first trout of my first full season here in Wales.

Not a few casts later I hooked into a moderate grayling, again unremarkable, but for being the first one of those for the season too.

My First Grayling, not large, but not unimportant.

I plodded on, my damp and chilly right foot, putting me off a bit, but I figured I would carry on for another thirty minutes or so before calling it a day. Then another subtle take, which I initially took to be yet another hook up on one of the many sunken twigs than have been blown into the water over the winter months.

But happily the twig pulled  back, and in fact did so with some gusto, resulting eventually in a better than average grayling in the net.

A more solid example of Thymallus thymallus, and the last of the session.

I haven’t done enough of this cold water fishing to know for sure, but I suspect that the light takes are a result of the cold water and the relatively slow metabolism of the fish. What I can say, is that if you are playing this game, it would appear important to strike at the slightest hesitation of the sighter, even if most of the time that results in a twig or a hook up on the bottom.

I fished on a bit more, without any further success and decided it was time to be back home, in front of the fire and the Six Nations Rugby. Unfortunately, Wales did less well than I had, and suffered another loss, but they are a new and inexperienced side and did show some amazing flare in both attack and defence. Hopefully their time will come soon. For now I am happy to have put three fish in the net, survived the cold and got my 2024-5 trout season underway with a win. Not a big win, and not particularly significant fish, but the first is always significant at some level no matter the size.

Pocket Water

Pocket water can be productive even when levels are low.

On the streams  outside of Cape Town where I fish and guide mostly there is one aspect, perhaps even a “trick of the trade” that frequently distinguishes the men from the boys, the winners from the also rans and to be honest those who go home with feelings of smug satisfaction compared to those who don’t.

It isn’t so much that everyone doesn’t know about it, more that they fail to believe it or simply don’t bother to try the type of fishing, casting and presentation required. The name of the game is to focus most of your attention on the pocket water and that brings with it at first a host of problems for the average angler.

I say average not implying any lack of skill, more that the average angler watched Brad Pitt casting in
“A River Runs Through It” got really excited and ever since has been in some way dissatisfied if he can’t watch his line snaking out in yards in front of him. Secondly the average angler has a problem believing that there could be decent fish in amongst those foamy little pockets in the boulders, I mean all the lunkers must be in that deep weir pool on the corner surely?

Pocket water offers both advantages and problems in equal measure:

Firstly even in low water the pockets generally have a little bit of current and at least some riffle to the surface that makes your presentation a tad easier than on the still slow glides.

Secondly fish in pockets have a pretty limited view of the world making them easier to sneak up on and for the most part sit still in the current looking upstream waiting to intercept the next food item to appear. They don’t have a lot of time either so they need to make a relatively hasty decision about the true nature of your presentation. Conversely those fish in the still pools of summer, and there are plenty of them, have the entire millennium to count the tails on your mayfly, to look at the knots on your leader and generally swim about in all directions being for want of a better description “particularly difficult”.

Thirdly because for the most part they are loners if you spook one he will duck under a rock and not race about scaring his brethren and generally mucking up the fishing for yards ahead, a frustrating reality on the glides in low water.

Fish in pockets just seem to be happier with their lives in general, snug amongst the boulders they display a relative calmness lacking in their open water cousins and all that is good if you are an angler.

Not that it is all plain sailing this pocket fishing lark:

The downsides are that pockets have tremendously varied currents and pocket water fish whilst they may well be relaxed are not immune to the effects of drag on your fly. It all happens fast too so you can’t solve the problems by mending the line, most of the time that will be too little too late, even if you could work out which way to mend in the first place.

Secondly the pockets are small and some degree of accuracy in the casting department is essential if you aren’t going to spend your time fishing on the tops of dry boulders. If you have spent your casting practice (you do practice don’t you?), on distance you are going to struggle in the pockets, short accurate casting is what’s called for and it is a heap more tricky than it looks, especially if there is a breeze.

Thirdly to control your drift you will need to get close, closer than you might imagine and that brings with it the issue of at least some measure of stealth. Tapping wading staffs and boulder rolling are unlikely to enamour you to the fish and despite the previous comments they can become more than a little skittish if you don’t approach the pockets carefully.

Also in the faster little nooks and crannies it isn’t as easy to see the fish, sometimes you can,  but if you can’t see a fish you should cover the water anyway,  you neglect to cast at your peril , even should no fish be apparent , many an incautious extra step has seen a trout bolt for cover just as your boot descends.

Finally perhaps the real inner battle for the angler is that pocket water fishing is of necessity bordering on inelegant, in fact on occasion some of the best presentations really are rather ugly which is why you never see the angler in advertisements battling away in amongst the stones. Art directors, like most anglers prefer the “shadow casting” format, even if it results in less fish in the net.

So how to go about it?

Pockets as I would define them can vary from the size of a shoebox, just big enough to hold a decent trout to a few square metres in area, they generally have more than one current lane in them flowing from different angles and the fish could be watching one or more of them for food.

The best pockets offer relative depth, that isn’t to say they are deep but there will be a divot in there somewhere to provide a sense of security and to allow the fish to keep under the current and save energy. Plus very many have a distinct lip which forms a pressure wave at the back of the pocket, the ideal place for a trout to balance on its tail whilst waiting for dinner. The best pocket water anglers always make a cast just above the lip before they head for the obvious water a bit higher up, the fish are often so close to the back that on hooking them they wash over the lip..

Softer Action Rods are better for fishing pocket water.

The best rods for fishing pockets are soft in action because you will be casting a lot of leader and very little fly line. Cane probably is the optimum but then pocket water streams are dangerous places for expensive cane rods and most anglers will have a light #2 or #3 graphite rod, often an older model that has avoided the marketing department’s rush to make every blank a stick. Despite the close proximity and tight spaces on many pocket water streams you don’t want a rod that is too short. Being able to reach is a distinct advantage and for me a rod between 7’9” and 8’9” is about right.

(I am not sure why but I can’t think of rods in terms of metres and I don’t care what the international standard unit of length is, fishing demands its own rules, rods in feet and inches, trout like babies should be measured in pounds and ounces).

The ideal tactic for most pockets is to fish a fly a tad larger than you would on the flat water and one that you can see , fish in pockets tend to be pretty cosmopolitan in their tastes and as said they will make their minds up fast. That isn’t to say a size twelve Royal Wulff is the way to go, but visibility is important you have seconds to pick up the fly or you are likely to miss the take.

It also pays to cast aggressively to gain accuracy but at such close range that could lead to poor presentation so a long leader is also an advantage. Even in tight pockets I rarely use a leader under fourteen feet. The long leader also allows you to “High Stick” that is lift the line off the water the moment the fly lands avoiding drag for the most part by near “dapping” the fly. The leader allows you to do so without dragging the pattern unnaturally on the water and in all but the worst gales you can gain near perfect drifts at close quarters doing this.

I simply adore fishing pocket water, it is all so close, you see the fish, the mouth open, the take all right in front of your feet, there is an intimacy to it lacking on the bigger water which I simply adore. It also happens to be deadly effective and because so many anglers walk past these tiny little apparently shallow pockets the fish are often less disturbed than in the pools..

I was once asked for some advice from a novice about where to fish on our streams and my, perhaps slightly terse response was this: “if it’s damp fish it”, you can get some surprises in pocket water and not all the fish are small and not all the best holes are deep. Given some practice you will get some pleasant surprises if you focus on the pockets, especially when the water is a bit low and the pools and glides are simply too still to offer you much of a chance.