Although I am primarily a coarse fisherman I really enjoy a spot of fly fishing for trout on a river so when I was offered a day on the river Test as a guest of Strategic Shipping by their Import Manager Roy Meincken I nearly took his arm off.
The day was planned as a thank you to their customers but many of them had obviously seen the weather forecast and cancelled at the last moment. I was honoured to be offered a vacant place. The day started with me picking up Roy and one of his directors, Mervyn Griffiths. I had volunteered to do the driving so that they could have a drink with their lunch. This was the least I could do at the prospect of fishing one of the most famous trout rivers in the world.
After an excellent breakfast at the Grosvenor Hotel in Stockbridge we drove to the river, a stretch at Kimsbridge under the control of the Tackle manufacturer Orvis. This stretch is known as the “Ginger Beer” beat because of the foam from the weir at the top of the beat.
I had fished this stretch about two years ago, again as a guest of Strategic Shipping and had many fond memories, particularly of the gillie Jim. Unfortunately he has since passed away but has been replaced by Brian who is a helpful and capable angler and soon became part of the party. Orvis supply all the tackle needed but my fly casting is such that I don’t need to be further handicapped by using an unfamilliar rod. I used my old Shakespeare Royalty fly rod (perhaps the cheapest rod ever to be used on this famous beat) and a five weight, weight forward, floating line with a four pound flourocarbon tippet.
Roy and I started off in the weir casting weighted nymphs upstream into the fast water. We used to fish together a lot but since his motorbike accident he has not been out fishing much. I soon remembered how much fun it is to fish with him as the “banter” flowed thick and fast and I hope to get him back on the bank as soon as possible. One brown trout took my nymph whilst I was talking to Roy and virtually hooked itself, causing yet more levity.
We then split up, Roy going with Brian the gillie while I tried the main river.
Brian and Roy
Out of the shelter of the bushes and trees around the weir I was faced with the full force of the wind which made casting and fly presentation very difficult. The river was quite turbid after the heavy rains of the last two days and visibilty was too limited to spot fish near the bottom. This meant that my favourite method, the “upstream nymph”, was out of the question and I was very pleased when a hatch of mayflies started. It was very difficult to present a fly on the surface without the downstream wind pulling it across the current and although I covered lots of fish I got few takes.
Whenever the wind dropped a little and I was able to present the fly without drag I got a take but the fish soon became difficult to please and the hatch changed species and was difficult to match.The picture below shows how finicky they became and the only way I could get a positive take was by dropping the chosen fly on the nose of a rising fish, not an easy task in that wind.
I ended the day with seven fish, one Rainbow and six Browns, one of which was about three and a half pounds. I apologise for the lack of pictures but I was on my own and having too much fun for photography, I even got a brief glimpse of a water vole, a very rare creature on the mink infested rivers I usually fish.
A wonderful day on a very special venue with great company and I will express my heartfelt gratitude again to Mervyn of Strategic Shipping for inviting me.
If you'd like to leave a comment on this post, here's how.
