I've got a real hankering to swing some wet flies on the light double hander, so I've had a couple of sessions tying wee wets. I've never really focused on this style of fly before and all my swinging efforts have been focused on streamers large and small. Don't get me wrong, the streamer method has served me well on both runners and resident fish, but I want to try something a tad different. The reading I've done indicates that fishing small wets with the double hander is not always a swinging game; upstream and across presentations to drift the flies dead appear to also be on the menu. I guess the real appeal is that its a new and exciting aspect to the trout spey game that I haven't tried yet.
The other day as a cold rain fell (it had snowed earlier) and the river was high, we noticed a swarm of swallows diving and bombarding. It was apparent that a hatch was on and after we'd (successfully) fished through the run with streamers I asked Pete (one of the country's foremost bug spotters and fly tiers) if he'd seen what was coming off - he hadn't. I didn't even bother to look, given that the fish were actively smashing my streamer and it wasn't until much later that I'd sort of out 2 and 2 together that perhaps the hatch was stimulating the fish to feed, and as a juicy streamer came past they'd lash out at it because they were already on the chomp.
If I'd swung some small flies would they fish have taken them with gusto? That would've been a cool scenario. Really keen to try this in lower water conditions than I think we'll find anytime soon. With more rain forecast there's no sign of a letup or a chance for the water levels to fall. The good news I suppose is that the fish runs should continue unabated.
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