Durnford Beat after the rains
River Avon
Salisbury & District Angling Club
It's Mayfly season. There is a certain amount of internal pressure to go fishing, especially now in early June. For within a few days it will all be over for another year. The evenings promise much, for the spinners should be returning to the river to lay their eggs, and spinner fishing in the fading light can be very exciting. So off to the Avon again.
The weather was misty and muggy. There had been rain and drizzle and now it was overcast and unnaturally dark. Ideal conditions really. The first thing that greeted me at the Durnford section of the river was mayfly spinners flying up and down the damp road and laying their eggs on the shiny wet surface. Well that's what it looked like. I didn't take a microscope to the macadam, but the flies were dipping and dropping their abdomens onto the wet tarmac. 400 million years of evolution disrupted by 100 years of man's ingenuity.
There were duns and spinners on the river as well as several kinds of caddis. I tried several mayfly patterns to have them all ignored. I then switched to a size 18 black 'thing'. An instant response. The fish were focused on minutia. The best moment of the evening was when a large brown trout took the black speck and then bolted downstream. After all sorts of chaos and pandemonium, a beautiful two and half pound fish came to hand.
Durnford Beat after the rains