Low water conditions
Beautiful but alien Himalayan Balsam
River Wye
The river was low, the river was very low. The water was warm. Should I bother going fishing? A day on the river, even in August, even on a hot day, even with no little or no insect life, is still a day on the river. So I drove up the Wye valley, thinking more of a social occasion, rather than a productive fishing session.
How wrong can you be? There was a sparse hatch of brown stoneflies and an even more sparse hatch of very smart-looking but small black sedges. Fish were rising sporadically. These were mostly small fish, or more accurately some were truly tiny. They tried to swallow the dry fly but size 16 was more than a mouthful, and so they splashed at it in vain. In these situations, I think it's wise to put on a slightly bigger fly, to avoid catching the tiddlers.
The excitement of raising fish was reduced, but bigger fish easily made up for that. The best fish came to a small brown nymph, fished deep. Decent grayling were particularly keen on the this fly. So when you read that fishing in August is only good very early or late; remember that it's a rule of thumb and fish don't always obey the rules – thank goodness.
The only negative note was the lare swathes of Himalayan balsam. It looks like this alien here is here to stay.
Low water conditions
Beautiful but alien Himalayan Balsam