“IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER…..”
Fly fishing in winter has its drawbacks as well as its attractions. The main drawbacks are concerned with the weather. Since the pre-Christmas frosts there has been a succession of snow, then heavy rain and strong winds. Today, Valentine’s Day, however, as I write, is almost Spring-like but with a chill wind. Since the snow disappeared it has not been unusually cold, quite the opposite and I noted several daffodils in full bloom on a sheltered south-facing bank at the end of January, a good four weeks premature for this part of Lancashire.Valentine’s Day
Earlier this week I was fishing at Raygill in West Yorkshire. Raygill stays open throughout the year for both trout and coarse fishing. Two weeks ago the fly of the moment was the Pink Zonker, tied with a longish tail, and thus it was again this week. The weather at eleven o’clock was mild and cloudy with a brisk westerly breeze but the fish were in taking mood. I put up the Pink Zonker on a ten foot leader with a four pound Maxima tippet attached and hooked a fish on my second cast.
It’s always encouraging to catch a fish early during a session and my enthusiasm was bubbling. The fish was a silvery rainbow in very good condition and weighing just under two pounds. It took the fly very slowly and gently about three yards from the bank some twenty feet away from me and I was not sure I was into a fish until I tightened the line. It fought the hook fiercely for a couple of minutes then gave up the struggle quite unexpectedly and came meekly to the net. Upon examination the fly had already dropped from the fish’s mouth and it looked in good health. It required very little recovery time and was quickly away from the bank and into the depths of the Quarry Lake.
The next two takes were similar and I lost both fish after some twenty seconds. I was not sure whether they were really hooked or biting the end of my Zonker (Heaven Forbid!). I began to cast further out and made contact with an aggressive rainbow that took the fly almost as soon as it hit the water. This one was a really good fish and he took me out and back, up and down and into the air two or three times before I could get my net under him. A muscular five pound fish that looked as if he had been training with Lennox Lewis; firm, muscular and athletic and with some attitude, too.
The fatal charms of the Pink Zonker began to wear thin and contact with the trout was lost. I changed to a Black Zonker and, on the third cast, another four pound rainbow succumbed to the temptation then fought and struggled its way to the net. I landed four fish and lost three others after brief fights. At 12.30 the wind changed and went more to the North and the temperature dropped a couple of degrees. By 1.30 it was almost freezing and the fish had sought sanctuary in deeper, warmer water well away from my searching lures and I packed up at 2.00 to restore the circulation to my hands in the lodge.
At one time I would have persevered through sudden drops in temperature and changing conditions and, looking at the diaries for previous years, the pattern was the same. If, on commencing to fish, the trout were feeding, a change in the weather with a sudden drop in temperature put them off their feed and they were very disinclined to chase a lure. There could follow a few hours of inactivity and the inactive angler gets cold quickly and discouraged even more so.
Later the same day…..
As I arrived back in Lancashire later in the afternoon the sun suddenly appeared and the wind eased right back to a gentle and mild whisper. I was quite near Barnsfold Fishery just outside Goosnargh and I decided to have the last couple of hours on a sport-fish ticket.
I guess that the temperature was up a couple of degrees since 1.00 and the wind had eased back to become more westerly. The sun was out and fish were feeding just under and at the surface. I tied a size 14 black buzzer on the point of a twelve foot leader and another on a dropper, always a good “starter” on this type of day at Barnsfold, and cast out. My retrieve hovered between dead slow and non-existent and, after a few minutes, I saw the end of the floating line angle down gently but steadily. The dropper buzzer had been sucked in by a cruising rainbow, again a fighting fit winter fish that was most reluctant to be reeled in.
Talking to a couple of ‘regulars’ in the car park, I found that they had experienced a similar day. The mid-morning fishing had been productive followed by a cold spell for three hours or so during which the fish became very unresponsive and then out came the sun with fish taking buzzer and rising to a small dry fly. With good conditions and a drop in the wind it is not unusual on these northern fisheries to be able to tempt a rainbow to the dry fly, even in the bleak midwinter month of February.
The River Irwell
Graham Marsden and I have both referred to the gradual clean up of the River Mersey and all the tributaries and the fact that salmon have been netted in the Warrington area and sighted in other rivers within the Mersey Basin.
My nearest river is the Irwell that flows from the north eastern hills and moors of the county down to Ramsbottom and Bury and then through Salford eventually feeding into the Mersey. For many years the Irwell was appallingly polluted with industrial (and others) effluent and was, perhaps along with the Tame, the most severely affected of all the waters within this network.
The changes have been remarkable and the coarse fishing is first class in long stretches available both to the Ramsbottom and Bury angling clubs. There have been catches of brown trout up to three and a half pounds to bait fishermen. I have sneaked around the bushes and banks and peeped over bridge parapets and it is no exaggeration to say that there is a very healthy wild brown trout population. I know there have been stockings of brownies over the years but these have now become wild and have spawned successfully. For example, on the upstream side of the bridge in Ramsbottom town centre, above the weir, there is a long glide that comes down from Stubbins and I’ve noted a good number of trout, including some very large brownies, feeding particularly in the late afternoon.
There should be some excellent fishing available on very many rivers in the next year or two and, via the angling clubs, it should not be too expensive. River fishing for wild brown trout is, however, a game that often requires quite different skills to fishing for stocked reservoir trout. More about this subject later in the year as the season gets under way in March.
Tight Lines!
Eddie Caldwell
