Friday, November 7, 2008

It's a big river down here

I decided to give the lower Eden a look today, maybe not the best idea - it was bitterly cold with a quite severe upstream wind which would make fishing a touch uncomfortable as you don't get a lot of shelter down here.

The river looked dead - no flylife about and consequently no sign of any surface activity. It was too cold to mess about with too many changes so I decided the best idea was to zip up tight to keep the wind out, get the bugs on, stick with them and search.

The Eden is a big river down here and those not used to it may find it quite intimidating, but like any other large expanse of water you just need to break it down into likely fish holding areas, then fish what you can and where you can as efficiently as possible.

One method that is becoming quite popular down here is to suspend your bugs below a bite indicator - I know some are against bite indicators and say it's float fishing and not fly fishing - although it's not a method I use a lot as I find it a bit boring I have nothing against anyone that does employ it as on some days, especially in the depths of winter, the indicator can be the difference between success and failure, it can also be a very effective way of searching large and sometimes inaccessible areas of water like we have here on the lower river.

Sport was slow today and as usual with sub-surface fishing depth was crucial , constantly changing weight to suit water velocity and depth did produce a few Grayling with most takes coming when the bugs were bouncing bottom - I did have to resort to the indicator in some areas.
The fish remain in excellent condition and definitely seem to punching above their weight so far this winter.



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