Bewl Water is fishing well with big fish being caught, if you know how!!!

Rob teaching at Bewl

I managed to get down to Bewl Water to enjoy I some top of the water autumnal action. Rob Barden (who fishes for England) was manning the Fishing Lodge so I did not hesitate to ask his advice on the where and how. He recommended drifting either side of the fish cages in terms of the where and fishing a booby on the point and a couple of small naturals on the dropper. He said the knack that makes the difference at this time of year is to fish the booby static, and if on the drift not retrieving any more than is necessary to keep the fly line straight between the rod tip and the fly. So fully briefed I went to work.  The weather was ideal, mainly overcast with a good ripple on the water.  As I was motoring to the cages I saw a circle of smooth water and was tempted to stop and cast to it as it was probably caused by fish circling just under the surface. I should have paused but the call of the cages was too strong!   

A selection of boobies

Now I am use to retrieving boobies fast on warm summer evenings when the trout will provide a brilliant chase, but that is totally wrong in the autumn. So I had to force myself to keep the booby as static as possible and it worked.  In the end I gave up drifting, I got lazy and moored to a buoy, with fish moving all around.  The weather was bright and there was a quiet time early afternoon but there were fish showing most of the time.  Just before I was leaving the clouds opened and it poured. I managed to wrap the leader round the top of the rod and thought of leaving, but I decided I liked extreme fishing so I tied a new leader on put an fresh minkie booby on the point and was swiftly rewarded by a cracking take and another 3 lb fish.

It was worth getting wet as I filleted the fish and my wife cooked my favourite trout recipe "Pan fried citrus trout with basil". The recipe is in the book "50 Classic Trout Recipes" by Jane Bamforth at the amazing cost of £4.99.  I got it for Christmas last year so if you want to get a fly fisherman a lovely present this year there is my suggestion.