Weekly River & Hatches Update
July is the month for the evening rise, probably the most regular mealtime the trout have. Even on apparently perfect fishing days flies may not hatch in the morning or afternoon, but there will usually be a rise of some sort in the evening. You will often be fishing tiny flies that are hard to see, so be prepared to work at following them on the water. The trout have got lazy so you need to be deadly accurate with your casting and unless you can precisely track your fly you won’t know whether it is covering the target fish.
Weather:
Yet another hot weekend in store, but by Tuesday temperatures are staring coming down again. Gentle breezes from the south , with sunny spells. The sun officially sets after 9pm. Sunrise: 05:04 GMT. Sunset 21:18 GMT. UV: Very High, Pollution: Low. Pressure: 1019mb.
River Flows:
The river flows are still ranging between normal and below normal as rated by the Environment Agency. Thankfully, the riverbanks are dry, so in most cases walking boots will suffice, though a pair of wellies or thigh waders might just help coax your quarry to the water’s edge.
Hatches:
My general rule again for July is to be eclectic in your fly choices and be prepared to change a lot, with everything from a size 10 French Partridge down to a size 18 Greenwell’s Glory with a variety of sedges and unwinged flies in between with no single fly predominating
Fly Patterns:
Last week seems to be the week that you either went small or went deep with a size 18 Black Gnat catching a lovely 5lb fish on the River Avon and a size 20 Parachute Adams successful on the same beat on the same day. On the faster water of the River Itchen a pair of anglers accounted for 12 of their 13 fish with a nymph fished New Zealand style. Back on the River Avon six fish fell to a single angler on a size 16 olive CDC emerger.
Our Seasonal tips:
As a general rule, we would expect surface action timings to be determined by the weather on the day, again generally warm and sunny with no rain forecast this coming week. Think harder about lighter tippets, concealment and keeping the sun to your face. Shadows and line flash will give you away in a moment. Be prepared to change your fly often; if your target fish ignores a fly more than twice, change size or fly.
News, events and catch reports:
