River Wye Gromain

Sunday 22nd March 09.

River Wye Gromain.

Arrived at the river at 11am accompanied by James Robbins.Fired up the hobo stove and had a fresh cup of tea whilst tackling up,9ft rods matched with 5 weight lines seemed about right.

Although it was a lovely bright day ,conditions were against us with the water low and clear,plus a gusting downstream wind.The wading on this part of the upper Wye can be a bit hair raising at times as the river bed is mostly polished bedrock,which can be very slippery and uneven.I explained this to James,who of course took no notice whatsoever and promptly waded up to his chest!Mind you after a few disco dancing sessions,or was it skating on ice,i noticed he soon retreated to shallower water!

James soon took the first fish a nice brown around 12in on a goldhead nymph.Then for a couple of hours around mid day there was a small hatch of olives and a few fish began to rise.It was almost imposible to present a dry fly in the strong wind.James wisely changed to spider patterns and took a flurry of browns and a couple of nice Grayling during this period.I hoever was having a bit of a mare,missing a few and having my hook nearly straightened by what felt like a bit of a beast!I did manage to take a trout and a couple of par so avoided the blank,but James got the tactics right and ended with 9 trout plus a couple of Grayling.

At Around 6 we called it a day and headed for the pub,all in all it was a great day out on some superb water with not another angler in sight.

Regards Steve