Wednesday 18th July

I decided to see what effect the current heat wave and enduring lack of rain was having on the trout in the Gt.Stour. My theory was that they would be hiding under the weed or in deep holes during the heat of the day. The best chance would be in the evening as it cooled down and the sedges came out to play on the water.
The river looked fantastic when I got there around 7pm. A lush braid of ranunculus and crystal clear gravel bottomed channels. There was little sign of either fish or fly life yet so I wandered off downstream studying the water in detail as I went. This first evening I was on a stretch near the village of Chartham. The river has some deep sections here with a massive old mill pool at the top.
It was 8pm before the first fish rose to what looked to be a very sparse hatch of tiny olives and small sedges. I bungled my chance and put the fish down but what looked like a couple of small chub were rising a bit further up. This time my approach was better but they repeatedly refused my flies but obligingly kept rising. Then I got lucky and managed to catch one of the olives. It was a BWO female with distinctive slate blue wings and a russet brown body. I tied on my #16 imitation and cast it as delicately as I could onto the water above the two fish which I could now clearly see were trout not chub. One took it straight away and now a battle royal ensued. This fish wasn’t big but he was feisty and he knew every trick in the book. Fortunately so did I, and eventually with great relief I netted him. A perfect little brown of just under a pound.

As the evening progressed I found that the fish were all frequenting shaded areas where trees on both banks formed an effective canopy like a tunnel. This made casting very tricky.As the light faded the fish moved into shallow water and were rising steadily. A couple of nice chub but no more trout came my way before it got too dark.

Thursday 19th July

This evening I was back but on a different stretch of water nearer to Canterbury that had just the kind of shaded pools the fish had shown a preference for yesterday.The problem was that very little fly was hatching so rises were very few and far between. Finally I found a bit of activity in a lovely secluded run. Half a dozen trout were rising and I could see them clearly. There was one that was almost black where it had adapted to match the dark bands of blanket weed on the bottom. Very difficult fishing and a fair bit of cursing as I retrieved my fly from the foliage yet again. Slowly and carefully I managed to master it and put my BWO fly in the right place and a beautifully marked trout of just over the pound he was too.
It was very challenging fishing for very spooky trout but that’s what made it so good !