The slow start to the season continues. With a slight lift in temperature and the waters down to sensible levels maybe the fish would be livening up. With that hopeful thought in mind I wended my way northwards to the wild, upper stretch of the Seven. The car thermometer said it was 13C – somewhat […]
Category: River Seven, Yorkshire
Crikey, the rain has actually stopped and the rivers are starting to recede. About time. So it was up to the Seven at Sinnington to see if the trout were astir. There was still something of a nip in the air early doors, but when I arrived at the river at lunchtime the mist had […]
The crispest of crisp winter mornings, the sky a deep blue and barely a breath of wind: lovely. First off it’s up to Pickering Beck for a periodic sampling of the invertebrates. For anyone who is interested in these things, the three-minute kick sample produced the following: Gammarus: 175; Hepta: 130; Cased caddis: 11; Caseless […]
Bloody Aussies! Not content with humiliating us at cricket, they send over some evil little virus to paralyse half the nation. I got the blummin thing just before New Year (cheers Bruce!) and am only now just about shaking it off. With nice timing my recovery (ish) coincided with a receding of the local waters […]
Up to Pickering Beck for a periodic sampling of the invertebrates as part of the national Riverfly monitoring initiative. The three-minute kick sample produced a lively bag, with good numbers of freshwater shrimp, heptas and cased caddis. In all there were around 300 bugs of the six species that we monitor, including a brute of […]
Grayling fishing | River Seven, Yorkshire
First ever outing for grayling on the fly a modest success (by my standards)
I’ve been fly fishing for God knows how long – 25 years maybe? – but have never before set out to target grayling in the autumn and winter. There’s been no particular reason for this; I suppose I tend to think that fly fishing season is the trout season. Autumn and winter is for bait. […]
River Seven, Yorkshire
Tough but decent session on the Seven brings down the curtain on a fine season
And so, boo hoo, to the last outing of the season. And what a great season it has been. No blanks (!), plenty of fish, including a few whoppers, and access to a terrific new water in the upper reaches of the River Seven here in North Yorkshire. It was to this stretch that I […]
River Seven, Yorkshire
Exploring the upper reaches of the Seven: tough going but ultimately rewarding
Keen to cram in as much fishing as possible before the season’s end, I decided to have a crack at the top end of the River Seven on the North York Moors on a stretch of water I haven’t yet fished. When I looked at the river earlier in the week it was running too […]
Greedy for more fishing before the season ends I had something of a dilemma. After the heavy recent rain, which water would be most fishable? I didn’t fancy the upper stretch of the Seven because if it was a bit high and coloured wading would be a gamble, and having sat on my backside in […]
Most of my attention on the River Seven lately has been on the new stretch, a tumbling, boulder-strewn frenetic moorland river. Time therefore to see how the lower beat is faring – a more sedate section of the river, in keeping with the gentler contours of the surrounding farmland. The day had a faint nip […]