Surrounded by many a drought stricken county, ever hopeful Warren & I descend on the Nadder.

The forecast was absolutely abysmal but we decided regardless, to commit to fishing with the dry fly.

In all my years of fishing I’d never seen such volume in a hatch of Grannom as was witnessed today.

We were extremely lucky in that the bank laden tree line kept the wind impact to a minimum, thus allowing todays menu choice the opportunity to go about it’s business pretty much unhindered.

In their thousands Warren tries to capture the un-gamely and erratic flight of the Grannom. Sadly the light and nature of the compact camera doesn’t make for a good shot of the flies micro world.

The boil and an onslaught of grayling, trout and chub nailing both pupae and emergers with vigour.

The occasional skyward flush of rain & hail did nothing to halt otherwise committed Grannom in their quest to emerge and make for bankside vegetation before being devoured by chasing predators.

We didn’t get many opportunities to choose our species in otherwise murky waters, just nail the cast to the rise… there… there… no there… that one… or, in fly fishing lingo were Warren’s words of wisdom… “just go for the f—king fat one”

Amongst many tiny parr was the gorgeousness that is todays out of season pest – a wee ‘Lady’…

Warren nailed this stunning wild brownie, best fish of the day on a retirer sedge pattern

Note the blue spot behind the eye… a stamp of beautifulness no doubt

I seemed to attract everything other than what I was supposed to be aiming for. A nice chublet found my CDC emerger irresistible, a pity the trout didn’t feel the same.

My CDC emerger took an absolute pasting this afternoon

Late afternoon… the Grannom has waned, the fish are fed and the waters are calm… the day is done.

Whether permitting it’s due a return visit on Saturday having spotted some utter lunkers… till then!

(Oh – If you’re wondering about the title – it’s an anagram of the river and todays fly life)

A quick return to my local Avon having been on the thick end of an a##e kicking on Open day the past weekend. Grey clouds, rain and winds of 20mph… oh joy!

Steering clear of previously visited areas that were seemingly baron of fish, I move from open glides and riffles to narrow tighter tree lined stretches looking for root & branch washed out pockets

With hanging debris and exposed margin tree roots, there should be plenty of deeper pocket water for cover and safety. That’s the theory anyhow… just need some fish to be there and play ball

With a treeline to help buffet the wind I’m delighted to see otherwise illusive olives on the wing

I see a decent fish rise tight to the margin (rod tip pointing), the first sign of any activity this afternoon… it’s more than I saw on opening day so no time to waste… or hurry!

I move to within 30ft and sit low on the rock in the previous picture, the olive tells me all I need to know… I apply this imitation – an absolute gem of a tie from uber talented Tony Riley.

So good I took it twice…

For 35 minutes I sat and watched what I thought was the same fish rising to duns… I position myself as best as I could for the cast given my location… no ruddy flow and I send a ripple across the pool

b#@&#$ks! – what a total numpty… I stay totally motionless in the hope the fish is otherwise occupied, 10 minutes go by and not a rise to some visible duns, how long do you wait?

Then a rise… it slurps a dun… I nail a second cast just upstream of the fish, the first having loosely clipped a branch, slurp again… this time to my fly, it all seemed to take an eternal age but I nailed it.

Admittedly somewhat of a lean fish but hell what a power house – chuffed as nuts

I mentioned earlier what I thought was only one fish rising, I was aghast to see another fish rise in the same place whilst extricating the fly from this one… stuff me, I release my catch and sling a prospecting cast to almost the same spot, munch… the fly’s been had again, I lift in and nail this ‘brother from another mother’ to go with ‘his the sister from another mister’ – ha!

Not a great picture but it just wouldn’t sit still – how miserable can one fish look?

So ‘back atcha’ river Avon… all square, I won’t be kicked twice. what little rain there was this afternoon was seriously welcome, here’s hoping for more in the coming weeks – I hope for you too.