Fishing small rivers, low water

[owen]

Being largely a big water bung it oot let it swing around type punter I found myself at a bit of a loss when fishing the N esk recently with low water and lots of specific little runs. (despite some sage advice from Mr Tom of this forum).

Did the obvious things, looking to see where fish were showing, looking for likely spots where they may be lying i.e. deeper runs etc but was wondering if there is any specific approach differences you would take in this situ.

A friend tells me people who normally fish small rivers can easily read big ones but the other way around doesnt always apply, and Id tend to agree as dont think Im used to looking closely enough in the big river situ, nor adapt my approach enough on small water.

E.g. start with small flies working up?
avoid certain bight colours?
for gods sake stay out of the water?
keep your rod low?
rest pools?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Nolon.

[tweedsider]

I have my own theory that smaller rivers require smaller flies and last season in the rare periods of low water conditions had some success with size 14 doubles and trebles. Certainly stay out of the water wherever possible, dont hesitate to come down to 8lb nylon this on the end of a 9ft floating leader. Dont be frightened to change to a sinking leader in any larger pools where fish may be lying deep in the height of the day. I see lots of people trying to fish for salmon in low water with 9- 10ft single handed rods. A mistake in my view with so many false casts before delivery. Best stick to a 11-13 ft double hander and learn the skills of overhead as well as spey casting. One clean lift and deliver, on small rivers you soon learn that accuarcy is as important a casting skill as being able to cast the complet line off the reel.

Regards and tight lines Tweedsider

[tenet]

Couldn't agree more with Tweedsider. Fine and far off is the motto and if you don't have to get in the water don't.

Fished both the Border Esk and the Stinchar on many occasions and the secret is small flies (size 14 or even 16's on occasions) and light lines in lowish water. Ian Bell the fishery manager on the Buccleuch water on the Esk seems to only wear Wellingtons when fishing and he takes a few most years.

Tenet

[G Ritchie]

I agree with your friend, learning to fish on smaller rivers does teach you more about water craft, how to read pools and how to approach pools better than learning on larger rivers. Which is why I would always recommend that someone starting out salmon fishing, to start off on smaller rivers. You tend to see a lot of anglers who were brought up fishing larger rivers really struggling when they go to a smaller river in low water. Generally they do need smaller flies than larger rivers, wading is often best avoided if possible and the fish are far more easily spooked, so resting pools becomes really important.

[tweedsider]

Hi Graham, most of my fishing is done on a very heavily fished small river, and as you say resting pools in low water conditions is good practice. I have found that in good water flows, say 18 inches above NSL with a tinge of colour, this is not necessary and the successful angler is the one lucky enough to have his fly traveling over a lie when a fish decides to stop.

Tweedsider

[G Ritchie]

I completely agree, in higher water with a touch of colour and the fish running, there is no need to rest the water.

[conwyrod]

I'd say size 10 is big for a small river.

Lamson had a lot of success on a small welsh river last season using size 14 & 16 trebles, weighted with a bead and fished deep.

Most of the salmon I've taken from the same river (apart from on a Mepps ;D) were taken on a deeply fished fly as well - I'm talking a very small river here, half the size of the Whiteadder.

[sinkingtip]

Apr 30, 2009 18:38:40 GMT G Ritchie said:

I completely agree, in higher water with a touch of colour and the fish running, there is no need to rest the water.

Better still, position yourself in the pool tail and remain there - unless asked to move of course ;D

If there is clear evidence, or even an educated guess, that fish are running then let them come to you.
I always feel slightly less confident fishing the throat of a pool in higher water having successfully convinced myself over the years that fish, in this situation, are becoming more fixated by the second with 'moving on' - foolish I know.

Small river (spate ?) - small flee ?
Certainly in low / clear or warmer water.

If your 'wee' river has a decent spring and / or back end run I wouldn't necessarily or automatically feel obliged to fish any smaller than I would on a larger river - assuming you have the water of course.

As mentioned previously, stealth and river craft generally must be at the highest level.

[eskimoo]

I would agree with the points mentioned but also (if you can) study the pool first look for margins in the water flow, changes in depth to try to locate possible lies, change your fly mid pool if needed also your leader, multi tip lines make this easy as you may find the throat is thin and fast with a deeper hole in the middle of the pool, smaller flies can be the solution but depth of fly is very important also, I would say size and depth are more important than pattern, also local knowledge can be the difference between a good day and a blank so do some research and try to find the hot spots relating to the water height and temp and yes stay out of the water but also stay low to the water if you can, dont spook any possible fish by showing yourself to the pool before you fish down it always walk into the head of the pool not up the side of it and keep quite and try not to disturbe the water with false/bad casts, and lastly if the fish are running you can fish the pools just as hard as a large river but you still need to be mindfull of your river craft and still stay out of the water to some degree-dont stand in the run (I have seen it done!!!!) and cover the whole pool give the fly enough time to fish properly all the way to the dangle and try short, medium and long casts to locate the fish.

[owen]

Thanks guys, good advice all.

I saw 14 fish jump in a couple of hours in one pool I was fishing (over a few hours, granted) and though they may just have been not interested in anything I reckon I wasn't doing myself any favours judging by the advice above.

On the upside lots learned and as long as I keep learning and dont keep making the same mistakes there remains some hope for me yet.

Thanks again,
Nolon.

[sinkingtip]

May 4, 2009 16:20:31 GMT owen said:

On the upside lots learned and as long as I keep learning and dont keep making the same mistakes there remains some hope for me yet.

That's about the size of it - a never ending process.
regards
STip

[G Ritchie]

For your approach to a pool in low water you can learn a lot from these.

[conwyrod]

I saw lots of herons on the Tweed last week, 3 or 4 on a single pool, the ghillie said they were taking young ducklings at the moment.

Must admit that I can't remember ever seeing a heron catch a fish!