The month started off by continuing with the great Danica hatches we saw at the tail end of May. Evening bird song was punctuated by audible feeding and the intermittent slap of enthusiastic fish as trout sucked down mayflies in their hundreds.
Church beat and Chenson continued to be the favourite spots where the thigh to chest deep water remains imperious to dryer weather. That said we took plenty of big fish from margins in very shallow water where the mature fish could sup down the plentiful food source swapping maximum calories for minimal expenditure of energy.
As the month progressed the trout continued to target the Danica despite their dwindling numbers and in spite of plenty of other alternatives on the surface. Fewer rises and more fish moving in search of the next meal increased the challenge of presenting a fly to a fish and both blind casting and suspending nymphs had little effect.
June Flies & Fishing
Professional fly tier Andrew Burton stayed for a few days with a group of friends and brought his vice for tying tying up several of his beautiful patterns.
You may remember Andrew generously donated a coveted box of flies as one of the raffle ticket to raise money for the RTFCA in the Trout & Salmon Spring Gathering Weekend.
We had several nights of fly tying in the bar, with Andrew’s dry white mayfly pattern being a favourite with all the anglers. Andrew kindly left some flies with us and they’ve been continuing to account for many fish throughout the month.
Tom didn’t really get a chance to fish this month, otherwise numbers would likely have broken all previous records, but I did find myself fishing much more in his style. Blind casting simply didn’t work this month. Unless you saw a fish rise and presented a fly to it, chances were you wouldn’t catch. Walking the bank looking for rising fish or simply waiting for the rise to start were very much de rigueur for June.
In the early part of the month, this was easy as fish were rising everywhere. As the month progressed and the Danica numbers decreased, there were long periods of inactivity, followed by 15-20 minutes of opportunity and then nothing again until the next bite. With Ephemera danica being one of a relatively few species that mate in between period between sunset and dusk, it’s not surprising that the hour before dusk was almost always the most consistent fishing.
Despite a 20 day month due to closure for temperatures, the total number of fish caught was higher than last year. Guests at the start of the month had much easier time of it than those toward the middle of the month, but we had a good number of anglers staying and most everyone managed a few fish, even in the challenging conditions, as well as some lovely days on the river.
The most consistent aspect of June has been the size of the fish. On one evening in early June, I caught 17 fish, only two of which were under 8 inches. Half the fish caught were between 11 and 14 inches. Having been feeding heavily, they were chunky, healthy, hard fighting fish. Even the little fish have been feeding so heavily they’re nearly as wide as they are long!
I’ve noticed recently that it’s almost become the exception for me over to not catch at least one fish over 10” even if I’ve only had two or three of an evening. The bigger fish are now such a common occurrence I’ve switched exclusively to 5x tippet, sacrificing presentation for the confidence to keep a large fish out of the roots and to play it more quickly to the net. Hopefully this is a trend that will continue and another sign of the river’s continued health.
Buglife
Towards the end of the first week in June we were seeing larger numbers and more diversity in the mayfly species than ever seen before, as well as caddis of all shapes and sizes and a few different stoneflies. All of these seemed to get a free pass with the fish, who were laser focussed on the Danica.
We also found two species of mayfly not found in any records for the River Taw, which was exciting, especially if you’re a neophyte mayfly geek!
Since the fish were only really interested in one fly this month, the review of bug life on the river for June can be more for documentation and comparison for future years.
The short version is that there wasn’t much we didn’t see. In the bug calendar, June has more species on the wing than any other. Most afternoons saw the undersides of leaves along the bank laden with Ephemera danica duns settling in, ready for their transition to spinners. Several of the larger Sycamore leaves could have three or four species on the same leaf.
Blue Winged Olives were were arguably the most commonly seen mayfly in early June and in any other year, these would have been one of the primary targets for the trout.
Of the baetids, the Small Dark Olives were consistently the most prevalent during the first half of the month, but we saw Small Spurwings, Large Spurwings, Pale Wateries, and a few Pond Olives. On the cooler days Iron Blues and Large Dark Olives seemed more abundant.
One of the most exciting discoveries in June was another member of the Ecdyonurus genus, Ecdyonurus insignis or Large Green Dun. With its light coloured body and dark body markings we originally assumed these to be slightly smaller specimens of the many E. danica around.
Since it isn’t identified in any of the records we use, it wasn’t a species we were looking for. It wasn’t until it was spotted sharing the underside of a leaf with a Green Drake that it realised it was quite different.
Looking more closely at the mottled wing and very distinctive markings on the underside of the abdomen leaves no doubt that we have another highly pollution sensitive species on the river.
Below the surface, nymphs were very scarce compared to the spring months. Not surprising given the numbers of insects on the wing, but late in the month we began to see more and more of a mature unidentified rock clinger (Ecdyonurus) species.
Overall we had 259 wild brown trout on the returns despite some tough days in the middle of the month and suspension of fishing 20 days into the month. With another bout of heat on the way and no rain in the forecast it is likely we’ll have to maintain the fishing suspension into the middle of July.
If you are booking ahead, remember that you can cancel both fishing and accommodation with 48 hours notice, so there is no danger in booking and making a final decision closer to the date. Our Fishing Break is a Dinner Bed & Breakfast package that includes fishing for £165/night, and our Ultimate Fishing Package combines a stay in our Luxury Treehouse with fishing, as featured in Trout & Salmon Magazine last year. Both can be booked online or by contacting the hotel.
June Fly Fishing Gallery
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