Thankfully, our visit to the River Test this year was not hindered by Covid19 restrictions, resulting in an excellent turnout of 23 eager fly-fishers.
With ideal weather forecast for the day, early risers started arriving at 08:00hrs, keen to capitalise on the near perfect conditions - light winds, dry, initially not too bright, with intermittent cloud cover. The day, arranged by our most loyal member, David Gould, allows us to fish a 2½ mile length of the river running from the Broadlands Estate in the north down to near to the M27 in the south. We have available to us, not only three salmon beats towards the Broadlands Estate in the north, but also a further three trout beats towards the south.
Unfortunately, the recent heavy downpours had notably clouded the river but with everyone keen to concentrate on the task in hand, it was not long before rod tips were bending, and catches were being reported. On many of the beats the river is fast flowing, and reasonably deep in some areas, requiring the need for heavyweight nymphs to get down to the fish near to the riverbed. This, however, can present us a few difficulties, not least of which is catching out-of-season species, a point proven when one of the guests, Mike, landed a rather nice 10lb Salmon on a purple long-shank heavyweight nymph. Furthermore, the unseasonably warm temperatures brought some unexpected benefits with dry flies also proving effective, Klinkhammers, Daddies and Grey Wolffs, all proving successful on the day.
In addition to Mike’s Salmon, Callum Noblett, our fly-fisherman of the day, landed an excellent Grayling, along with four further Grayling and one Brown Trout. An angler, who shall remain nameless, landed a rather small Trout.
The total catch returns from the 23 fly-fishermen numbered 28 fish - one Salmon, 17 Grayling, nine Brown Trout and one Roach. It is no mean feat landing wild Brown Trout and Grayling, and indeed Salmon, on this beautiful, world renowned, River Test. It constantly maintains its reputation for continually ‘testing’ the skills and ability of even the most experienced of anglers. Best PICT member was Alan Badcock, who had one Roach and three Grayling.
It was an excellent day with one of the best catch returns from the River Test for many years and my personal thanks to everyone who supported us on the day, but also a special thankyou to Mike Tolley, who kindly stood in for David Gould, assisting me to welcome guests and collect the much-needed contributions. Unfortunately, our new President was unable to join us.
Regrettably neither David Gould nor George Fowler, two of our staunchest supporters, were able to join us - David recovering from a bout of the dreaded Covid, and George having suffered a severe reaction to recent minor surgery. As an entity we are still coming to terms with the retirement of our long-standing secretary, George Fowler, who has consistently strived to find a comprehensive range of venues for us to test our individual skills. A special mention here to thank George for the incredible dedication he has given to PICT Angling over many, many years.
Despite some PICT members not recording any catches, I know everyone enjoyed their day and are looking forward to the opportunity to return next year.
Report by Alan Badcock