Tuesday 19 October 2021

Secret Stream Silver


Very few places fill me with more anticipation than fishing the Secret Stream (I’ve never mentioned it’s name) - less than a mile long, shallow, gin-clear water and flowing though the most beautiful countryside. And James and I found ourselves lucky enough to be fishing it on the opening day of the grayling season.

It’s been nearly two years we last laid eyes on it - our 11th visit in six years - and we were on the riverbank, gear set up, long before the sun broke the horizon. As soon as we had enough light it was stick ‘n’ pin, maggots and searching the gravels with polaroids for grayling among the many trout and millions of minnows.

The minnows were ravenous but the trout were pretty well behaved - except for the triploids - I landed a few of those, one of which was well over 6lb (would have smashed my river PB if it was in season). And we found the ladies of the stream - beautiful bars of silver - fantastic fishing - cracking day in the autumn sunshine!





14 comments:

  1. Wow, looks fantastic and some cracking fish. Where was my invite ? !!!

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    1. Probably the most beautiful bit of water I’m lucky enough to fish - your invite must have got lost in the post!

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    2. You're keeping it under your hat, I can see why !!!

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    3. Can’t name it out of respect for the locals - plus it’s tiny, only 2 people allowed on the river at a time and then only on certain days - very lucky to get to fish it opening day (well done James!).

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  2. Replies
    1. They’re all stunning - love the darker colours as they get bigger - a real treat to catch!

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  3. Lovely grayling, looks another nice little stream that! Fished the wye again saturday but slow going - only a jack, not surprising given how low it is now. Hopefully fish better this weekend, and I'm on chew also for a day

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    1. Cheers. It used to hold pike to double figures but they had problems with otters a few years ago which wiped out all the pike - spotted 2 pike this time, both about a pound but at least they’re back!

      Heard The Wye had slowed right down, but well done on the jack - I’ve just realised I haven’t caught a pike in over a year!!! A jack would do nicely right now!

      Good luck on Chew, only fished it once (so far) - so exciting knowing what could be lurking just beneath the boat. Good luck and as always let me know how you get on.

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    2. Good to see them making a comeback! Blimey! You'll have to get some trips in to the Wye!

      Cheers - will do, as you say something a bit different with the chance of a real lump!

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    3. Yeah, starting to forget what pike look like!!

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  4. Replies
    1. Really was - spent weeks looking forward to it, and it seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. Can’t wait to return (although that probably won’t be this year).

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