SEPTEMBER BROWNS ON THE RIVER WENNING
BY
PAT REGAN
It's never easy fishing a new stretch of water, especially in late summer when the nettles, thistles and brambles threaten the unwary angler who has taken a wrong turn.
Some stretches of the Wenning cannot be described as a fly-fishers dream, simply because of the amount of overhanging trees which try to snap one's leader at every other cast. Sport can be had though, albeit with the need for great care and dexterity.
On one occasion, after fighting my way through the Vietnamese-like mass of undergrowth into a decent looking little pool, I noticed a sparse hatch of Medium olives. Positioning myself into a good mid-stream casting spot, I succeeded in rising the nearest taker on a dry dun pattern which was mouthed by the Trout, then instantly rejected with playful disgust.
The Olive hatch petered out as soon as it had started and rises quickly ceased. The odd stone-fly and sedge that landed on the surface were arrogantly ignored by the Trout. However, all was not lost as a swarm of Great Red Spinners promptly had the fish nicely on the fin once again.
I quickly tied on a dry pattern which instinctively felt right and was soon rewarded with my first Wenning brownie of the late afternoon. It wasn't a monster but fought like a tiger on my six foot midge rod and splashed about all over the pool. I returned this fish promptly, dried the fly and cast again to another riser over to my right, tucked in under an overhanging oak branch. The spinner drifted slowly over her waiting neb, then 'wham' she was on and thrashing about like the last one.
Unlike the darker late-season browns of the Rivers Doe and Twiss these plump Wenning fish are very shiny and shot through with marvellous colour, spaced with lovely vermillion red spots. Pound for pound their fighting qualities are on a par with the scrappers I've previously hooked in the various stretches of the Lune (and this includes daytime caught Sea-Trout on the dry-fly too.)
A long cast upstream produced my third fish which was the best (estimated at just under a pound.) I lost a big one which was around the pound and a half class earlier at the net. All were caught on the same spinner dressing. Soon the spinners disappeared and the river was, apart from the odd call of a Dipper, once again strangely silent. Night approached and It was time to head for the safe lights of home.
Although sometimes hard work, the mysterious magic of such beautiful little streams like the Wenning must never be underestimated. They are well worth the effort involved for the dedicated dry-fly angler who wants to find exciting light-line sport, intermixed with wild, north country natural grandeur.
Although admittedly not a fully imitative dressing, other anglers may be interested in tying the ultra simple (yet quite deadly) pattern mentioned below.
The dressing is as follows:
THE WENNING SPINNER
HOOK: 16-14 UP-EYED FINE WIRE.
SILK: FINE GREY
BODY: GREY SILK OR FLOSS
WING: NONE
HACKLE: NATURAL MEDIUM RED COCK OR GINGER
I believe that this fly could be improved with the addition of a few red cock hackles as a tail although my original did not have them built in. The natural insect has very long tails indeed and is popular with the feeding Trout throughout the day.