River Test · fly box
The birthplace of dry-fly fishing, and still the hardest place to fool a brown trout.
| Pattern | Imitates | Size | Technique |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grannom Sedge | Brachycentrus adult | #14 | April: fish it wet, swung downstream and allowed to rise at the end. |
| Mayfly Spinner | Ephemera danica spinner | #10 | The 'duck fly' fall at dusk; the fish take them spent and flat on the surface. |
| Sherry Spinner | Serratella spinner | #16-18 | Evening fall in the weed lanes; watch for a single quiet sip. |
| Pheasant Tail Nymph | Olive nymph | #16-18 | Upstream nymph through the carriers when nothing is rising. |
| Sawyer's Killer Bug | Freshwater shrimp (Gammarus) | #12-14 | A Test original; fish it dead-drift close to the weed. |
The dressing plate
On this river
Approaching a chalk stream
You can see the fish, which means they can see you. Kneel, keep behind the weed, and never let your shadow cross the water. On the Test the accepted approach is to wait for a specific fish to resume rising, then make one cast from a kneeling position ten metres below it.
The upstream nymph
When nothing is hatching, chalk-stream fish still feed on nymphs in the weed lanes. Fish a single small Pheasant Tail upstream on a 5-metre leader with a slack-line cast, and watch the point where the tippet enters the water rather than the fly. Takes are a small hesitation, often no more than the leader stopping for a beat.
Mayfly fortnight
Ephemera danica hatches for about two weeks from the middle of May and it is the one time when the Test's trout lose their caution. Fish a #10 dun during the afternoon and return for the spinner fall at dusk. Because the fish are feeding hard, a slightly imperfect cast is forgiven during this fortnight in a way it never is in July.