After the cold winter we have just had it is not surprising that the fishing on the rivers has been slow to start. That’s not to say that there has not been some good sport to be had And my self and my clients have enjoyed some great successes while out fly fishing.

The more notable days have been on the Usk and on several occasions we where witness to very large hatches of Grannom. In fact a couple of times it was risky to keep ones mouth open while looking downstream.

Fly fishing tactics for a Grannom hatch. tactics

Grannom, although one of the earliest of the prolific hatches and the one that on my local rivers is the one that really gets the fish to start looking up can be a difficult hatch to fish. The main reason for this is that the fish very rarely feed on the adult flies instead choosing to concentrate on the ascending pupa. Often it is not enough to just dead drift a nymph past the feeding fish you need to get a little lift on the fly as it trundles through the flow. There are a couple of ways this can be achieved the first is to fish slightly down and across allowing the flies to swing round on the current. This way as the line tightens on the end of the drift   the flies will be pulled up through the water. While this method is effective it is fairly common to lose a fair percentage of the fish that try to take the fly. This is because as the fish turns and takes the fly into his mouth the line is often tight so the fish feels the pressure from the line and drops the fly before you have time to strike and set the hook. This can partially be avoided if the rod tip is held high creating a  gentle curve as the line touches the water. This then both cushions the fish slightly and also acts as an early bite indicator( when the line lifts of the water you lift the rod). For me however a more successful method is to fish upstream and induce the take by lifting the rod tip. to fish this method effectively you need to keep up with covering the slack line as the current sweeps the flies downstream toward you.

Grannom Pupa