Usk

Saturday 15th May

A quick trip across the old bridge saw me at Sweets Tackle Shop at Usk within 45 mins of leaving home. Sweets holds a special place in my memory as on Easter hols when I was about 11 or 12 we made a family visit to the shop. Here we were shown two large (20lb plus?) salmon caught from the town water. I was also taught how to tie a fly by Jean Williams. A photo of me concentrating hard on my Grey Wulff was kept from then on by Granny in her bedroom, and the photo is till there in my Mum’s room now Granny has passed away.
Fast forwarding to 2010 and an almost identical photo of a modern day kid was to be seen pinned to Jean’s notice board just inside the shop. A quick introduction and the offer of a cup of tea from Jean saw her vaguely recognise me across the 30 years or so that had passed.
Listening to two other chaps who had been out fishing it was apparent that a hatch of yellow may duns had been happening but that the fish had been not that keen on rising. Tucking a few Yellow Sally’s in to my fly box together with some hare’s ears nymphs I sallied forth minus the very reasonable £14 for a day ticket on the town water. It seems worth noting that most of the flies in Jean’s shop seemed to be on the large side (12s and 14s) which matches up pretty well with the reports of large fly life on various forums.

Walking down to the bottom of the beat it was clear that the river was very low and clear and that only the very occasional fish was showing up top. Rigging up with my normal searching duo rig I worked my way upstream only to discover that the recent repair jobs on my now very breathable waders weren’t really working. It being a brisk late spring day this was expected to become a problem. It was not until I made my way up above the town bridges that I began to see more fish rising with any more purpose that the occasional ‘oncers’ of earlier in the day. I was also soon to see some very nice fish rising within yards of the bank and just as quickly scare them away from the high bank. Rises were still fairly sparse so finding myself at the top of the beat I decided to fish back down using a more traditional down and across technique. There was a big hatch of Yellow May Duns happening and whilst there were some small fish moving it could hardly be said to be a full blown rise. Finding a traditional wet with some yellow around its thorax (Wickham’s?) I was soon to bounce off a couple of very quick takes. The third stuck and a nice fish of about 10” was soon coming to hand. Its split tail betrayed its stockie origins but given that it had been a slow day I was happy to have caught at last. A strengthening and cold downstream wind from the North soon combined with my leaking waders to send me home via the fish and chip shop.

Whilst the fishing was slow- probably a combination of tough conditions and my novice river status- the day will remain memorable for the warm welcome from Jean Williams and her lovely little shop. About the only concession she seems to have made to modernity is a new phone. Next time I think I will stay for a tea and chat. No need to rush after all.