A long overdue jaunt to Bellbrook Valley saw a steely, misty day in pursuit of rainbows on imitative patterns. Lets face it- so much more subtle and rewarding doing it this way than yanking in lures. This time it was for Total Fly Fisher magazine- with the hope of taking fish close in on some natural patterns.
In my humble opinion, its a shame so few articles feature pictures of the natural trout food we seek to imitate. Bellbrook is phenomenal for natural invert life and didn't dissappoint- a quick dip saw tons of freshwater shrimps, hog lice, corixa and baby newts. Baby Newts? Yes- lots of them, not too dissimilar in profile to a wiggly damsel nymph pattern. Is this why the marabou tailed damsel is always such a staple at Bellbrook?
I wanted to keep on the smaller stuff to start with however, and the best patterns on the day were smallish shrimps and Daiwl bachs on a slow figure of eight retrieve- some ballistic fights ensued after very gentle takes and I can't wait to see photographer Simon Steer's impressions of a moody winter scene in print- along with some close ups of the naturals we copied.
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