Urbantrout reader Spencer Clayton fishes many Borderland rivers including the Teme and Onny – and after reading chapter 21 of Trout in Dirty Places earlier this year, he’s been inspired to start exploring Shrewsbury’s magical little Rea Brook too.
At the end of last week he sent us this great catch report and selection of photos, which gave us a whole succession of shocks of nostalgic recognition, and reminded us forcibly how we’d only just scratched the surface, back in August 2010.
Some of those palmer-sipping grayling are growing up nicely… read on and enjoy!
Had a good day on the Rea Brook yesterday – on my second visit to this cracking little urban river controlled by the Shropshire Anglers Federation, I started fishing from the end of the White Hart cul de sac, and worked my way up to the golf course to fish a few runs there, and on up to Meole Brace Bridge.
When I started fishing around 11.30am I noticed it was a cool day, a lot cooler than the last time I fished here in early August when I had another cracking day and caught a lot of fish.
I started with a NZ setup on my go-to 3wt rod – Tan Klinkhamer #14 with a 2mm copper bead, PTN #18 24″ below – and used a CDC Aphid #20 for the few rising fish. Caught 16 grayling to 12″ and 4 wild brown trout to 10″, and lost a few as well.
All day I only saw 4 rises to aphids and what looked like needle fly. Fly life was sparse, a sign that the end of the wild brown trout season isn’t far away, which is a sad feeling really, as high river levels due to the amounts of rain we’ve had have limited my days of river and stream fishing. But it’s rain we need for the rivers – last year it was gutting to see our rivers bare.
The Himalayan balsam on the Rea Brook is a problem, with the worst of it being on the golf course making the river quite inaccessible. It needs volunteer days and some funding to clear and get rid of it.
I ended the day at 5.30pm at Meole Brace, changed and packed all my gear into my back pack and walked back into Shrewsbury along the Hereford Road back to the train station – a lot of great buildings to see on the way and in the historic town, and also the River Severn where the Rea joins her.
If you fish an urban river that’s featured in Trout in Dirty Places – or even if it’s not – why not send us your own fishing report to let us know how it’s getting on?
(All photos: Spencer Clayton)
