New Zealand In Herefordshire

Approaching this small river in Herefordshire I could tell that my tactics for this Sunday afternoon were going to need a little thought.

I've not seen the River Lugg as low as this for a long time and as I walked downstream I could see that there were plenty of fish in the faster, more oxygenated water but were all nervous and darting for cover at the slightest sound or movement.

The 'New Zealand' style of fishing is basically where a small nymph (#16 or smaller) is tied on to a length of line around 12"-24" long and then tied to the bend of the hook on a dry fly (Klinkhamer works extremely well). The dry fly helps to support the nymph and also acts as an indicator to detect the slightest of takes.

There is a well written article here

Under such situations where the majority of the water is 2ft deep or less this method is deadly because it creates the minimum amount of disturbance and as long as your approach is with stealth the fish will readily take both nymph and dry.

I ended with good quantities of both Trout and Grayling, although I have always found that most of the 'Moms & Dads' of the Grayling world tend to lie in the deeper water where a totally different method is called for...I shall hopefully return soon to try and tempt one or two to give themselves up.