Early Season Trout Fishing

[bucko]

Its not so much of a grand occasion these days with plenty of Winter fishing available but the 'Glorious 22nd' would generally mean the start of the stillwater trouting in the region.
Now when I started fly fishing for rainbows on Lockwood and Scaling Dam in around 1983 the first day would generally mean sinking lines along with lures such as Baby Doll, Sweeney Todd, Whiskey Fly, Jack Frost and Appetiser. Many of these flies have since been forgotten it would seem and the whole early season fishing has changed. Goldheads on floating lines have made getting the fly to the right depth possible with a floating line, bungs (bite detectors) have meant a team of buzzers can be fished ultra slow and ultra deep. It would also seem that the fish have become more 'free rising' with any hatches of buzzers being sipped from the surface- something that was a rare occurrance 20 or so years ago.
Perversely though I would say the Summer fishing has changed with the larger flies such as sedge (Caddis) not as prevalent which is sad as for me it was probably the most exciting sport of the season and often brought the better fish out at dusk.

[Davo]

I can't wait for the 22nd Ian because at least i can go fly fishing as my left arm is still wrecked and cant use a beachy.
 
Some old fly names there that bring the memories back, such as Sweeny Tood and Baby Doll, flies i havn't used in years. But why shouldnt they fish just as well today as they did then? Now and again i use one of the old favourites-the Viva, which still fishes well today, especially in darker water. such as the Teesdale reservoirs, or one of my favourites-Leighton.
I used to fish sedges all the time years ago, long horns especially, but like you say they dont fish as well today for some reason and the naturuals aren't so prevalent as they once were.

[bucko]

The Sweeney Todd is a cracking sea trout fly and Whiskey Fly works well for wild browns in stained water but I guess that rainbow fishing moves through trends a lot quicker than other areas of angling.
On the topic of declining insect hatches- You mention Leighton and thats one place I'd say still has a decent sedge hatch. Cow Green can have some excellent olive hatches up near the top end and the stonefly on there are massive- 2-3 inches long and the fish sure cash in when they are hatching.

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