in all England must have been the one I caught yesterday at Grapham. Most rainbow trout in this country are like battery chickens with scales. This one was like a sea-trout, perfect, glittering silver with each scale distinct. I should have had more of them, but for a mixture of idleness and squeamishness:
The margins of the lake are full of coarse fish fry at this time of year: little fish about an inch long, which the trout gorge on. These are famous, and it feels very macho to fish with a fly that consists largely of a strip of mink fur that wobbles through the water like a dying fish. That’s what I caught my trout on.
But when I opened him up, the sink filled with little crunchy things the size and colour of large green peppercorns: freshwater snails, which he had been gorging on. There were ate least fifty in his stomach. I’d have learnt this at the waterside if I had spooned him, and caught a great many more fish. But using little green blobby flies feels much less serious than using huge fish-like ones.
Still, there is enough trout in the fridge to feed five adults tonight, even filletted and gravad before being quickly grilled with mustard and breadcrumbs this evening. I’ll post the recipe if anyone is interested.
You might like to have a look at this article:
http://www.bestofnzflyfishing.com/articles/mouse-eatingtrout.htm