Wild Trout in Sussex? August 2016

This was one of those ideas that came about over several pints in the pub with my fishing crazy friend, Dave. Conversation turned to the truly wild fish of our local Sussex rivers and we began to explore the possibility of trying to catch wild, native brown trout from all of them.

It initially started with a few hints and suggestions found in a book written by local Sussex angler, Roger Standen. Sadly, Roger passed away a few years ago but the information and advice he has left behind in his book on Sussex angling has proved invaluable to us. So Roger....thanks for that!

We decided on a challenge to try and catch wild brown trout from all our Sussex rivers. Namely the Western Rother, Eastern Rother, Arun, Adur, Ouse, Cuckmere, Uck and the Wallers Haven. After examining our ordnance survey maps and using good old 'Google Earth' we started to formulate a plan.

Between us, we had fished the upper reaches of most of these rivers in the past anyway. To be honest though, other than on the Sussex Ouse we hadn't had any native brownies. The Ouse is a very special river in that it has an exceptional run of Sea Trout but also a good number of native browns upstream.

So, the Ouse would be a relatively easy one. The other East Sussex rivers needed a little more research. Given our previous experience, we had to go further upstream of anywhere we had ever fished before, new territory. We needed to find the areas where the coarse fish start to thin out, where the rivers become more streamy and swift whilst running through pools and glides. Perfect trout habitat!

These tiny streams were alive with fish

After much research with our maps we decided that we really needed to get out there and have a look on foot. We picked several promising areas on the Uck and Wallers Haven and took a drive out there. The van was loaded with basic float fishing equipment, maggots, worms, tenkara rods, dry flies and nymphs.

It was all quite exciting really. The element of the unknown is so important in my fishing. It is a real motivator. Fishing for known fish in familiar surroundings, for me anyway, is just a little too comfortable. This exploring and pioneering style really suits. We had no idea what we might find and I liked that a lot.

Our first session turned out to be a great start. We arrived at a stretch of river and split up to explore it. I waded up stream, and Dave down. We were both armed with float fishing gear and maggots. There was so little room in the stream that I had to tape my reel to the top 2 sections of my float rod to make it short enough to fish with.

I found a nice glide running under some trees and started feeding a few maggots, before running my little float through. There was just about 2 feet of water if I was lucky and on the first run down, the float buried. It was a small chub, followed by a couple of dace and then a gudgeon.

I thought we were probably too far downstream as it seemed to be all coarse fish. But the next trot gave me another bite and this fought entirely differently....it felt like a trout! And it was! The most perfect wild, brown trout in miniature. I was over the moon. What an incredible little fish! Suddenly, everything seemed possible.

Perfection

I moved swims and found an absolute blinder of a spot, it screamed trout! This was a very productive swim for me and I proceeded to catch a further 5 or 6 incredible looking wild trout, all on my trotted maggots. I couldn't believe how many were there.

After this, I walked back downstream to see how Dave was getting on. He had a keep net in the water and showed me several more beautiful brownies and a load of chub and dace too. I took a few photos and we released the fish.

Tenkara Style

Then we moved on to another pool and tried with the Tenkara rod and dry flies as there were some fish rising. It didn't take long before a couple of dace and another brownie slurped down our tiny midge like offerings. It was incredibly fun fishing I have to say, and we never saw another angler or even any evidence that the stream had ever been fished before.

Do they come any more beautiful and wild?

Our second session was equally successful. We had traced a stream all the way back from the Wallers Haven many miles on 'Google Earth' and set out to investigate it. There was a road crossing it way out in the sticks, this we used this as our point of reference for the satnav to guide us in.

We arrived just after a rain shower and parked up next to the bridge. I wandered up to the edge and peered over.....our research had paid off. Right there, under the bridge, was a nice looking trout holding station in the current.

We tackled up immediately and Dave tried lowering a series of different flies down to see if the fish would rise. Sadly, every time the fly made contact with the surface of the water the trout would skulk off under the cover of some overhanging foliage to hide. It wasn't having it.

I then tied a hook on my line and nicked on a worm. The instant it hit the water the trout raced over and inhaled it. No questions asked. After a lively scrap, I had a very respectable wild brown trout laying in the mesh of the net. At that size, it surely must have been the king of the stream! So beautiful!

Believe it or not this tiny stream deep in the Sussex countryside
held many fine, wild trout.

We then wandered down the rest of the stream, not more than inches deep in places and a foot or two wide at most. Amazingly, it held a good few trout. Some of them more beautiful than any fish I have seen for a long time. They were just perfection in miniature. It was lovely fishing and a very pleasant surprise.

King of the Stream?

We'll certainly be trying again in the future to see what we can find in the other Sussex rivers. So far so good.....