Charles Jardine joins Fish & Fly!
Nestled away in a wooded valley on the Duke of Norfolk's estate in the beautiful town of Arundel in West Sussex, Chalk Springs is surely one of the countries premier small water fisheries. With a reputation for quality fish as well as the crystal clear water that its name sakes provide, the fishery is a prime stalking water.
I had arranged to meet Charles for an evenings fishing as he was working on a new book down in nearby Hove just along the coast. With the warm light of a summer afternoon still at large and after a couple of cheap shots at the orange highlights on my fishing vest it was time to get busy. There was a good hatch of sedges on the wing already, with several small swarms flitting in the sunlight under the overhanging trees next to the water. An occasional fish came up to investigate a waterlogged insect or two, but largely they remained down deep and this was especially true of the larger specimens of both rainbows and browns that cruised slowly back and forth.
Charles worked his way slowly around the bank, peering through the tall reeds carefully so as not to 
spook any bruisers that might happen to be parked on the other side. A few casts were fired out but with nothing showing interest in flies that were brought right past their noses it was time to move on to pastures new. A change of fly from a lively marabou tailed damsel imitation to a tiny beadhead nymph made an instant difference as a hungry rainbow made a fatal mistake. In the clear water you can see every move the fish make and the flash of white as the trout opened and closed its mouth was all that Charles needed to see. A bright silver rainbow of around 3lb was soon in the net after a brief tussle.
As the light faded the larger fish became suddenly much more apparent, perhaps rising up from the deeper holes in the lake prior to feeding under the cover of darkness. In one corner where the water drops away down a steep bank, half a 
dozen fish of 5lbs and much bigger cruised around where an hour or two earlier it was empty. Still they could not be tempted by Charles or myself so again we moved on. By now the light was fading and the fishery staff were starting to make the rounds so picking out a single fish at distance, Charles fired off a cast that landed inch perfect and softly. Next second the rod was bent over and a much nicer fish was obviously on the other end as the reel screamed a little in protest a couple of times. A nice brown had fallen to the stalking tactics being employed and was a fitting end to the evenings entertainment. At a shade under 5lb's it was not one of the double figure fish we had seen but it was still a quality fish in anyones book with a perfect full tail and in obviously good health.
This photo opportunity also gave rise to the "man sniffs fish" photo you may have seen on our Blog earlier this week (be sure to bookmark it!). If you look further down the blog posts you will see a couple from Charles also which he posted live from his recent trips to Belize and the Bahamas. You can expect to see more of his adventures and travels in this format over the coming weeks and months as well as news from the Fish & Fly camp and other guest contributors.
For more details on Chalk Springs, please visit their website.