Not so much Ladies of the Stream

It was with great anticipation of getting back out on the river solo again that I felt as I drove up the Dale this morning in the morning sunshine and its wasnt long until I had geared up and was walking towards the river.

The snow still on the tops of the hills surrounding the Dale.








The river looked to be at a perfect height but was gin clear which would make things a bit tougher, as I waded across the river to get downstream to my starting point I could feel how cold the river was from the splashes on my fingers, thankfully I was dressed for the occasion below my lightweight waders.

It took me almost 40 minutes of searching before I had the first fish in the net.

Nothing of any great size but it was a nice start to the day and hopefully there would be more to follow, and there was, just not in the sizes I had hoped for.

Miniature Perfection but instead of the ladies of the Stream I had found a small shoal of Girls of the Stream, a couple of casts more and their bigger sister appeared.

With nothing further coming from the run I headed upstream in search of other fish.








It was good to be back out again and great to be watching a couple of Curlews overhead calling to each other.

It was about an hour or so before my next touch from a fish came.

Again not a large fish but very welcome nevertheless on what was turning out to be a tough day indeed.









A stop for a bite to each and a coffee.

extra spicy chilli sauce & turkey on a cheese topped roll, nothing better to warm the cockles of your heart on what was becoming a cold day when the sun dipped away, & nice to just sit for a half hour and observe all the sights & sounds of the riverside.

With the recent floods all the banks have been scoured clean apart from the odd snowdrop here & there.








The storm clouds were gathering in the distance and the air had turned decisively colder, so I got on the move again hoping for another couple of fish.

It took about 30 minutes to find the fish, and although again nothing of any size they were lovely to see.

Just after I landed this fish the heavens opened, first with slight rain drops then full on hail stones, It was time to call it a day and as I walked the 10 minutes back up to the car I bumped into an old friend who was further down the river and he had done the same & was heading for home, nothing caught for him so I felt rather better that I had managed to find fish.




 Albeit Girls and not the larger Ladies of the stream but there is always next time, and it was just so nice to be back out on the river again so the fish in my eyes were just a bonus.

A couple of flies tied up since my last blog entry in preparation for the trout season,  If I had to pick only 3 dry flies to fish with all season, this would be in the list of 3.

CDC Foam Dun.

Brown with burnt orange, has taken many fish when all else has failed and when the yellow sally's are on the water there is nothing better than the CDC foam Dun in yellow.

Both tied on a #16 and the barbs will be crushed prior to entering the box.