Two for Two

With the river risen after yesterday's rain I decided I was going to be wise and just head out after sunday lunch and see if there was a rise happening.

The morning was spent pottering around the garden doing a few jobs that the bad weather had stopped me doing earlier and after a hearty lunch whilst watching my friends daughter Corrie Scott compete for Scotland in the Commonwealth swimming I headed up the Dale for an hour looking for any signs of a hatch.

This part of the Dale looked a lot clearer than yesterday and it was actually dry & a few degrees warmer than yesterday so the waterproof jacket remained in the car as I set off  up the river.






I sat at a spot where I knew I could observe a good 50m up & down the river and could see if there was any fish rising or if a hatch was on.

The fragrance from the wild garlic behind me was very pleasant and it wont be long until it is in flower, as the buds are all but popping from the centre of the plants.

There was no sign of any hatch and I never seen a single fish move so decided to tackle up with a team of spiders and go in search of some fish. Walking up the riverbank I got to see my first song thrush that I've seen in a long time, they used to be a common sight when I was younger but nowadays I hardly see them at all. 

Deciding to head for a bit of moving water which would be fishable even though the river was carrying a few extra inches of water than I would have liked it wasnt long until the spiders were soon moving through the stream and before I knew it I was tightening into my first fish of the day, unfortunately not the quarry I had come for a small grayling.

Fishing on I took a further 5 grayling all around the same size and still not showing any signs of spawning, so a move to the next part of moving water to get away from them and leave them in peace.

The resident geese on this part of the river are either now use to human presence or couldn't be bothered making alarm calls as they simply moved out the way without a sound as I walked past them.

The wild daffodils were all along the banks and it was nice to see a bit of colour in amongst all the drab and bare branches which have yet to bud and nice to see the baby blue eyes adding their colour albeit very small amounts.

I settled into my next part of the river and after 10 minutes or so the river erupted as a trout decided it liked my dropper spider and tried all aerial aerobics to try and throw the hook in the first 10 seconds of the fight, but the hook held and the net soon slipped under it.

A lovely wild fish and in very nice condition.

Partridge & Orange 

With no further fish I decided to head for the car and bumped into another two anglers on my way back, both had the same idea as me looking for a hatch but were very much disappointed that there wasnt one and after a few words we parted company, the fields still very much holding a lot of excess water.

Heading back I stumbled across another couple of fish which I have to admit I never caught and they certainly weren't caught & released...  

a nice 2 hours on the river again and rewarded with my second Brown trout, two trips, two trout, makes up for the few weeks where I was unable to get out when friends got out but came up short.