A glimpse of summer.

Spring fishing days are usually days charged with mixed fortunes and blessings.   The anticipation born out of long cold winter nights so rarely is fulfilled . Instead those cold rivers and colder winds all to frequently produce a day that just teases our expectations of rising fish and hatching upwings .  Friday was my birthday a day that as well as marking another year older also is a reminder that April is passing and that May that wonderful month of balmy days and warm evenings will soon be here.  

In May the rivers whilst still running cool will be moving with rising fish . Insects will be hatching and the fish will start to remember which way to look.  Friday was a day when for a brief moment the river hinted at those days. One corner of the river protected from the cold wind, for just a brief moment shed its winter coat and came out to play.   I sat on the bank top and watched the trout in the shallows ,   Rising fish were there. One in particular took my eye a good fish more than a pound maybe a pound and a half and from my vantage point clearly a wild fish.  It has found itself a good position below an overhanging tree.  Protected from view and from the anglers cast from below and from upstream.   I will be planning its downfall this summer now I have marked its position.

 Now looking back what I am left with is a bunch of memories , mental snapshots of that spring day laid out in my mind comic strip style like a story board rehearsal for the main feature in May and June.  A kingfisher heading of downstream  the trace of colour leaving an image in your eyes like headlights at night that leave a trace even when they have passed..  The swallows nests under the bridge thinking how soon they will be full again and that perfect image of that big brown trout turning in the clear water heavy shouldered and dark spotted holding station near its shelter and the colours of a perfect tiny brown trout that in the hand seems so vivid yet in the stream so perfectly camouflaged .  Yes its nearly here....