Reasons to be cheerful..

 So here we are 2021 a year that has a lot of responsibility.  In so much as everyone is relying on  it to drag us all out of this pit.  2020 was by all standards pretty miserable .  I think it turned out pretty much like everyone imagined 2001 would be , remember all the doom and forecasts around what the millenium bug was going to do ?.  in the end everything was fine.  Well 20 years on Covid showed us how bad a year can be.   

Anyway , reasons to be cheerful well for me there are a few . Vaccination is going well in the UK , My family have so far stayed clear of it. But more importantly last year my daughter showed an every increasing interest in going fly fishing with me something that I am hoping will continue this year.  So far the signs of enthusiasm are there . Also my middle Son who returns from a year working in South Korea in a couple of weeks and as of last week is now a member of one of my favourite fishing clubs ,  So there is the splendid thought that this year I can share days and evenings fishing on one of my favourite rivers with two of my kids this year . The river fished wonderfully last year with some superb small stream Brown Trout and Grayling ,  I just hope that the winter floods haven`t done to much damage ,  

This is the Stream in question it isnt a large river but I consider it to be just about perfect. lets hope the year brings more fish and more bent rods...for all of us...I just need to get them both some casting tuition. I can watch not that I need to you understand....

In Many years fishing there  I have never caught a stocked fish .  It has the prettiest brown trout 

It is a fairly small stream despite being called a river ,  but there are plenty of fish 

perhaps more importantly it has plenty of these in it ... So fishing throughout the year is always available 

Here is number 2 Son in action on a different river ,

Even in dead low summer conditions it always fishes..

Come on 2021 do your stuff,,,,,,

2021 Looking at Small Streams and Cane rods

 So thats it then.  2020 is over and on reflection it has been pretty grim in so many ways it has been been easy to forget the positives.   Which there have been in amongst all the strife.  When the fishing did get going the rivers fished beautifully , perhaps the lack of early angling pressure helped. Also throughout the season I have seen very few fellow anglers on the water, many of my fellow club member are  classed as seniors and have been staying away .  

When I could get to the river the fishing has been very good .  I have had some excellent days with guests and had super days as a guest .  I have caught some of the nicest fish that I have caught in recent years and enjoyed days with friends despite the social distancing all in all the season whilst been a little shorter has been excellent .  Sadly along the way I lost my oldest fishing buddy as my Father passed away .  lets hope that Spring time and vaccines will let everyone move back to some sort of normality .  

As for this yearI have excellent fishing to look forward to.   My growing love affair with Cane will be something that influences my fishing next year ,  but also silk lines ,  The delicacy of a silk line impressed me greatly this year.  I have had a cane rod for a good few years but it didnt really come alive for me until I put a decent silk line on it .  It was at that point that the line small diameter and subsequent delicacy of presentation really worked for me .  Over the last few years I have been toying with shorter 2 weight rods and I find that the three and four weight cane rods with Silk lines give even better presentation and work wonderfully well on small streams .  

So I am still here , so is the blog and so are the fish let’s be hope we are let out to play soon . There will be more cane and silk and hopefully lots of fish .