One for Hippo

 A blog I have followed for years is a Hippo on the lawn a recent comment on my blog shows two things , First it tells me Tom the writer was ill and the poor bugger is so confined that he has nothing better to do than comment on this fellow bloggers posting . He is in Angola and obviously suffering from some malady and second he is also suffering from generator and technology issues .  We take so much for granted with our reliable mains and even fibre optic speed wifi .  Anyway Tom hope you feel better soon and your bank balance stays secure .  Hope you enjoyed the glimpse of ( by your standards ) my mundane existence.  Here is some pics of my day on Saturday a week on from my first post but weirdly even though the day was colder the years seems to have moved on a bit .   Stay safe and try and post a bit more often . 

At last a rising fish

 It has been by all accounts and also by some considerable margin. A depressingly long , wet and miserable winter.  There has been no proper winter weather ie hard frosts and some proper snow.  We had a couple of bits of the white stuff .   But nothing to speak of ,  Truth is it started to rain around last October and it has hardly let up since . The springs that feed my new chalk stream came up quickly and have stayed up and indeed put the river over the banks and across the fields .  I went for a walk along the river a week or so ago , Not to fish but to see what the level looks like .   To me it looks like I will be fishing sometime mid may...

My other spate streams have been up and down like the proverbial all winter ,  The farmer on one stretch , whose family have been there for generations has commented that although he had a couple of times seen the river higher . He did say that he had never seen the river so high for so long .  The high water has caused some damage and our work parties have removed three fallen trees and there is considerable bank damage in places .  But the river is still there it is still full of fish and god willing if it stops raining and the water fines down then fishing can recommence . 

So far since the kick of on the 25th march , I have had three trips The first resulted in no Trout but a couple of willing Grayling so no score there then a week later saw a return to the same venue and had my first couple of trout both on nymphs. 

Then on Saturday I had my first trip to a brand new stretch of river,  After having an introductory chat to the guy who runs the little syndicate I wanted to give it a whirl.  The stretch is a couple of miles of very wild unstocked interesting upland stream.  Challenging wading but delightful at the same time . There will be no big fish but first impressions were that there will be plenty of fish.  A small light rod in my case on the day was a 6ft 9 inch light bamboo job.  So with that and a wading staff clutched tightly I set of ..

A small bead head on a long leader would have been an obvious choice but the reel I had with me had a silk line and a furled leader. So not ideal.  So the usual 4ft of tippet of the furlie was replaced with 8ft and I started prospecting in likely looking seams and pockets with a 3mm size 16  beadhead nymph.  plucks resulted with a finger sized sprat that dropped of then I had one slightly bigger .

The water looks very promising with nice variation glides and pocket water in abundance and I worked my way upstream and had a few more then after noticing a few olives I saw a sight to gladden the heart , I spied a splashy rise in the tail of a fast run .  A CDC F fly drew a response but no hook up . Two casts later a little plump brownie came to hand after throwing a couple of cartwheels to brighten the day ( the fish that is, not me.) .  It was at that point I did what all sensible folks do. I got out and sat on a tree stump and took stock of my surroundings .  I am always amazed that more folks don`t fly fish , It is hard to imagine a more cathartic experience than to sit watching a river , listening to the world .  After a carton of ice cold latte and a chocolate bar it was time to resume the season.

Tackle for the day was American Jim Becker bamboo rod.  An English Hardy reel and an Italian Terenzio silk line ,  As near as I get to embracing foreign influence.  I am going to enjoy spending time here. But as a I type this the heavens have opened again and the rivers are back on the way up.  A good few years ago on this blog I prayed for rain.  Within a week we started a wet summer of biblically wet proportions , So I hesitate to pray for dry weather with my luck we will get a biblical drought and a plague of locusts .