Arthur Ransome had it right...Opening day

. . "Perhaps the greatest satisfaction on the first day of the season is the knowledge in the evening that the whole of the rest of the season is to come."

The above quote by Arthur Ransome sums it up very nicely .  Even as a boy I can remember the same excitement .  I mean Christmas is just a day that ends all to soon.  Whereas the first day of the season opens the window to a whole new year . with fresh hopes and ambitions , new places to visit or even better visiting those places that have become home to see what changes the winter floods have brought about . Or more simply just to enjoy the fact that summer is starting.  I still have the same sense of excitement that I had as a kid .  Despite the fact that at my age I should know better ,  but actually at my age I should be more excited as now semi retired and free to come and go .  Sons and Daughter grown up and after many years of trial the rivers I fish have matured nicely down to a select group. I have all the rods and reels I need , which is not to say I could always want something new and shiny ,  

So on opening day I have already decided where I will fish.  Its a favourite small stream . One that appears on the blog and I am particularly fond of .  There is something particularly satisfying about familiar surroundings . 

On the subject of Ransome it reminds me that Swallows and Amazons was one of my favourite reads as a child. Books that I suspect have past by modern youngsters and are probably deemed inappropriate as they freely use jolly nicknames like fatty and Skinny and girls are not expected to act like boys . The books did portray a very wholesome worldly innocence that I suspect is pretty unfashionable now ,   

As for books generally I enjoy and  tend to read Angling literature rather more than how too books.  The modern how too books are interesting and they there have been some very good ones published in the last few years.  But I feel however good they are to dip into, they are not what I would call a good read ,  They are inevitably more like text books,  something that I have always been somewhat averse too. Where as the classic authors books are much more readable.  My leavers report of the Boarding school I attended had the heads comment I would have been a admirable student if I had put as much effort into my Scholastic studies as trying to catch the trout in the river leven,  To this day I am very proud of that report.  and particularly of that comment .  

New Season anticipation . Rod Action bollocks and marketing

As is usual in the darkest bit of winter one spends more time on t inter web  , In  this last few weeks of winter  shitty wet days and dark nights I have spent many an hour mindlessly scrolling through various forums and I marvel at the nonsense spouted by the add men selling stuff  and folks on forums . There are a couple of words and phrases  that seem to be in vogue at the moment .  I always thought that I knew what they meant but it would appear I don’t .  Either that or the ad men are making stuff up to get us ordinary folk to part with our hard earned cash .  

The first word to grumble about is medium as part of the phrase medium action fly rod .  Now for  most of this century and the last 20 years of the last one . Yes I am old and remember the 60s and 70s it seems to me that all the big guns in the carbon rods game have been making things faster and faster .  Most rods are still pretty fast but they have cottoned on to the fact that actually for rivers that really can be the wrong approach and  are now  trying to sell the idea that for rivers medium action is best ,  Well I for one know it is but what they appear to sell as medium action , well really just isn`t . Bamboo rods are slow / medium action ,  Fibreglass rods are often medium action and a few carbon rods are IMO medium action .  Things like the the Hardy Classic series , The Orvis Superfine series ,  The vision Cult . The Sage Circa.  Rod that are actually more a medium action . The rest well just aren`t .  But apparently and according to one online article I read .  "A medium action rod is what is needed for technical small stream fishing" well no shit sherlock which brings me on to my next marketing word grumble..

The second marketing bollox word that makes me giggle is technical . A quick google on line found the following examples as well as the classic technical fly fishing... I have found Technical fly line.  Technical fly fishing Socks and my favourite , "technical undercrackers" underwear to you and me,  I wish someone could explain to me how socks and underwear can be technical . I find the only technical thing about them is these days  keeping my balance whilst putting them on.

As for the new season well club AGMs are happening , Events that always remind me that the season is nearly upon us .  It is good to catch up with friends and its very good to see the days lengthening and the rivers waking up. In my own mind I know which rivers I will be concentrating on fishing first and which I will be waiting a little for them to wake up.  The current spell of settled weather could mean a nice early start to the trout season .  Or as is often the case will opening day follow two weeks of perfect weather and on the day be gale force winds and torrential rain.  That is the joy of English weather ,  I say weather because referring to it as a climate hints at predictability ,  Whereas we all know  March and April in particular are months when all four seasons can occur on the same day .  

Oh and one final gripe I was away for a few days recently and picked up a Trout and Salmon at the newspaper stand in WH Smith .  I had a quick flick through it and glanced at the price and replaced it rapidly ,  Fearing store security would come over and catch me stealing a read. Are they having a laugh  , How fecking much ????.  Same with fly fishing and fly Tying . for years I bought it when it was less than half current prices , then I bought the version for my ipad .  read it for a while I even had a few things published in it.  Then binned it Really though when will they wake up and actually do something decent online . I cant understand why they aren`t embracing the internet,  There have been some excellent fishing books published this last couple of years,  Peter Hayes Fly fishing outside the box. Dave Southall Long Rods Light lines John Roberts new book Grayling on the fly .  You look at those and think cost / content and compare to about Four months trout and salmon . I mean really ? Someone is technically taking the proverbial . 

Anyway that`s it for now ,  I feel better for getting that of my chest...

2025 Hopes and Plans

 

Blimey 2025! .  A quarter of a century since the Millennium .  Which seems like 5 or 10 years ago.  But there again I am one of those who says 30 years ago is the 1970s ,  Retirement heading my way fast at the moment my weeks have more days of than working .  So more time for fishing and other stuff,  But what about this year what do I want to see ?

For me there will be more fishing with bamboo.  I really have a taste for it especially for on the smaller streams where I spend so much of my fishing time ,  As for fishing time I am hoping that there will be more fishing time with friends and family ,  I have one Son who fishes although age related other interests have deflected him this last year.  But he will be joining a favourite club of mine this year so I am hoping that will reinvigorate him.  

So for the year in general  I am  hoping that we have :

• A proper Summer and by a proper Spring and Summer I mean So march cold and clear with a modicum of rain and some snow is acceptable.  April showers means showers and no more of those biblical floods ,  May means a little rain but progressively warmer ,  June, July  and August is mid summer with long warm days and just enough rain to top up my Streams .  September should start with at least two weeks of decent weather , I relish September it is like the summers last hurrah and is often the best month of the year ,  October will need some rains to restore the rivers for the Grayling fishing through until Christmas .  January and February well wet and cold please .
• Fly life Please let us have a return to a year when the hawthorn flies crash land on to the chalk stream. The BWO delight us for the evening rise , The mayfly dance and Sedges skitter. Can we see daddy longlegs in abundance and even have the midges annoy the hell out of me on those warm evenings . Surface activity to encourage rising fish would be nice .  
• Can we have sensible water levels please ,  something like a Goldilocks and the three bears analogy . Not to high and not to low but just right.
• Also this year could someone arrange for the trees to stop reaching out and grabbing my fly and tippet .  

2024 That was the year that was

 Well that`s it them , 2024 done and dusted .  A year to be remembered only for its  miserable surface hatches and for having too much water at first and then not enough . for a lack of a summer and a lack of notable fish .

For sure   I have hooked several notable fish this season sadly they all did not quite make it to the net .  There was the large trout that engulfed the Martins minnow only then to knit my tippet around the bank side wooden piles ,  then there was the one that inexplicably escaped as I drew it over the landing net ,   then an hour later an even larger brownie escaped when the same landing net frame collapsed ,  demonstrating to me at the same time that the landing net frame had cracked earlier and , I am sure was what cut the line on the other good trout of the day The reality is that that day should have been my day of the season it should have seen me land two 4lb plus brown trout , Instead it ended up being memorable for all the wrong reasons .   

Early in the season the new ( to me ) upland stream was a delight ,  The fish are eager to come to the surface , the surroundings are stunning and geography of the river means it rises and falls pretty sharpish it was often fish able where others weren’t . It one of the few seasons highlights . 

Anyway 

Monday saw me back on ( in ) a favourite stream that has a good head of grayling .  Although the last couple of visits has  seen tougher fishing than usual it’s a lovely place to be . I was fishing with friend Richard who runs a successful company selling Barbless flies you can join the dots to work out who he is . I have been pestering him for months as to why he doesn’t fish more , so when he suggested it how could I turn it down .

Above is the upland stream that brought much pleasure in the spring , it has a good head of free rising wild brown trout . It will be in my radar for April 2025 .

Below was my last fish of 2024 .  A nice grayling but by no means large for the river .  That small stream produces 1 1/2 lb fish regularly and the 2 lb target occasionally .  Also the rod reveals that my last trip was one of the first where I wasn’t fishing bamboo.  The old 8ft Scott G gives me more reach and less weight for holding the fly line of the water .  I have to say that the older scotts are a delightful way to fish with loads of feel .  Anyway readers have a great new year . For those of you who do fish then I wish you tightlines.