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.