Strange part of the year . It starts of with unbridled enthusiasm for the first day . Then that is usually followed by shitty weather , overflowing rivers freezing winds , this year we had things the other way around although the enthusiasm was still there but strangely tempered . We had very low rivers bright sunshine and cold days. Truth is its been hard . My fishing mojo has changed, strange thing but the need to destress from work that drove me to the river bank.so many times has gone now . I will always fish and will always want too . But the drivers are different now. The urgency has gone . Strange thing this retirement how your priorities change .
My early season usually heads the same way , desperation to catch on a dry fly which eventually downgrades to not blanking and accepting that early season fish tend to be looking down still and not looking up. The Hawthorn hatches and midges do stimulate some activity but nymphs remain the backstop. The hawthorn flies have been a bit enigmatic this year . Although seeing plenty on the wing on my various streams the fish seem to have not really switched on to them . One day on the bank I was cursing how they had all vanished and the following day I was back home and went round to my allotment garden which is 100 m from another stream and the air was full of hawthorns , They were everywhere Some were even keeping warm in the polytunnel I have never seen to many. So before I left I had a wander along the bank. Not a hawthorn to be seen and the river was quiet. Strange old world .
This year things worked out the same old way way. The glorious unpredictability of the ridiculous sport is I guess is one of its main attractions. Thomas McGuanes bug puppets analogy sums it up nicely when you analyse the facts of what we do its ridiculous whilst also being damn addictive . its certainly never the same . A couple of seasons ago the first day of the season was warm and rising fish were everywhere , trouble was the fish were all out of season grayling . This year trout were hard to find , but they are there . So far this year I have scared plenty and caught a few . For a few minutes I was attached to a very good fish but the heavy pressure i needed to keep it from tree roots was to much for the hook hold. Warmer evenings last week generated a bit of an evening rise soo things are heading the right way .
