Size really doesn`t matter

Well ladies and Gents let me introduce you to a very special fish.  After nearly 7 months of gales, floods , snow and freezing temperatures loosely described as the 2012/ 13 close season  this leviathan was my first brown trout of the 2013 season.  Magnificent ? perhaps not .  But oh was I glad to catch it.  A brief hatch of Olives persuaded it to rise. In fact I was less than sure that it was a trout.  I was half expecting yet another grayling. But for all its diminutive size a trout has not looked as good for a long time. As although a couple of bigger trout followed this one as we men are constantly told size really doesnt matter and today it certainly didnt matter to me.

However with next week forecasting gales and floods it seems things will once again go on hold for a few days .  But soon the first real hatches will arrive: hawthorns will blunder about and crash land in the river. The grannom will be making there ungainly flights. Surely the warmer days are close now we can only wait and see.

Rising fish......

Sunday was the first day the temperature reached the dizzy heights of double figures,  10 deg to be precise .  I had the opportunity to escape to the local stream.  So with the hope of rising fish I ventured forth.The river is still in its winter guise.  There is no sign of green other than the snowdrops and the first shoots of wild garlic.

As I walked through the farmyard the bleating of sheep and lambs reminded me it is spring. The sheep are all in the process of lambing and have been brought in to the sheds for protection.  Whilst chatting to the farmer and his wife they thought it was the latest spring in living memory. Everything was at least a month behind. 

For two or three hours over lunchtime it felt like a spring day should feel.  Entering the stream the sunshine was just doing enough to persuade trickles of Olives to emerge and come sailing down.  I was enjoying the feel of sunshine when I spotted the first rise.  The next two hours brought seven fish to surface flies  all out of season grayling though.  All released quickly.   Not one trout put in an appearance .  Every time I spotted a rising fish I hoped that the culprit would be a brownie but as yet they are still laying doggo. 

It was great to see hatching flies. It was wonderful to cast at rising fish in sunshine and to feel the bend of a rod and the pulse of a fish.  At last I feel the season is underway all I need is for the brownies to wake up and join in...

Its bleeding cold.....

Well the season has started pretty much as I feared …. Badly . The biting easterly wind has not stopped all week . The water is bleeding cold and over two short trips the only fish that I have got to the net are a few ever willing Grayling.  I managed to hook two small trout but released both at distance.As it says in the books the LDO have appeared during my visits hatching promply at two thirty, the only problem was the fish aren’t reading the books and I appeared to be the only one that noticed them.  I have only seen one rising fish. Simply put , as yet the fish are not looking up.  On a brighter note the rivers look stunning as clear as I have ever seen them. At good levels and looking good for some warm weather. 

I did have a short chat with a guy enjoying his first ever trip on the rivers.  Well enjoying was probably the wrong word.  He was struggling with the breeze and his new gear. He was struggling for a few reasons. Firstly his new three weight rod which was a fastish action job. In the “breeze” the three weight line was hard to control and he did say he was going to get a four weight line for it.

Apparently the shop he bought it from had said he may need to over line the rod. Now to me habitually over lining is nonsense.  Surely you decide what line weight you want to use and buy a rod that will fish it at the ranges you want.  As for three weights , well yes on their day for dries they are great fun but as an all round fishing rod give me a four weight any day. 

Whilst we were chewing the fat he commented on my “old fashioned “waders.  A fine pair of PVC Ocean chesties. They form my Spring and Autumn wardrobe, I have breathables for summer and Neoprene for silly season fishing.  Now I cant understand why so few people wear them now. Tough / comfy / warm and getting in and out of them isn’t like the 20minute aerobics session neoprenes put me through.  Sartorial elegance they aint but they are blackthorn proof and great for sliding down banks on your arse.  But the clincher is I looked a lot warmer than he did after standing in that river for half an hour.  It doesn’t matter how dapper you look if you aint comfy you aint going to concentrate……..

False dawn....

So the day came and went.  That special day the first day of the trout season, the day that I have never missed for many years passed without a line being wet or a cast been formed.  Work pressures have meant that even weekend working  has become the norm and the chance of taking the day of work vanished weeks ago.

The only thing that has softened the blow is the weather, biting easterly winds of the North Sea which sits just half a mile from me is giving us another blast of ice which is extending this never ending winter. River levels are as up and down as the waves these easterlies are bringing.

As I look toward the weekend the forecast does not fill me with optimism .  Lots of negative figures and the  few high numbers relate to wind speed.  But floods and blizzards allowing, this weekend  I will be fishing. Ever hopeful in the knowledge these Northern becks can fish well early season, the fish are small but tough, ever hungry on the meagre stone fed diet .

So, in theory at least the fishing season is back the warm days and gentle evenings full of rising fish are close again .  This false dawn will soon turn into summer days .  bring it on.......

Almost there

The new season is almost with casting distance.  The winter has been long and dour. Cold wet and depressing.  There are signs now of renewal. Spring flowers are showing and an impromptu kick sample yesterday in a quiet backwater tells me the river has kept the fish well fed.  A little warmth and a settling river will hopefully mean feeding fish .

 Its amazing what the river hides away.  The short sample brought in this little chap. I have never noticed . The bright orange edge to the dorsal before. A bit of window dressing for the spawning season perhaps.? Perhaps they always have the marking I guess I have never really studied them before .  The river is full of them and have often considered fishing some of the larger weir pools with a suitable pattern, maybe this season I will get round to it.  I am sure there are some big old trout and the odd pocket of big perch tucked away in the deep pools. 

Of more trouty proportions are the stonefly larvae in the beck, this is a particularly meaty looking example from last months sample.  I get very large numbers of these compared to all the other inverts put together.
I really must have a go with some of those precut stonefly templates.  When you see a chap like this I can see they are a pretty good imitation with that distinctive shield profile.

In a couple of weeks this will be one of the first pools I fish.  There are large numbers of small wildies here.  I suspect there may also be a good chance of some stockies washed out from the river Derwent a few miles upstream.  Last year I had rainbows and a blue out of the beck courtesy of the wash outs of their generous stocking policy. 

All my fly boxes are pretty much restocked now ready for the of.  Many more CDC these days and patterns that follow the GISS style rather than the imitative.  Anyway the fly boxes are sort of neat now.  By the time I have had a couple of trips they will look like they have been bombed by unopened arab dustbins , to paraphrase the late Spike...

taking a month or two break....

In the last few months I have become increasingly disinterested in all things online.

A lack of inspiration a lack of fishing the steady creeping misery of winter have all contributed.  Anyway stay tuned I will be back in a month nor two..I just am taking a break.

Andy

February..

Strange month this.  A colder more dispiriting month is hard to imagine.  But yet its one that I eagerly await.  The first week of Feb is the time when the lengthening days really become apparent , Winter in the main is behind now and the new seasons approach is becoming tangible.  The Subscription reminders and AGM notices have arrived for the clubs and Syndicate I belong to offering yet another reminder of what lies ahead.

The lengthening days lift my spirits and those first few precious days when the spring sunshine arrives are a taster for the approach of spring.  This Sunday was such a day and I escaped to the local stream to see if the Grayling were in the mood.  In the event they didnt want to join the fun but given the state of the river levels recently I was not surprised. Water levels have been up and down like the proverbial.   The banks have taken a real beating and there has been many collapses .  As I left the river I noticed these snowdrops clinging on by their fingertips.  The next decent flood will have them relocated.

 It was nice to cast a fly though I even saw a rise or two and proceeded to waste a ridiculous amount of time on that fish.  It was good therapy though and went some way to lift the veil of winter.  The day was about looking forwards and looking over the river, fishing was an excuse, a reason to tramp along the bank turning the odd rock and checking the bank side footprints to separate the otter prints from the farm collie.  It was a day to look at the river and marvel that the barren water in front of me can be filled with the dimples of rising fish in a few short months.


The season isnt that far away now and I for one cant wait.