First of the Year

For various reasons I've only had a couple of trips out this year, both of which were blanks.

Saturday I decided a spot of trotting for grayling was in order, as the river was looking good, according to a friend who'd passed over it in the morning. After purchasing a pint of maggots, I readied the tackle for Sunday. After a bit of dithering I decided 10 ⅔ feet of cane was the way to go. I picked out a few grayling bobs and other bits and pieces. My intention was to fish short runs in the traditional manner. Tossing the float upstream and lifting the rod as it came towards me then dropping it as it goes past. These runs were the ones I'd been fishing Czech nymph style previously.

Foolishly I didn't check the river levels before I set off and found the river 0.5m up and rising. Still I decided to give it a go and after an hour was rewarded with my first fish of the year. A small WBT! This was to be the only fish of the day, despite wandering a couple of miles along the river. Near the top of the length rod rod started to feel a bit odd. The bottom ferrule had started to come loose from the cane. I seem to remember I was supposed to do something about this after the last time I used it. Not wishing to damage the rod I decided to give up and go home, arriving at the car as it started to drizzle, so it seemed like a good decision.