Second Day of the River Trout Season

Tuesday a different section of the river from Monday, but the wind was basically the same - cold and blowing downstream. The sun did make the occasional welcome appearance though. As I drove up the track to the upper end of the fishery I was greeted by a rather desolate scene where bank repairs were taking place. Not the nicest looking  scene, but something needed to be done as the floods had been scowering away the bend and threatening the road and the flood bank with the farmhouse just behind. As it's going to be fenced off from the cattle nature should take over once complete and hide the scar.

This section seemed to have been affected by the winter floods more than the previous section. Shallow runs had disappeared or moved and a couple of deep holes had filled in. I found a couple of nice bits to flick my heavy nymphs into and was rewarded by a good take only to have it fall off the hook after a few seconds. After this it was hard going, with little or no sign of fish, or any other wildlife come to that. I only saw the kingfisher once. It wasn't until late in the day that I had another contact. Again it fell off, but this time it was my fault. I forgot about the branches above me. I snagged the rod on one momentarily which allowed a bit of slack.

Apart from a chat with a fellow angler it hadn't been the most pleasant of days. The temperature and wind hadn't been enough for a big coat, but the fleece I'd been wearing wasn't quite enough. There again it is only march so can't really complain. The wildlife doesn't seem to be stirring much either. One thing I did find were these little red flowering plants in various states from buds to flowers starting to open. I have no idea what they are. The area they were in has had the brambles and briers cut back. , so they've probably been there before, but hidden.

The river is still dropping, very slowly. another couple of weeks or so should see it in better fettle. Some of the better swims are still inaccessible do to the height of the water. As mentioned earlier some of the nice shallow runs have vanished or moved so it make take a while to find where the rather sparse population of trout have moved to.