Nosey Sheep

As I looked down from the bridge I could see a couple of small trout either side of a patch of weed, unfortunately this stretch belongs to another club. I wandered down to my club stretch and got set up. Out of the breeze it was rather warm, but between the bright sunshine and cold breeze nothing was hatching. I decided to try a couple of spiders, a snipe and purple, and a partridge and orange. I gave it a hour with these before changing to a copper head pheasant tail jig. I fished it in the shallows, the deep slow sections, round the tree roots with out any success. I hadn't seen another trout or insect  in the two hours I'd been fishing. Because of the meanders on the river I wasn't that far from the car, even though I was halfway along the length. I returned to the car for a warm cuppa and a contemplate.











By the time I'd finished my sandwich and cuppa the chill wind had dropped an it was noticeably warmer. I wandered back up the river to where I'd left off. There was still no sign of fish or fly life, even the two near the bridge had disappeared. In the hope that the fish may be looking up, and that the previous methods hadn't worked, I put on a DHE. I worked my way up the river alternating between the DHE and PT jig to the top of the length with out any success. On the way back I spotted a rise near some tree roots. From the top of the opposite bank I could see one of the larger residents, a fish of 10-12" holding station behind a large tree root. I sat and watched for a while to see if I could spot what it had risen to. In the ten minutes I sat there watching absolutely nothing happened, apart from the geese and sheep having a shouting match further down stream.


















The bank side saplings made casting rather problematic so, I wandered downstream and crossed the river. I sneaked up behind the fish. Three chucks I had at it with the DHE and it just sat there waving it's tail about. Initially I thought about putting a larger fly on such as a jingler, but decided to put the cat of spiders on instead. My thinking being that something at eye level may entice it out. First cast was probably to far out in the river. The second cast had me thinking the top dropper had snagged on the root as drift came to a halt, but no, a tiny little beastie had grabbed the bottom fly. Despite me keeping the rod low and sweeping it back quickly the little horror managed to splash about on the surface. The large trout I was after gave a couple of waves of the tail and shot away upstream. To cap it all the little 'un shook itself loose as I'd allowed the line to go slack while I cursed my luck.











As it was nice and warm where I was, out of the wind, I sat there for a while hoping the big'un would reappear. Not surprisingly this didn't happen. The sheep did, however, pop over to see what all the fuss was about. Cattle do this all the time, being nosey buggers, but I've rarely seen sheep do it. They normally keep a reasonable distance from you. Just to make sure the fish didn't return, a couple of mallards crash landed in the swim.











I can take a hint. Time to give up. I wandered back to the car. Pondering what to do if the weather doesn't warm up a bit and things start hatching. I've seen reports of people saving the day with streamers, so maybe next time I'll bring a few. The first trip of the year to a stretch of river like this is never wasted though. One or two fish holding spots have been washed away in the winter floods and others have appeared.