A 'Churn' of Butterbur

For the life of me I couldn't find the folding trout net this Friday morning. With the high banks of my intended destination it's telescopic handle was needed. The scoop net wouldn't cut it. I grabbed a landing net head and a telescopic bank stick instead. What I didn't grab, though, was the six weight rod and the box of streamers. My intention was to fish heavy nymphs on one rod and streamers on the other if the fish weren't rising. In fact I didn't expect them to be rising just yet.

The first thing I did when I got to the river was have a look to see if the Butterbur were still there. I'd had problems identifying them previously, but a chance conversation on Twitter had given me their name. They're a bit of a confusing plant as the flowers appear first then they grow huge leaves after the flowers die. Sure enough there was a large patch of them. I wonder if the collective term for them is a 'Churn'. If not it, it ought to be.

I spent most of the morning fishing heavy nymphs to no avail, apart from a few sticks. The weather was reasonably warm and sunny, but there was no sign of anything hatching nor any fish rising. Early afternoon there were a few patchy rises of what I thought were Grannom, but, apparently there is another sedge that looks a lot like it and hatches earlier. I spent a bout twenty minutes trying to get a picture of one, but they wouldn't settle. Just as I'd given up I spotted one on the lading net and managed a rather indifferent photo of it before it flow off. The hatch was quickly over. Not help by a heavy sharp shower.

After a spot to eat I moved to another stretch. By now a cool breeze had sprung up. After a while with the heavy nymphs again I decided to have a go with some small lures despite only having the weight four with me. Been a ten footer though it wasn't as unpleasant as my previous attempt with a seven foot rod. After half an hour with my preferred white lure I changed to a black version. Second cast I hooked into  what I thought was a good trout. When I got a glimpse of it though it looked suspiciously like a pike. When I picked up the landing net then mesh was snagged round the wing-nut. While I untangled it the jack managed to get under a snag in front of me. After a great deal of heaving from different directions and poking the rod tip into the snag I did manage to land it. I then had to fumble about for the forceps. These were in a pocket and hadn't been attached to a zinger yet. It is only my second trout trip after tidying everything up so things will take a while to get back to normal. The little beastie then flipped back into the river as I went to put it back in the net to release it. At least it didn't damage my fingers. Quite how the leader hadn't been bitten through I don't know. There wasn't even any sign of damage on it.

I did intend to give it another fifteen minutes or so, but it started to hail, so I took that as a sign and packed up.  I had checked to Sand martin site, but there was no sign of them yet.