Onwards and Upwards, and Down Again

There was the remains of a slight frost where the sun hadn't got to when I awoke. I was though a warm day with bright sunshine. Not ideal for trout fishing. It did make for a pleasant drive over The Moors. The sheep, though, were noticeable for the absence especially the lambs. It was the same in the fields by the river. At this time of year all you could hear were the lambs bleating. After a bit of a faff getting my ticket. The pub was shut. The Post Office is inside a tea shop so wasn't open. The only other place I could remember was a tackle shop twenty five minutes away. I then remembered one of the shops sold them. There are only two so I picked on the one with out a queue. Bingo. right first time. The next problem was  the ticket machine for the car park. It didn't except coins. Card or app was the choice. I didn't have my card with me for some reason and as there's no signal there the app couldn't be downloaded. Thankfully somebody told me you could pay in the office. Finally, after a cup of tea, I was on my way to the river.

After checking the temperature of the water by sticking my mit in and confirming it was bloody freezing, I opted for a weighted nymph. There was still plenty of water in the river. It was around six inches above normal summer level. After a couple of hours of nymphing the deeper water with nothing to show for it. I changed to a couple of spiders tied on heavy gauge hooks to get them down. and had some casts around the shallow rifles. After another hour or so I spotted what looked like a rise upstream. I sat and watched for a while. Every now and then there would be two or three rings of ripples under large tree. As I manoeuvred into position I noticed something falling out of the tree and hitting the water producing the same ring of ripples. Looking up I spotted a small bird pulling the buds to bits, the debris producing the ripples. As I was looking in to the sun I couldn't tell what it was. A bit pissed off I was about to turn round and wade back when a fish jumped. Nothing big, but none of them really are big in here.

A couple of casts later I was in. Then I wasn't. A couple of casts later and I was in again. This time it was nearly at the net when it came adrift. A tiny little thing about four or five inches. I then spotted a monster around the twelve inch mark near the bank. The flies landed short and a couple of foot from the bank. Almost immediately I had a take which took me by surprise. I thought I'd missed it, but I saw the line coming towards me. When I did catch up with it it was clearly a good fish for the river, but again it came adrift. A check of the hooks showed they were plenty sharp enough. The fish I'd seen by the bank was still there. Again I fluffed the cast, landing one of the flies on the bank. I pulled gently hoping it would come free and not disturb the trout. Instead it dragged some bankside debris right on top of it and it was spooked. I had one more tiny little thing that  again came adrift, despite changing flies. That was it for the day. 

I suppose I'm slightly closer to catching my first trout of the season. I know very small trout a rather good at wriggling off the hook, especially barbless ones, so I'm not too bothered about that. The larger fish was a bit of a disappointment, bu I hadn't really struck the hook home so can't complain. It was a bit of a strange day though. I use welly foot waders here because there are no boulder strewn stretches and the thick treads are better on the step banks  Today I forgot my thick socks so when I needed to wade my feet felt the cold while I was stood there in a T-shirt getting a sun tan. I could have done with the air-conditioning on the way home, but it wasn't having very much effect. Looks like more expense at the garage.