Second Day Of The Yorkshire Trout Season 2023

 Second day of the trout season and peek at the river gauges showed the head waters to be dropping. As the others fancied a walk I offered to taxi them to somewhere nearby. The only problem with Sundays in touristy areas is the Sunday drivers who seem to be completely baffled by single track roads and passing places. They seem to think everybody else should use the passing place but not them, unless they want a picnic. Thankfully there was still some space at the parking spot. It was noticeably colder up here. The river had dropped and while it still had a bit of a peaty tinge to it didn't look bad. While having a cuppa I got set up. I was just going to fish spiders so set up the classic triumvirate of Waterhen Bloa, Partridge and Orange, and Snipe and Purple.

Having found my way into the field I was a bit puzzled as to how you got to the river as there was a barbedwire fence between me and the river.Waders and barbed wire are not a good combination. Eventually I spotted a gate and was on the river bank. The wading staff proved it's worth navigating through the tree roots. My preferred method is to fish upstream, but the trees weren't going to make it easy so I settled for up and across. This makes it relatively easy to sort of spey-cast the flies back upstream. The third or fourth cast and the tip of the fly line jagged in the current and a strike had me into a little fish of 6-8" which came adrift when I caught the rod tip in the branch above me. It had taken the bloa on the point. I had a few more casts in the area before moving on. I worked my way back upstream towards the car.

After a spot of lunch and a brief flurry of sleet I headed further upstream. with a euro nymph setup. This didn't last long as all it seemed to do was get snagged between the stones even though it wasn't heavily weighted. I changed back to the spider rig and with a bit more room was able to fished directly upstream. After half an hour I had my second take of the day but lost it when the little beastie jumped. A little bit further on I got another take which was hooked and lost almost immediately. Next cast I was in again. Again it slipped the hook when I lost my footing fumbling for the landing-net. Luckily I was stood in only a couple of inches of water so only ended up with a sore bum rather than a soaking. Not long after the alarm on the phone went which meant I had to be off to pick the others up. 

No trout to the net but at least I'd hooked some so I'm taking that as a win. Back at the car I watched a Grey Wagtail for a while. for a bird with an obvious yellow underside it's not well named. It has as much yellow as the Yellow Wagtail. It may also be time for a set of waders with a zipper. Either that or don't have a big mug of tea before fishing.