Having driven through thick and patchy fog into glorious sunshine may have been nice for some, but having intended to get a little spot of trout fishing done this was not ideal. Still the levels on the gauges looked OK. A lot better than the flooded state it was in last time I visited. I had about an hour and a half before I had to be social and join in the fun. For some reason I'd put two ten foot rods in the boot. This is a river I normally fish with six to seven foot rods, eight foot at a push, so this was going to be fun.
As expected the trout were rising in the shade of the trees where a six foot rod would be ideal and a ten footer, nine foot nine inch to be exact, wasn't. Fly life seemed to consist of little black things, the odd grannom and hawthorn, and a very occasional brook dun. It appeared that the little black things were the food of the day. On went a size eighteen double badger. Not the most visible fly in the conditions but anything smaller would be even worse. With a bit of a trick side cast I thought I'd landed the fly near the rising fish. I saw the fish rise but it was a good eighteen inches from my fly, or rather it wasn't. I was watching the wrong thing on the water and only realised when the leader straightened out. A little trout parr came quickly to hand. A trout at last even it was rather small.
A bit further on another trout was rising in a more open area and this time I was looking at the right fly as it took it the moment it hit the water. This time a proper little acrobatic trout. Another one rose as I released it. A cast to the same spot and a six inch or so drift and another little trout. As this one wasn't a leaping I took it by hand. It decided to leap as I took it's photo though. I also decided this was a good time to drop the phone river. This isn't officially a waterproof so either. I switched it off and removed the sim and SD cards and wrapped it all in a couple of bits of kitchen roll (the poor man's amadou).
With only half an hour left I continued on and managed three more of the little trout and lost a couple. It was nice to actual get some trout at last. Small but very pretty. Back at the BBQ I left the phone on the parcel shelf of the car, which was nice and warm in the sun, for an hour before trying to switch it. Thankfully it worked although I hadn't put the SD card back in as I intended to make a copy before trying it. Lets hope this is the start of me catching trout nearly two months after the start of the season.
