Saturday Sightings…
I couldnt resist a trip to the river today in the hope of a trout or two, it ended up being quite eventful.
I arrived at a stretch I’d only fished once before with coloured water. It was nice to see it today in gin clear conditions. Plenty of trout were spotted on the way down to the get in point, so things were looking up.
Just before I got in I could hear a Kingfisher approaching so I stopped still to get a glimpse of the blue magic. As it rounded the corner it was joined by another, both swooping under a tree low to the water, although the second of the two birds misjudged it and clattered into the water before having a rest on a branch. The first time I’ve seen such an error from a kingfisher!
The river was surrounded by greenery and looking in fine form, but there was very little rising so I opted for a nymph. I caught a few small trout and beautiful little minnows in fine breeding colours.
I rounded a corner and was greeted by the biggest shoal of chub I’ve ever seen. There must have been nearly 100 fish crammed into a tiny eddy, mostly around a pound but a few 2-3lb were included in the shoal. They all shot downstream as I walked past.
I was then greeted by another strange occurance – a bat! Yes, a bat! In broad daylight this little chap was flying around, just a foot or two from my face and appeared to be actively hunting. I had seen one briefly on the Wye a few years ago but to see one so close was amazing.
Another trout fell to the nymph before I’d worked my way up to a lovely looking riffle. I thought I’d change to a dry and just as I was doing so a fish exploded out of the water towards the top of the pool. I’d seen a few sedges so thats what I opted for. Sure enough, first cast the fish obliged and after a number of acrobatic jumps the fish came to hand. Beautifully marked.
I caught a glimpse of a deer in the field opposite, had a heron almost fly into me, hooked and lost a larger fish and before I knew I’d reached the top of the stretch. An eventful and very fulfilling day.
Next weekend should see me out after the coarse fish on the fly and I cant wait!
AR…
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