This post will be the story of three consecutive days fishing on my home river over the week just gone (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday). You'll laugh, you'll cry...well at least I did. The first day (Tuesday) was on a stretch of water I hadn't fished before and is considered to be the most easily accessible and most heavily fished (and stocked) section of the river. We'll start with the unpleasantness that was Tuesday first, get it over with as quick as possible, like a band-aid (plaster for you English Folk).

I am not a purist by any means. I love to fly fish for carp (Isaac Walton rolls in his grave). I will nymph with non-toxic non-lead shot on my line. I will use a strike indicator. I will swing a streamer. However, there are some things that do bother me when it comes to other fisherman on the water. To start my day on this new stretch, three blokes summed up what I think a fly-fisherman should not be. A can of Foster carrying, jean wearing, loud mouthed, swearing, ne'er do well's, disturbing not only my peace but that of the birds and the bee's and every other living creature within a 1 mile radius. The cans of Fosters would no doubt end up in the river or on the bank, a sight I found to be farely common in this well fished stretch of river. I did have to smile though when I saw that their tactic included using about 1 foot of mono attatched to their fly line with a very large dry fly at the end. No wild fish for these boys today.  To find some peace and quiet I walked a well trodden trail and after finding a likely run I started setting up my gear only to have a dog get into my bag and try to take off with my lunch. This was not the peace and quiet I was hoping for. After counting to ten and repeating the phrase "serenity now" ten times I started to fish. I won't share much more of this day with you if that's ok. I caught lots of fish but didn't enjoy myself as I normally do on the river.

The next day I went far from the crowds, not too far, as the bus actually drops me off at this particular spot, but far enough that I was unlikely to see anyone fishing today. This spot I am familiar with. VERY familiar with. It was the first beat I fished in England and I've probably fished it 30 times over the last two years. I know some of the fish by name! The water was up and coloured after a night of rain and this made the fishing tough going. After working my way up the river I stopped at a very deep and fast pool. 


I must apologise now for this next bit of text. This was going to be a very well thought out paragraph of how I lost a big fish in this pool and returned the next day only to land a very nice fish in the same pool. There was mist on the water and lots of reflection and introspection. But then work started. These events and most of this text happened a month ago and I have forgotten most of the things I had thought about that day. Also and more importantly, I want to get to the next blog post faster as I've caught my first salmon! So long story short landed a big beautiful wild brown trout. Here is the picture. Read the next blog (posted tomorrow) to see an even bigger beautiful fish.......I will also try and make a better effort at keeping an up to date blog.