Tree Gods, Trout & Lice

Started a bit later than normal today due to a lazy morning so it was after 1pm before I finally got onto the water. First cast and fish on, couldn't have thought of a better way to start the day than that.

A fish just around the 1lbs mark, but what I found strange was that the fish was covered in what looked like lice.
Now I dont know if this is a good thing or a bad thing am sure someone with more knowledge than myself can answer that but they didn't seem to be doing the trout any harm.





Next cast and yes you guessed it a token offering of  a complete cast to the tree gods, there was no way I was getting this cast back and I'm a bit long in the tooth to be hanging from the branches of Alder trees so with reluctance the line got snapped. Now dont you hate it when you look in your fly box for the identical flies you had on and you cant find the one that took the trout 1st cast...typical.

I have to say though I dont know if it was an omen or not but the fly I chose to replace the missing fly took all my trout today so maybe someone was looking down on me.

As I made my way down the river there were fish sipping the flies of the surface everywhere, they looked like Grayling the way they were sipping it down but when I cast over them I found them mostly to be small Par around 10 - 12" in length, nice to see but annoying when you are trying to cast to the larger fish and they intercept it as soon as the flies hit the water.

 

It was nice to see the river looking so healthy with plenty of fish like the ones shown in the pictures, all under a 1lbs and most being totally wild fish, with a few stockies thrown in. As the afternoon wore on the rain showers became more persistent and heavier yet the fish were not worried and continued to take the flies from the surface, It was nice to get a day of dry fly fishing as it made a nice change for wet & nymph fishing, much more visual and exciting to see the fish come up for the fly.

Another trout which was covered in lice as you can see from the one sliding off the trout's nose as I took the picture.









                                                               The lice up close & personal

A lovely golden coloured trout which the picture only captures some of its beauty as in the afternoon light it was like a bar of Gold.

It was turning out to be the best day for trout this season so far, and the count so far with small par included came to 23 trout.

I finally called it a day just after 6pm as the rain was really coming down now and managed to coax this guy from the final pool before heading back to where the car was parked. Just goes to show a small offering to the tree gods sometimes helps, it certainly did in this case but who knows what might have been if I hadn't lost the cast........ we will never know, but 24 trout all caught on dry fly in just under 5 hours fishing I'm certainly not complaining.