Thunder Storms, & Lost Fish

After work tonight I decided to try & get a few hours on the river due to the bad weather warning for the area tomorrow, so with anticipation I set off on the small trip up the A1 to the Tees and was on the river just after 7pm. The river was up slightly and coloured but still very fish able.
Within 30 minutes the sky was rumbling with thunder in the distance and I had my first fish on the bank.

 Just after landing it the rain started to come on lightly but nothing too serious and I landed a further 2 small Grayling before an almighty rumble of thunder and some serious bolts of lighting and the heavens opened and down it came in torrents, luckily I was close to a wood so sought refuge under the trees for almost an hour before the storm passed over but it continued to rain, so a decision to fish back to the car then call it a night.

As I moved to the top of a pool out the corner of my eye I though I seen a fish roll so cast to it and what happened next I can only say it was heart stopping, my fly reel went into overdrive and the fish which I thought I had seen made a b-line for the middle of the river almost taking me down to the backing, I knew this was a good fish the way it went off like a bullet and I could do nothing to stop it. The fish stayed deep and continued to motor up & down the pool and all I could do was try and stay with it, This had to either be a very big trout or something more substantial, maybe a salmon I thought?

After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only about 8 - 10 minutes I started taking line on the fish only for the line to then go slack, I had lost it.....gutted was an understatement. I can only speculate the size of the fish but it was something very strong and very heavy, a large trout or  a salmon I can only guess, but it certainly added some excitement to my trip and with that I walked back to the car, wet, downhearted but certainly not out, there's always another day.