New Water & Good Friends

The plan went into effect a few days ago that if the river kept dropping as it was, that today I would get out onto new Grayling water for me and hopefully grab a few of the ladies.

Last night I eagerly checked the EA website, dropping again and a few PM messages to a friend from a forum who I had spoken to many times but never actually met and the plan was going to be executed at 0700hrs this morning all being the river didn't rise during the night as there was a forecast of rain overnight.

After a quick check of the EA website as soon as the alarm went off all was fine so set off this morning with a spring in my step, the weather looked fine a bit gusty but nothing to worry about or so I thought.

I arrived first at the pre arranged spot to find that the ground where the cars were parked was so sodden that as soon as I went off the track the car started spinning so ended up parking in the corner of the yard and hoping the farmer wouldnt object too much.

The first sight of the river was taken looking down on it and I'm happy to say I was very impressed with what lay in front of me, plenty long glides and a few holes flung in for the fish to hide in.









I headed off downstream and started fishing & it took only a matter of minutes before the float dipped away and fish on, a nice Grayling and a very nice start to a day that was turning out to be very windy.

Wasn't long afterwards that I spotted my forum friend walking along the riverbank towards me and after an exchange of greetings and a short conversation it was back to the fishing again and another couple of fish in the net.

The wind by now was starting to blow gusts of gale force proportions with white water lifting off the river as the gusts made there way across the river diagonally. So it was time to do a bit of leg work and try & find some sheltered water & at the same time explore all this new water now available to me.

It didn't take long to stumble across a sign that brought a smile to my face. I knew I was definitely going to enjoy the new clubs rules.

We managed to find some sheltered water where we both hooked into fish but Graeme decided better to catch & release straight away I wont hurt his dignity with any further comments.

It was almost lunchtime and the gusting winds were forcing us off the water, you literally could not stand without the wind pushing down on you making it very difficult to stand up in the water, so the decision was made to have a walk back down stream in the direction of the cars & see if the wind would die down a bit if not we would call it a day.

On the way back down I managed to grab another couple of shots of the river where we had been fishing and I'm sure when the spring eventually gets here this place will be stunning and I will certainly be spending a lot of time on this particular stretch after the Brownies. I managed another Grayling before Graeme finally caught up with me.

A quick chat and a few more last casts while Graeme watched on and we finally called it a day as the wind was just too wild and forced us to finish early.

I was in no way disappointed with the day and thanks to Graeme I found  another place to spend some long hours with the fly rod after the brownies during the year and another new place to come for the ladies. Graeme thank you for today it was greatly appreciated and as a reward the top section we spoke of is the correct one you broke previously on another trip...ouch, and will arrange to get it to you at some point. Many thanks.