Against the Odds & Otters

I thought about going up the Dale with the fly rod today but after getting the trotting gear out last week for the River Clyde trip I decided to give it another go before stowing it away again for a few weeks because if this current weather keeps up & the rivers stay the way they currently are the fly fishing will be extended well into November.
Anyway got up this morning & had a bit of a dilemma watch the F1 on TV or go fishing, needless to say the fishing won this time around, As I drove up the farm track you can tell its almost the shooting season again as the amount of partridge & pheasant that is roaming around, no doubt the keepers have released some recently.
As I got to the river and set up it was very low and seemed odd as I never tend to trot the float when the rivers are this low, but I was here now and would make the most of it.
I was about 10 minutes into the trotting session when the first Grayling came to the net.

What I call bread & butter Grayling for this part of the river, as they are literally all around this size, with the occasional bigger one thrown in for good measure but they give good sport.






Not long after this the wind started to pick up and if I got one wind knot in the mono I got 10 winds knots, It was constantly changing direction and making trotting with such a small float very difficult.

Another few Bread & butter Grayling came to the net, together with around 30 - 40 leaves that were coming downstream.

 Soon after I kept hearing splashes further upstream but couldn't see anything so came out from the stream and stood on the bank for 5 minutes watching upstream to see what it could be and before long I seen what all the splashing was about, 2 otters diving and rolling, no doubt on the hunt for some food. I stood and watched as they dropped downstream heading towards me so came further back out the river and got behind some cover where I could observe them and sure enough they dropped down right into the pool I was fishing, just my luck! But what a lovely sight to see them playing with each other. I took some photos but at the range they are nothing but brown dots against the colour of the river.

They played in the pool for about 10 minutes before disappearing off downstream and allowing me back to try and see if there was any fish left in the pool that had not been scared off by them.

It took an absolute age to get a bite again but with perseverance I managed to coax a few fish to the net.

By this time the rain has started coming down heavy and the wind was blowing strongly making trotting such a light float near impossible so I retreated to the cover of the trees and made about attaching a heavier float which I could control more in the wind.

Another few trots and things started to come alive with a couple of small Out of Season Brown trout which were unhooked in the water and sent on their merry way and a few more Grayling, nothing of any size but at least fish were in the pool.

I finished off the afternoon with another couple of small Grayling and a nice trout which thankfully slipped the hook at the net making the tally for the day of 16 Grayling and a 3 trout.

I was about to pack away when a small Jenny Wren came around where I was sitting and with the left overs of bait scattered on the floor I sat & watched as she ducked under the branches to drop down and start picking the bait off the sand, nothing went to waste.


I think unless the weather and river changes drastically in the next  few weeks the trotting gear will stay in the cupboard as I observed quite a few fish rising today and I do like a rising Grayling.