The river was still well up after the last 2 days of rain so that ruled the fly rod out, so instead I grabbed one of my cane trotting rods and armed with a pocket of worms decided to head out worming for trout.
I haven't free-lined worm for quite a while now, and although very simple in principle it used to account for many trout in my younger days, the set up is simple, centrepin reel and cane rod, with 3BB shot on the line followed by a Pennel hook rig, which I still like to tie myself and use.
(another almost forgotten rig on rivers) and that is is, simple yet very effective.
I noticed as I drove along the back lanes after lunch the amount of dandelions covering the verges, almost a sea of yellow the full route to the river.
The river was as expected quite well up and coloured but the view up the Dale overlooking one of the small villages was stunning in the afternoon sunshine.
I set up and started walking upstream looking for opportune spots to fish and it wasn't long till I found that and after a couple of times through the line stopped and I struck into my first fish, a lovely little wild trout, hooked squarely on the lip.
I continued to walk up the river looking for likely spots to fish when I came across a banking with a lot of nettles in flower and hovering over these flowers were an abundance of hawthorn flies, the first Ive seen this year.
You can just see nettles in flower on the right of the photo with a small swarm of hawthorn flies above them.
I sat down and watched for a while to see if I could get a better photo when a couple landed on my waders obliging for my camera.
The more I sat and watched the more I seen they were everywhere and hopefully wont be too long until the hungry trout start feeding on them as they blow onto the water.
As I lay watching I was then given the pleasure of not 1 fly past but 2, the first being a few geese on the way to feed in the field above me, a bit slow with the camera as they were over my head before I could grab a shot.
The 2nd was a first for me, the Boeing V-22 Osprey.
An American multi-mission, military,
tilt rotor aircraft with both a vertical takeoff and landing,
and short takeoff and landing capability. It flew around a few times before disappearing, and bringing peace & quiet back to the riverbank.
Not long after in a small back eddy I hooked my 2nd fish of the afternoon, again a small wild trout.
As I made my way upstream through a small copse, there were quite a few eggs scattered all over the ground, either fallen from their nests or a stoat or something has been having a feast.
I'm no expert on bird eggs nowadays, maybe 40 years ago in my childhood days but there were around two dozen eggs scattered around the copse.
Continuing upstream I came across 4 adult geese and there young in the overhanging willows on the far bank so sat and watched them for a while.
I had another few pulls on the worm tackle but I suspect from small fish as I never managed to connect with them and just as I was getting to the top of the limit another small trout took the worm.
I sat on the bank and watched to see if I could see any fly life on the water as it was starting to get hot and I was regretting wearing my fleece over my shirt, soon enough a few Duns & Olives floated by in the current.
There was no trout rising to the hatch but the river was moving at quite a pace in this section as it exited from the big pool.
I had to get back for a dental appointment, so as I made my way back downstream there was just enough time to grab a quick selfie with the Dale as my backdrop and a regret of wearing my Lets Tackle Cancer fleece as the sweat was virtually running down my back
An enjoyable couple of hours away from all the politics & dribble that was bouncing around this afternoon by all the political parties
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