Reap the Rewards

How slowly a month passes when your not fishing!

Over the last 4 weeks & more we have been having major going on's in our home, all the windows & frames have been removed and replaced with new, the whole of the upstairs had to be packed away in preparation for new ceilings to get fitted and the walls plastered and all the radiators hung back on the walls & connected, then finally everything painted, which was no mean feat, all that remains in the next week or so is the carpet fitters to come in & fit new carpets and then we can start moving things back in, I will be so glad when its all done and I can sleep back in my own bed instead of a mattress on the floor.
Im definitely getting too old for this sort of stuff & I swore today that this would be my very last time I picked up my paint brush & roller for decorating!!

Anyway after finally sweeping up the last of my mess this morning I decided to take a few hours off and get myself some peace & tranquillity and head up the Dale, something I've only been dreaming of.

I arrived just after lunch and as you can see the field will be easy walking with the grass been cut ready to dry.








I really was hoping on the walk down that I would come across some rising fish  as I really fancied a day of dry fly fishing.

As I sat on the grass and tackled up I noticed some dew still sitting on some of the blades of grass along the riverbank, which surprised me as there has been no rain and strong sunshine,  and early afternoon I though this would all be dry.

As I glanced over the river it was down on normal levels and the bottom was quite dirty with weed covering everything but it looked in good condition and most of all the occasional fish was rising which really made me happy.

With nothing specific hatching I put on a small cdc olive and hoped it would entice some interest from a fish or two and I didn't have to wait long to find out. On the first cast at a rising fish up it came and took my artificial and I was on. Summer Grayling on the Dry Fly it really doesn't get much better than that!!




As I moved down the run a few smaller Grayling rose to my fly before the trout pushed them out the way and took interest.

a lovely wild fish which nailed the fly and sped off without me even having to set the hook.

It wasnt long until the next trout moved on my fly, another wild fish and spirited in its fight.








As I moved downstream the rising fish dies away so I decided to sit & have a break and just chill as its been a busy 4 weeks with long hours after my normal work so I just needed to recharge the batteries. As I placed my rod down I noticed lovely small orange flowers sitting in the undergrowth.

a chill half hour just lying in the grass watching the clouds pass overhead.

I sat and watched as a few fish started to make an appearance in the pool below me, nothing of any great size but they were rising nevertheless. 

Starting off small they started to increase in size as I got to the head of the pool.

I was chuffed to bits, all the Grayling coming to the dry fly which makes it all the more sweeter as I think too many anglers are heading to rivers with one thing in their mind which is to trundle nymphs along the bottom looking for anything they can find and not bothering with any other method.

Up under the cover of some overhanging trees I could see a fish rising so approached as best I could along a deep grassy bank until I was within casting range and I stood and watched as the fish rose a couple more times in what looked like slow motion as it broke the surface and slurped down a small terrestrial fly. 

A few casts over it and the net went under the fish soon afterwards.

a few feet away another small fish broke the surface so a quick flick of the rod and the fly landed almost on the trout's nose as it rose at the exact moment the fly hit the water, small but beautiful in every detail.

Time was getting on and I told Karen I would be back home before 5pm, so I set off back towards the car unknowing that the best was still to come!

As I made my way back towards the car I wasnt really fishing much, but just taking in the surroundings more than anything else with a flash of blue as the kingfisher flew past heading upstream and the occasional dipper hopping from rock to rock.. I was almost level with the car and decided to have a last cast across a deep slow glide, I hadn't seen anything rise it was just a spur of the moment decision I took and proved to be the best decision of the day, on the second cast a fish slurped down my dry and the rod bent over hard, a nice trout I though, Oh how wrong I was, it was a lovely big Grayling and it was putting a good bend in the 3#.

A few moments later I slipped the net under what I would describe for this river as a clonking Grayling, hooked squarely in the lips with a small size 16 cdc dry fly.

This really was the icing on the cake and made all my days of not getting out with the rod worth while, I was one happy angler thats for sure. I couldn't top that so it was head for home time on a definite high, as Grayling like that dont come from the river very often and to come to a dry fly made it even more special, one I will remember for a while that Im sure of. Just over 4 hours of absolutely brilliant dry fly fishing on the river, what an antidote to weeks of time away from the river. 

In the downtime away from fishing I took delivery of another rod after trying out Martin's rod when we headed off together at the start of July for a session.

a small fibreglass 3# for the small stream fishing we plan to do together in the future, not as in your face as his light sabre coloured one but Im happy with it, just need to get a trip organised to test it out.