Sunday 3 September 2017

Favourite Time of the Year

Today I was determined to get a couple of hours up the river but first I had some electrical jobs to finish off in the nearly completed rooms upstairs, all that really remains to be done is for the carpet fitter to come in and move everything back into place....It cant come soon enough if I were to be truthful.

Anyway just before 11am I decided to head up the Dale and split my time between two places seeing as the river was so low, so headed high up into the Dales on the search for some wild trout.
Arriving I found a cold downstream wind blowing and no movement on the river at all, the flow was a mere trickle so I had to put a bit of walking in to find water with some movement in it.





I always love this view of the river as I emerge from the thick fir wood and just glimpse the river.








A few fungi dotted around the wood as I passed through.




I found a couple of deeper runs with some flowing water but nothing was moving at all on the surface so decided to set up a couple of spider patters and fish them upstream with the hope a fish would take an interest.



Nothing looked at the flies for almost an hour so decided to take a break and have a wander to one of my favourite places at this time of year, a few hawthorn bushes which should be starting to bear fruit at this time of year & sure enough the bushes are loaded with unripened sloe berries.

Another couple of weeks and I will be back with my bucket picking them ready for this years batch of sloe whisky making.








Back at the river I had some competition in the streams I was fishing.









 more distinctive when it turned around


A kingfisher sat on its perch looking for a meal.





I made my way fishing upstream back towards the car without a single sighting or touch of a fish, not that I was complaining as it was great to be out especially at this time of year when things are starting to change and the countryside is so colourful right now.






















With no fish caught on this particular stretch I jumped in the car and drove the short distance downstream in the search for a fish or two., and on arrival at my next part of the river, the very first upstream cast of the spiders accounted for this small Grayling.





I continued in the stream which ran into deeper water but was hounded by Salmon Parr on nearly every run through with the spiders, I lost count after 10 and decided to move on in the search for fish at another point on the river.









The river was really down on the levels as this is normally a good fast paced stream to fish and here it was hardly moving.







Heading to one last spot before calling it a trip I hooked into a stockie and lost another one at range, nothing big but it was a trout nevertheless, and with that I headed home, not many fish but that didn't matter I still enjoyed my couple of hours away from it all gathering my thoughts and enjoying the surroundings that mother nature has to offer.

6 comments:

  1. Nice write up George, I've still got a bit of sloe whisky left, but glad you're starting a new batch.😜🍷
    I prefer spring to Autumn myself, but both have their merits.
    Steven.

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    1. I've still got 2 litres from last season, not had time to drink it....lol, this is the season I like the most, raspberries, sloes, all for the pickings

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  2. George, autumn can be lovely on the waters we fish, land based colors as well as colors from various fruits of the season.
    I see a little work was required in finding some willing spider eaters, but it looks like it was well worth it.

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    1. I totally agree Alan, you make me jealous with some of the pictures you publish over there, absolutely stunning. Had to work for them but makes it all the better.

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  3. Very enjoyable post. I'm a fan of Autumn too. At least I am until every second 'take' is a submerged leaf...

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    Replies
    1. Cheers Andrew I hope the best is yet to come in the Grayling season.

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