Final Time in 2011

Was really trying to get 2 days fishing in before having to go back to work tomorrow but the weather yesterday and the river conditions were that it would have been a complete waste of time so things were put off today with fingers crossed that we would see no more rain and sure enough when I awoke this morning the river levels were still high but fish able so filled the flask and off we went for our final session in 2011.

On arriving at the river the car park where I normally leave the car was full so that didn't bode well to start but we managed to park 200 metres away and walk back and after over indulgence on Xmas day & boxing day the walk was a welcome relief.

On the way down to my part of the river I was hoping to fish I came across some lads who had decided to have a knock up coarse match on the river between themselves so spoke to them and found that all but one of the cars belonged to them so things were looking up for being able to fish my chosen swim and sure enough as I approached it nobody was around.

Started off fishing after wading out to just over waist depth and was into a fish the 1st trot down, nothing big but a welcome sight all the same, After 2 hours of standing waste deep in the river and my legs starting to go to sleep I took a break and at that point I had 14 Grayling, mostly small stuff but a couple of decent fish around the half pound mark.

A quick Brew and a walk around to get the circulation working in the legs and it was back in again. It took a while to get the fish back on the feed and what seemed like an eternity but realistically was about 30 minutes I got a lovely brown trout but on playing it noticed it was well into spawning so it was unhooked in the water without netting it.
Another couple of trout succumb to my bait all the same as the first so they were all unhooked in the water, it then seemed that the Grayling had come back on the feed again and I started catching steadily again, nothing big but all fish around 8 - 10" in size.

A few more fish came to the net before the swim went dead again so time to exit and have a brew and some lunch. The score as I left the river for lunch was 21 Grayling & 6 trout, not bad for a morning's work in difficult conditions.

After lunch again it took a while to get them going but eventually fish started coming to the net again.

As the light faded and several other trout and small Grayling had been caught & released, I managed to land my biggest Grayling of the day.

After that it was just the occasional smaller fish that was coming to the net so decided to call it a day and walk back to the car. Not bad as a final trip of 2011, 32 Grayling  & 9 Brown Trout in total. A nice way to finish off 2011. Tight Lines everyone for 2012.