A Wet day with the Wet Flee

We had been warned about the weather front approaching and I felt sorry for the organisers of the village gala day as it was turning out to be a wash out this morning but the show went on and people came out and supported it so after getting back home the wife says, its a shame about the weather you could have gone fishing this afternoon, my reply, darling that's why gortex was invented and off I went.

I arrived on the river just after 2pm and the next weather front was already heading in over the side of the Dale, bringing with it more torrential rain.









Definitely not a day of short sleeve shirts, sunglasses & upstream dry fly fishing like yesterday, Gortex jackets and wet flee was more appropriate today.

I decided to start off where I had my encounter with the two salmon a few nights ago, I sat for a few minutes under the protection of some willow and watched to see any movements as there was plenty of fly life on the water.
With nothing taking the flies off the surface I opted for a team of  wet flees and set about fishing.






It didn't take that long till I was into my first fish  which took the point fly as it swung around a large rock into the slack water behind..

I was amazed at the constant aromas wafting through the air with all the wet weather, you could smell the garlic, the pollen from the abundance of flowers and everything seemed so fresh with the rain. The large daisies weren't put off by it and together with all the wild flowers the scents were wonderful to smell as you brushed pass them.

As I moved from run to run I was getting small plucks from smaller fish and connecting with the better fish which was satisfying that the fish were in a taking mood, with a few coming in quick succession.

I was walking through some long scrub grass to head up to my next set of runs when that invention for war took its toll on my waders...barbed wire!

A piece of wire hidden in the scrub had took out the top layer on my waders around the knee, luckily it hadn't gone all the way through and am sure its fixable, luckily it was my Ikons which are now in their 4th season so they have done me well, but I wont be righting them off right away until I've tried some repairs on them.


The next set of runs produced another couple of fish which I was really pleased with as it had taken me virtually all day yesterday to get my first fish on a higher stretch of the river and here after  a couple of hours I had  lost a few and landed a few.

I was almost at the top end of the beat and the rain was torrential again so decided to fish on through the last set of runs and call it a day, It was pleasing to see that the fly life was still very evident on the river and the swallows were making short work of the flies as they took them on the wing.

The last fish of the day before I called it an afternoon, wet, hungry but very content and certainly beats being sat in the house wondering if the fishing is any good.
And now as I sit and write up the blog entry the sun is out and it has turned out to be  a lovely evening, a whisky has my name on it I think.