Carlsberg dont do good weekends but....

if they did this would have been mine. What a weekend is all I can say.

Yesterday my wife & I  had an appointment with the Bank Manager in Northallerton to pay off the biggest debt we will ever have in our lifetime, our mortgage!
With some careful planning and good fortune we paid off our mortgage yesterday, 13 years early and I can now officially say with hand on heart everything we own is bought & paid for and we owe nobody in this world a single penny, that even includes old army mates before they come tapping...... after a celebration meal out and a few drinks last night on getting home I had a look at the weather forecast for today...Met office warnings for high winds and heavy showers, Cant be that bad can it ??.......So this morning I awoke early and seen the sun rising over the Dales that was my mind made up, going fishing.

I set off just after breakfast and headed up the Dales with blustery winds to start with and after I had parked up and was walking the few fields to my starting point the rain started and combined with the wind it was almost horizontal at times, not what I was wanting.

The yellow wagtails were struggling in the blustery wind flying from stone to stone along the river looking for food.











I set up and started off the best I could with a short line and it wasn't long till I got my first pluck and this little fellow obliged the hand.

Totally wild and marked beautifully, a pleasure to see and hold, and finally the rain subsided and the sun shone all be it windy still.

I continued on running through the fast water and managed another 3 small trout all of similar size before heading upstream in pursuit of a rest bite from the wind. Thankfully I found a spot of running water where the trees were diverting most of the wind well above my head and I could get a bit of a line out and it didn't take long till I felt the unmistakable fight of a Lady.

Fighting fit and in excellent condition this lady certainly made my weekend even better.










I continued for a further short time in the pool and hooked and lost another good Grayling but it could not take away how I was feeling at that moment so I headed back out into the wind and moved upstream in pursuit of more fish.

On walking up through the woods I noticed how cold the wind was and how it was feeling like an autumn day all being it was still meant to be summer, most of the wild flowers have all but gone with only a few clinging on wedged between the rocks, the monkey flowers which I have to say were my absolute favourite of all the wild flowers on this stretch have gone, the petals being blown off in the wind or died away.

I came to my next good part of moving water and the wind thankfully was blowing in the direction that suited casting.

Before long the unmistakeable fight of another Lady and she was in the net then out again, the hook came out in the net and unbeknown to me she slipped through a hole which had appeared in the corner of the net back into the water and she was gone.....note to self.....repair net.

It didnt take long till her sister was in the net and this time thankfully managed to get a photograph of her.

That was it whatever happened the rest of the day I was a happy chappy with the Ladies I had. Nothing further came from the fast water so I headed further upstream to a place I knew where I could shelter from the wind and grab a bite to eat.

On observing the water even the white water had white tips when the wind blew. Not so clear in the photograph but when the wind gusted downstream it made the white water rise with long spiral columns of spray.

I only managed 30 minutes here after grabbing some lunch the wind was just overpowering and even although I was on a short line it was still hard controlling where I wanted it to go so headed back downstream the way I had came.






Again the wind was chasing me downstream and even the secluded part where I had taken the Grayling earlier was being battered by the winds.

 Combined with the debris coming down the river from branches through to leaves I knew it wouldnt be much longer before I would have to call it quits.








A couple of short casts to where I had taken the Grayling earlier produced another tug and another lady came to the net.

What better way to call it a day and head back to the car, and head home and reminisce what a weekend the last 48hours have been, I know it will certainly be in my mind for a long-time, and the Ladies of the Stream, well they just were the icing on the cake.