Some Well Deserved Therapy.

Recently on one of the social media sites a friend posted a picture with the words.

 "For the rich there is therapy, for the rest there is fishing!" 

Well today after several weeks of not having any therapy due to low rivers or work I planned to come off shift this morning and head to one of the Dales rivers I haven't fished in what seems an eternity.  I arrived just before 9am and the first thing that caught my attention was the amount of rabbits running around, far more than normal, seems the mild winter and good weather have got them in the mood, there was literally about 50 rabbits in one field as I approached to walk through it to the river.

My first glimpse of the river and I found it to be carrying a bit more water than usual and deeper coloured than normal, seems there is still run off or there was more rain in the Pennines to get the levels up, and sure enough on just checking the levels overnight they rose to 0.54m between 1800hrs yesterday and 0530hrs this morning.

Undeterred it just changed the tactics I had planned and we started off on a team of three weighted nymphs and within three casts the first fish of the day was being played.

 a nice wild brown trout.










I continued to fish on in the pool for a further hour but nothing more came to the net, not even a pluck on the line so headed upstream.

 As I went I fished the shallow fast water and started taking small trout.

Small wild trout beautifully marked, there is nothing nicer....well maybe a Grayling if I were to be pushed into a debate. I continued to take small fish for an hour or so as I made my way upstream.







As I reached the pool where I thought there would be some decent fishing to be had a cormorant lifted and took to the wing, damn birds I haven't seen them here at all, now they have moved in on the river, I hope it doesn't come to any great numbers.

  I noticed as I passed through the small copse the first of this years hazelnuts appearing on the trees, or if your from the posh part of the country Cobb nuts.
I remember many many moons ago as a kid we used to take buckets down the Braes where we stayed and climb the trees for these and then sit with a pair of grips and break them open to eat. Kids nowadays wouldnt have a clue.

The first fish from the pool was what I would call an alien species in the river, they arent indigenous to the river but escapees from one of the reservoirs....rainbow trout.

Perfectly finned but had a deformed mouth hence this is the good side of it, I'm normally total C&R but when it comes to fish that shouldn't be there then it gets the tap on the head. The tail of the fish was full and beautifully marked, its been around for a while or the stocking is top class.

After a bite to eat the sun came out in all its glory and I was hoping for a rise as the last of the monkey flowers were barely holding on before dying off for another year.

 I couldn't resist a lie down in the sun amongst the long grass of the riverbank with nothing to annoy me but the gentle noise of the river passing by and before I knew it I had fallen asleep only to wake up over an hour later with the sight of a kingfisher flashing past with a minnow in its beak. Definite therapy indeed so peaceful and with not a care in the world at that present moment I observed a few fish starting to rise.

A changeover to dry fly and the first fish to the net was another wild brown with cannibalistic features.

I tempted another couple of smaller trout to the net on the way back downstream and finally sighted another fisherman in the distance just as I was calling it a day. A great day again on the river, the sights sounds and general atmosphere makes it all worth while, catching fish is purely a bonus.

On returning home the rainbow was given the treatment and within a few hours of catching it, it was on my plate feeding me.

My only dilemma was red or white to accompany it, I couldn't decide so had them both.