Brown Trout Swansong

With family commitments for the next few weeks, I grabbed the last chance I would get to have a go at this season's Brown Trout so last night just after tea I headed up the Dale, I wasn't too optimistic as we have had constant rain all day, and some heavy thunder storms mixed in just to make it even better & I knew  the water would be on the rise. I arrived to see another two fishermen on the stretch, a cormorant and a heron sitting not less than 50ft apart, the heron lifted straight away but the cormorant sat until I was almost on top of it. The first one I've seen on the stretch all year and hopefully the last time I'll see it too.

The river was rising but it wasn't coloured yet so it was still fish able.

I sat and watched to see if anything was rising as it had turned into a great evening after all the rain all day and sure enough before long I seen fish taking off unknown flies coming down in the current.

I managed to hook up with a trout almost instantly.

Nothing big but beautifully marked and if this was all I caught then I certainly wouldn't have been disappointed.








I fished down the stretch not connecting with anything else and to be honest didn't see that much movement in the way of fish, it was only when I sat on the bank for a drink & a rest that not 10ft away from me a better fished moved in the calm water, so still sitting I picked up the rod and cast my fly to it, as the fly came around in the slack water, the fish took it.

I'm undecided whether this is a stockie from somewhere else on the river or not as our club dot them with blue dye, as there was no markings on it at all and its unlike the native Brown Trout in the river, never the less this was my final fish of the 2015 Brown Trout season as just after 2030 hrs it was almost pitch black and time to leave the water to the screaming heron that was trying to settle back on the stretch but had to settle for the field across from me.
I'm looking forward to my favourite time of the year, the Grayling season when I next get onto the river, the crisp mornings and lovely silver fish, with flee & float.