A Nice Surprise.

I had planned on getting out for the full day but after the -3c start yesterday morning I wanted an extra hour in bed so it was just before 8am I climbed out of bed and looked at the river level, It had gone up overnight, must have been some rain high up on the Dales as none was forecast.

It had looked nice for today as well with the river thinning down fine so after a nice relaxed breakfast I decided to head up the Dale nevertheless and have a few hours with the nymphs.






I got onto the river quite late as I was stuck behind a couple of farm vehicles in convoy moving a load of hay and with the roads in the Dales not leaving too much room for manoeuvre had to sit behind them for a considerable amount of time at a very impressive 15mph!

This has been the first time in a while on this part of the river so a lot has changed since my last visit and the walk through the woods is a lot clearer than normal with most of the leaves now on the ground.






The river just came into view and I could see it was higher than I would have liked but as always I knew a few places where there might be some fish sitting.

About 10 minutes later the rod was bent into the first fish of the day, a fish I thought I had foul hooked initially as it was staying deep and I wasnt making much headway with it in the current, as the usual stamp of fish isn't too big here so hence the thought of foul hooked fish, but when I got it to the surface I could see this wasnt the usual stamp of fish for here and the hook was firmly in its mouth.

A lovely Yorkshire Grayling weighing in at 2lbs 4oz and 46cm long, what a way to start the day.


Not too many fish of this stamp around on this stretch so to say I was buzzing was an understatement.

As I sat for a moment to let the run rest I glanced over and saw the remnants of the mushrooms that frequent the wood just hanging on, a bit bedraggled.











The next fish was more the usual size and also very welcome.

A couple of golden bellied trout followed shorty afterwards but with signs of spawning were released  immediately and not netted.

I took a walk downstream toying with the idea of fishing the pocket water but with the water up and no wading stick brought, thought better of it as there is some deep gullies on this particular stretch.







Walking along the boundary wall the colours of some of the trees were stunning

And just as I was taking the picture out the corner of my eye I seen a movement in the shape of a rabbit sitting at its burrow,  lets see how eagled eyed you are....







A few more mushrooms still growing in the shade of some of the fir trees.

including this large one as you can see from the scale of it beside my reel.







I got onto the bit of water I was hoping there might be a few fish sitting in and sure enough a couple of casts and the first fish was on.

I released a couple of fish at distance before I managed another to the net.

A maniac trout decided to take my nymphs and led me a merry dance with its acrobatics and lunges and the 3# was taking it well, before it finally gave up and allowed me to unhook it, I estimate it to be around the 4lbs mark and full of milk, thankfully none the worse for its ordeal and it swam away strongly.

Another Grayling followed soon afterwards

before it all went quiet so I decided to head back upstream towards the car.

Nothing else came to the net so headed back to the car very content that in 4 hours with high water conditions I had managed to do so well. Just as I was coming out the wood I could hear a pheasant calling so peered over the wall to grab a glimpse of it before it made tracks.

I headed home a very happy angler with the knowledge of the 1st Grayling over 2lbs and taken on a recently tied nymph by myself, leaving me with a warm feeling on chilly day.