River Magic

With the river being at a lovely height after all the rain we had during the week it seemed right to have a day on the dry flies with nothing else to worry about, so just after 10am I made the short trip to the particular part of the river I had in mind as it involved a nice walk through some woods which am sure would be full of colour and I wasnt disappointed.

The woods were carpeted in colour with the bluebells dominant.

The walk through the wood was enlightening with the smells of wild garlic, and the sounds of curlews overheard, it all made for a very peaceful place to be.

The ferns are just starting to unravel.

Sitting by the river's edge I was able to see what was moving and the first thing that caught my eye was the few yellow mayflies which were flying around, the first I've seen this year not in any numbers yet but I counted 6 in the space of 10 minutes which is a good sign of them continuing to hatch over the next few days with temperatures set to rise. Some after work fishing may be called for!

A couple of fish were rising under the cover of the overhanging branches so with my flies picked and attached to my cast I set about covering them & it didn't take to long until the first brown trout was in the net.

A lovely small heavily spotted fish. I was happy, everything else was a bonus.

Making my way slowly upstream it was mostly very small trout that were breaking the surface but from time to time something bigger showed themselves.

Smaller fish continued to take the dry & I lost count the amount of par that rose to take the fly but they were rising & it was showing that the river hadn't suffered too badly for now with the cormorants & other predators on the prowl.

A few Grayling were rising in the slower glides and I was interested to see what sort of condition they were in & it didn't take too long to find out, with the first fish I covered coming up on the first pass over its head.

This one took line and made off downstream, and from what I could see was totally fit & recovered from spawning, but none the less a quick photograph and time to recover before it swam off strongly

I sat on the bank & looked out over the field behind me....a flock of sheep, geese, Oyster catchers, pheasants & a couple of hares all within one field. The sun was out & it was just nice to chill out watching everything that was going on.

The flowers around me caught my eye & I decided to have a play with the camera.

Dandelions in the millions covered the field.

with the odd cowslip scattered around.

Heading back upstream my next fish had a tail like a paddle & used it to good effect going off like a rocket after taking my artificial.

still the smaller fish kept the sport going and it really was nice to see how healthy the river was.

I had a couple of onlookers watching my antics.

The trout continued to rise & I continued to cover them.

A nice mix of sizes with most on the smaller side but great sport and I decided to leave the river just after 3pm a very happy & contented angler with over 50 fish accounted for to the dry fly. The walk back through the woods was just that little bitter sweeter on the return trip.