A River or Two

The week was coming to an end , I was dreaming of a few
casts and so it was with great despair that I awoke Thursday
with a bad back . So bad that I was house bound and miserable.
This was made worse because I had been invited to
fish some great water with my mate Rob and his dad Len on
the Sunday .
Saturday afternoon Mike called round with Lucia and she gave
me a little advice , this was greatly accepted as two visits to the
Doctor's had brought little res bite from the pain .
Rob called round Saturday afternoon, just as Mike was leaving
I had promised him a few flies and I had given up all but the
slightest of hopes of any fishing .


Sunday morning and almost by divine intervention I had
improved , at last the fishing gods had blessed me so the
trip was back on(thanks Lucia) .
The river had changed since my last visit
''quite a few years too many ago''
even so certain features filled my mind with good days
past many of them with Len it's many years since I fished
with him and it will be a bit longer as he was not feeling to well,
when I think back a lot of my learning was done by watching
him cast a fly , he was patient and thats one of the top qualitys
you need by the side of running water Rob at that time was a lad
just learning to cast but now he is more than capable of showing
the way and is a plesure to spend time with .
( still not as good as me Rob)

I followed him down the first few pools and we both took little
Trout and Parr . The third pool down and the peeping caddis
struck into a decent fish it was around the pound mark but
she saved me the job of unhooking by slipping the hook at the
net .
A couple of hours on the dry brought me the best fish of the
evening over a pound it was spot ,on we had a few more small ones
before Rob's last fish just under a pound finished a nice few hours
Monday came and I managed to snatch the last couple of
hours with Phil and Mike they had been fishing in the middle
of town ,the rivers being so much cleaner all now seem to
hold a healthy stock of fish .
We dropped down to an area that Phil new and as we
approached the first fishable pool small trout darted about
Mike ran a worm down , first cast and moments later
a trout resided in the palm of his hand .Phil followed with a
small fish before a half pound perfectly spotted Brownie came
to the net.

I now made my first few casts with the little rod I made
a few casts upstream with a little black tinhead and I had
two small fish both escaped the net before my luck cahanged
and a nice Brownie lay in the net , the little fish Mike caught
shows the stream is healthy .

My weekend turned out better than I expected two rivers
one in the middle of a forrest and costing a small fortune the
other in the heart of town and free , both full of Trout the best
of both worlds .

Birthday (feeling young)

It was my Birthday Friday so after losing a few fish and
sorting out a old reel a few weeks back I got myself a new
line and also treated myself to a little reel .
Hoping to get a #4 rod the idea is it will cushion the little fish
and help me bump less off the hook .
Must be catching fish that makes me feel young , every time
I hook something all the little pains and problems disappear
This brings me to the conclusion a life fishing is never long
enough .

I spent some time coarse fishing with Phil , we must have
had a hundred of these little Rudd like the one above.
Phil had the best fish around 6lb on what was a hard day's
fishing following a clear cold night .
I now can't wait to return to my running water
Time By The River is well spent !

Elston

Having purchased my Card for the Elston stretch of the
River Ribble I decided on a couple of hours .
The day had been warm so I made my way more to see
the river than with high hopes f catching .
I stopped at a shallow streamy section and turned a few
stones over , I was glad to find an abundance of Larva and
Nymphs ,like the Rhyacophila above (Rock Worm)
The warm weather and flowering plants gave the day a real
summery feel .
On a fishing front I hooked quite a few small ones but
managed somehow to lose every one .
I enjoyed my couple of hours and was glad to see the river
looking so good .

A Day On The Ribble

Time on the river is always special , even more so for me
when the river is the Ribble . I have spent so much of my
time from being a young lad both fishing and learning by
her side .
Even though I'm a little older every time a trip is planed
I'm filled with a child like excitement , I find it hard to
sleep the night before an early start , unlike a work day
getting out of bed is so easy.
Mike was picking me up at 8am I was up and ready by
7am and found my self watching ''Essential skills'' with
Oliver Edwards .
Mike arrived with Adam , who is a member of the Hungarian
Fly Fishing Team so I was looking forward to the day .


I have been having a lot of fish on Caddis , so I decided to
fish this from the start , the river was up and tinged with
colour so this was ideal , I put a Sparkle Bug on the dropper
and was quite confident .
After watching Adam and Mike fish the first glide I walked
a little downstream , a bolder 8m from the bank caught my
eye and I dropped into the water and fished down past it .
First run and a fish hit without me making contact , this
continued very annoying but at the same time encouraging .
Mike and Adam had little luck and moved on down stream,
I stuck to fishing down river as far as I could on the same glide.
Finally my persistence payed off a little hand sized Brownie ,
these were probably responsible for all the small pulls and
bumps I was missing , although I had bumped a decent fish
which tore off before the hook pulled.
Another small Brownie followed before the line tightened
into a better fish a nice buttery Brown trout around 11in

While fishing I had noticed a few flies of several kinds one
or two fish spasmodically rose but one fish seemed to be
rising regularly enough to target I tied on a small F-fly
and was soon playing a nice fish , it turned out to be a
Grayling .

After a brief walk I found Adam he had now caught a couple
of Brownies and was enjoying the day . A little further down
steam Mike was getting a few takes and as I had a drink he
took his first fish only small but he was pleased.

I then had another little Grayling and a similar sized Trout
before a return to frustration !
The next fish was a good one only problem the hook pulled
after a minute , this was followed by a few more good bangs
but no hook ups .
Adam and I walked back we had both had a few fish we found
Mike who pointed out a rising fish, on went the F-fly and
moments later I was into a good Grayling , it was on a while
but my skill and the angling gods let me down with another
hook pull .
We had a good day on a river I love , a lost fish is not the end
of the world if you are losing the odd one you are doing
something rite and if anything it makes you want more.