My one & only spot I know that has a decent head of the beautiful "ladies of the stream".
I hastily organised a trip I just couldn't wait to get my float rod out & see my centrepin spinning away as a fast flow quickly pulled my stick float down stream to a hungry mouth, well that's the plan.
On arrival I couldn't believe my eyes, as I've fished here over the last few years & quite often not seen another fisherman all day.
Today was different, every one of the first 15 swims was occupied & stranger still most of them were fly fisherman. Now I don't have a problem with fluff flingers as I enjoy it myself but, these guys were wading through the swims one by one. I knew apart from messing up my days fishing & far more importantly..... it's now spawning season for trout & walking through spawning grounds is not a responsible thing to do.
As I carried along the short 1.5 mile stretch the swims I thankfully saw less anglers but my favourite swim was taken by a fly fisherman so I stopped a few swims upstream.
Water clarity was poor & i soon found this spot almost unfishable as it was only 20cm deep & very fast.
Not a great start after my 1 hour drive but it's a free bit of this river & I have no divine right to have this place to myself.
My first bit of luck came as my 1st choice swim became free as a fluff flinger clambered out of the water.
I moved my gear quickly & I was soon into the groove of feeding maggots/mending line & enjoying myself again.
As I had guessed the fish had scarpered but I knew with patience I could get them feeding again.
After 30 minutes the bites came & soon I had hooked into a desent fish.
A sprited scrap in very quick water resulted in a stunningly coloured fish
After this fish I upped the feeding & I was getting a bite a chuck.
A firm strike followed the next bite & it felt like the bottom, then it started to move slowly downstream, even my powerful rod couldn't turn his head.
I really couldn't put any more pressure on the fine hook but I had to let him bully me for a while.
Hugging the bottom like glue I had to try & move him so I moved down side of him & pull from a different angle.
The could have been my downfall as it woke up & shot off down again. An nice old boy I spoke to earlier was three swims down & I had to run towards him rather quickly. As I got closer to him he saw the fish & remarked "it's a barbel"
With that news I must have lost my concentration for a tad as my hook had lost its grip in a flash, gutted I strolled over to the old fella & chatted.
He remarked it was close to a double & my heart sank even further, even more frustrating was that I knew barbel of any size are very rairly seen & caught from this river.
Back in the swim I soon forgot about the big boris as next cast I hooked into my target species at last. I saw the violet & silver flashes of a Grayling & it's bigger than I first thought, twisting & turning the the very fast flow. But again disaster struck close to the net & the hook pinged out & up into a tree. It was close to 2lb as I got a great look at it in the shallows. With my pb of 1lb 12oz I felt sure it was a very good fish.
The next 40 minutes were some of the most enjoyable fishing I've had in many a month as cast after cast I hooked into so many fish I honestly lost count.
Next bite produced an unforgettable fight as it twisted & hunted out every snag in a 20 yard radius but I slowly contained him & I wasn't surprised at the size of him in the net.
A big grayling, possibly a pb.......
On the scales he went 1lb 15oz, a pb indeed & I'm chuffed to bits.
After ten Grayling & eleven trout, the bites did dry up a bit & I tried the far bank as a change, it's far shallower but I've had a few from here in the past & it's worth a bash. Small handful of maggots out with my float very soon after & just at the last minute I hooked into another strong fish, I took it very slow & let the rod tip do its thing, absorbing every lunge but I also needed to let out line as he too ventured downstream.
I followed him down again but I managed to coax him back into my swim eventually.
The old boy came up to see what I was up to & thankfully he netted the fish for me. As I parted the net I looked like a very nice trout, I was then informed from the old chap "it's a salmon".
Either way it was a good'un & I couldn't of been happier.
With that fish rampaging through most of my swim, unsurprisingly the bites disappeared completely & I headed off home a very happy chappy.
I have to add here that I'm fully aware that I was catching trout out of season but I can tell you extra care was taken with every fish. If I had seen a belly full of eggs or anything else slightly different I would not have taken pictures, but every single fish went back in A1 condition.
My target was Grayling & if caught a few trout by mistake there really isn't much you can do to avoid them.
