Warming Up
Call me odd but there definitely comes a point each spring where I suddenly feel as if I've connected with the river. All the cold grey winter has passed, the river starts to come alive and the fish begin to behave in a way that I actually understand. Not for me the lush vegetation and still evenings of summer, I'll take the new-ness of spring any day. Days feel full of promise in late April, safe in the knowledge that winter is far far away. Hedgerows are alive with Blackthorn and Hawthorn, the mix of the apple white blossom and bright green foliage is probably one of my favourite visual delights of the year.
I could definitely point to this week as the turning point, as if we just crested the top of a hill and are now coasting towards summer, with a marked change in the weather in the Wilton area. The sun has been shining (well at least some of the time), the bankside vegetation has gone wild, flies have started hatching in a meaningful way and of course, the fishing is improving. Daytime temperatures have been between 16-18 °C and there have been decent hatches of a variety of flies from around 3pm onwards. I fished the other day for 40 minutes at about 5pm and had 4 beautiful small wild brownies, all on a size 16 dry GRHE. My 3yr old by now thinks that I am a very poor fisherman as he always looks somewhat dejected when I don't bring him home a fish for tea, I've tried explaining that the small ones go back so that they can grow into big ones for next year but at that point he asked "which finger did it bite?" whilst wiggling his little finger on the right... I gave up at that point.
yes, yes, I know that's not Blackthorn OR Hawthorn but it is pretty after all :)
Slow Start
The Nadder always seems to struggle at this time of year and while walking a stretch near Wilton yesterday I saw my first rising Nadder fish of the year.
I've been over and fished the crystal clear waters of the Ebble a couple of times and to my delight caught my first Ebble trout over a pound. This river is hard fishing; gin clear water, no bank side vegetation at this time of year, very wary wild trout. Great fun though!
Things appear to be warming up slowly, yesterday saw an enormous Grannom hatch over the River Avon in Salisbury City Centre, fish didn't seem to be taking them but it's the first big hatch of the year so I guess they just are still a little sleepy ;)
Anyway, just a short update, as an American, somewhat right-wing ex actor (I use the term loosely) now-politician is famous for saying 'I'll be back'. Wow I really need to get a catchphrase! Suggestions on an email to....
Malcolm
Opening Day
I fell into the latter camp, in fact I'd arranged a rare whole day of fishing.
I started the day by meeting some fellow practioners of the art of angle at ye-olde "friar tucks" cafe in Amesbury, after a solid dose of fried food, cups of tea and much swapping of tales (and flies, many thanks for them by the way, saved a trip to the store) I decided to go and take a look at a stretch of the Avon near Durrington.
The day was bright, hardly a cloud in the sky but there was a raw westerly wind supressing the temperature, thinking that it would be best to get out of the wind I headed for a sheltered stretch and got fishing. Out of the wind it was so hot that the jacket had to come of, I was fishing in a long sleeved shirt, on April 1st! Three weeks ago there was snow on the hills...
The water in this part of the Avon was running gin clear, the bottom doesnt appear to have had a decent flow all winter as the gravel is rather silted still and there are still signs of the blanket weed that affected the river late last summer. It's good news for early season fishing but it really doesn't look good for late summer, if we don't get a large dose of rainfall I really wouldnt be suprised to see some of the chalkstreams running dry by August/Sept :(
After
returning two lovely small brownies to the water,
both taken on size 16 GRHE's, I wandered back to car
and drove down to Middle Woodford to see how the Avon
was faring lower down. Well, the cloud had come in,
the wind had picked up and the water was a tad on the
coloured side. What a difference a few miles can
make! I struggled with the wind for 15 minutes and
gave up, succumbing to the call of the Nadder.
Arriving in Wilton I stepped out of the car,
collected my gear and BANG the heavens opened. April
arrived with it's famed showers. Drenched but
undeterred I wandered up a stretch of the Nadder for
the rest of the afternoon. I was joined by a friend,
mike, and between us we proceeded to blank until the
cold wind made us retreat to the local hostelry for a
relaxed pint. Sitting in the comfort of the pub it
was good to look back on a varied and encouraging
opening day. Sure, I blanked at a couple of
stretches, but it's not always about catching fish.
The day to me will be looked back on with fondness
because I had a great breakfast, met new people,
fished different parts of different rivers and then
had a relaxed pint to finish it off. I don't honestly
think it could have gone any better.
Incidentally, standing on the banks of a heavily
coloured Nadder I was amazed to see a large silvery
shape cruising up the river right under my feet. Just
distorted by the coloured water enough to not be able
to identify it acurately but definitely in the 6-7lb
region, I'd guess a salmon heading up to the spawning
grounds following a week of heavy rains. It's those
moments that I really treasure and hopefully are
things I will continue to experience in years to
come.
I happened to see an episode of 'A passion for
angling' on TV the other night, the one where they
visit Redmire and fish for carp. One of the things
that was said got me to thinking. They talked about
how there was never enough time in life to do
everything and how time seems to pass very quickly
when fishing. Changing their mind they then said that
time didn't seem to pass at Redmire, it collected. It
seems to me that although the rivers are a natural
window for the seasons and you can see life passing
you by any time you sit by one, time really does
collect on a river. Everything else, all the
pressures of life, those work deadlines, the car
failing it's MOT all the stuff that stores up in your
head when you are anywhere else simply don't matter
to the river. It's as if the river is wholly
unimpressed by your day to day worries, its burbling
simply easing away your thoughts and adding them to
its collective experience. How small and petty my
worries must seem to it after it's thousands of years
of existence, but I am ever glad to let it steal away
my thoughts and time...