One of those days

After doing a lot of work down at Trottenden last week with Nigel and Keith (and his son), cutting back overhanging foliage and removing debris, I thought I'd have a trip to see if the fish appreciated all the hard work. Clearly they didn't.

I suspect that the dramatic drop in water levels didn't help. It was 39/40 cm a few days ago and dropped from 36 to 27 over the last 24 hrs, creating a sluggish flow but improved clarity.

That made it worse, as I could see the fish, and see them ignoring nymph after nymph after nymph. Here's a sample of the flies I tried today, some of them several times in different places.

Quite a selection, including a BWO which did actually catch a Rainbow, only for it to dive under a sunken tree and make good its escape. Apart from that, I had scarcely a nibble, and didn't hook a single fish, which is pretty unusual for me, even if I often lose half of them. One new member unfortunately chose this day for one of his first visits, and I hope it hasn't scarred his impression of the river. On the other hand, Keith managed to maintain his unbroken run of a limit on every visit, but he is exceptional, and even he admits it was hard work today.

If you're wondering about the strange box, it's my 'used-fly patch' except that it has a lid as I got fed up of them falling off a patch. It also has strips of magnetic material in the lid, to catch any that do get loose. Of course I tie it onto my fly vest (as I do everything else), and if you spotted a nylon hair-curler attached to the zinger line, that's a very economical gadget to collect your spare tippet. Just press the line onto the collector, and twist it around and the line sticks to it like Velcro. You could pay £20 for a fancier one, but it works for me.

As for the fishing today - it was just one of those days, and means I really must try harder next time.

Tight Lines

PeterB

P.S. I tried again 2 days later and had one on 2B (but not where I normally have most luck). I then tried 2A again, and still failed to interest the few I could see, but did manage 2 more, much further down, in a spot where I don't normally fish. There must be a lesson there somewhere.