Business as usual

Having admittedly been a bit slack on the blogging (and fishing) front I thought it was time to get down to the river and finally wet a line after a long winter. A few conversations with rods from other beats confirmed that ether were a few Sea trout about but so far, no Salmon had been landed.

I had been hoping for a bit of rain to freshen things up a bit and the river did get a welcome flush earlier in the week. This coincided with building tides so I was quite hopeful that there would be a few fish in the river. The river had dropped back down to .72 on the gauge so was a little lower than I'd ideally like for fishing the fly and there was still a tinge of colour.


Once the Kelly kettle was fired up I tackled up with my 13' 8 weight with an intermediate tip and a weighted pot bellied pig tube of about 1" on the point. After a quick coffee and the usual harassment by the resident cows I made my way to the top of the beat and started to make my way down the beat.

Having fished through the top section I got to Sandy bay having seen nothing but a couple of rising trout. Below Sandy bay is a good stretch of varied water that normally holds a few Sea trout.


As I made my way down this stretch the dog found a tennis ball, this, for her was very exciting indeed. after adapting my normal progression to kick ball, step and cast I continued down the run slightly distracted.


After about the 30th kick of the ball I cast over a nice shallow gravelly patch, as the fly swung over the deeper, fast water the fly was hit hard and a flash below the surface confirmed that I was into a nice Sea trout. After a spirited battle the fish was landed and I was off the mark! It was a very fresh fish and covered in lice.  

Once I had fished through the rest of the run I returned home as the roast was ready to come out of the oven, I did have a spring in my step as I walked back to the car with my fish. The dog looked equally happy with her ball. Thankfully after a long wait it really feels like 'business as usual' has resumed on the Frome!