Fishing wise not that good but for the rest another great day in the outdoors.
My botanical knowlegde was extended today as I found out that those smelly plants
I encountered where wild garlic (white flower).
I explored one of the feeder streams further than ever before and found a nice new spot allthough no fish where biting.
Urban sites fish … rural sites fishless.
The day started out cold and the wind did not help.
The cloudcover broke in the afternoon and from time to time the sun appeared.
Not much going on fishwise but the urban spot produced some good roach on the nymph.
The larger trout I had spotted previously was not at home.
The river is still running a tad high and warmer temperatures are needed to obtain some better fishing.
A lot colder than yesterday and a cloud covered windy start of the morning.
The urban site delivered despite the conditions.
A nymph with an indicator yielded some larger roach and a few dace.
When the sun came out in the afternoon some dace started to rise.
Had a go at a school under some bushes but after one landed fish the rest
was gone.
With countless dog walkers and cyclists moving along the path at the stream
I soon had enough of the urban site and went out into the fields.
The river was still a bit up but the water was clear, no life to be seen though.
The last fish was a small brown trout.
I searched for the larger trout I had spotted yesterday but had no hits from
the location where I had seen the fish earlier.
Another nice spring day that called for a visit to the river.
Water level was still up but clarity was good.
In the morning I could not spot fish except for one bold trout
that went airborne probably going after a single insect.
Not much going on with insect activity and frankly not with fish either.
The warmer afternoon got things going and I could at least catch
some dace and a few undersize brown trout.
The snowdrop bloom is completely over by now but the windflowers
have taken over and are covering the forest floor, typical sign of spring.
Might try some urban spots tomorrow as I suspect the fishing is better
there at the moment.
A quite late session on this day with not the weather I had hoped for.
On Friday it was a beautifull warm spring day but on Saturday the
skies where cloudy, it was chilly and eventually it started to rain.
With the huge amounts of rain from the last weeks the river was still
pushing a lot of water and some spots where not available to me
as I was walking around with too short wellies.
The plus side was that the water was pretty clear.
Fish where active but I found mostly very small fish, plenty of bites
but no takers.
Even the carp where actively roaming in the slow moving dammed
up section in front of a watermill.
I scouted various spots for fish and finally found a place where I
could see a lot of fish moving in the water.
Catching the fish was another thing and at first I had no luck getting bites.
A heavier nymph did the trick and I was on a roll.
The bonus fish of the day was a nice brown trout that put a good bend in the 4-weight trout bum rod I was using.
Obviously the river has been stocked again as trout season has opened.
Against better judgement I went fishing and it was a total washout.
The river was a flooding brown mess, not a chance in the world to catch a fish but as they say hope springs eternal so I had to try.
Pretty awfull weather with rain and snow mixed in, quite a change from
those bizarre hot days we had earlier.
With the predicited warm weather my hopes for catching fish where pretty high but the reality was different.
The main task for this day was to get my second fishing license so I could
fish the feeder stream of the main river again.
As this particular feeder ran just beside the clubhouse I did wet a line in the hope to catch a chub or dace.
The water was clear but I could not spot any fish at all.
The morning was pretty cold and so the lack of action did not surpise me.
One thing in the afternoon was notable, the high number of insects I encountered in the countryside.
With my chub hotspot letting me down the only thing to do was to check out the main river and see if something was moving there.
Just by chance I managed two dace on the nymph in the upstream section.
At a slow moving mill stretch dace where actively hunting the surface.
The fish where small though and with the low sun I could not spot any larger fish.
The only thing to do was to drop an emerger at rising fish and hope for the best.
I missed most of the lightning fast strikes but one small fish stuck.
In hindsight expectations where a bit too high as it was still winter.
The end of the day was as usual reserved for the pub.
The day trippers and bikers had populated the beer garden in numbers but with the sun going town the temperature rapidly went to freezing.
At the pub they told me the bad news … they where out of dark wheat beer … not a problem for me though as the regular stuff also tasted great.
As I lately had some extra time on my hands I went out again for another trip to the river.
The unusual warm weather had changed to a somewhat cooler and windier version.
I was a bit unprepared for the predicted “light rain”, it was heavy.
Despite the rain the river had almost returned to a more or less normal level and the clarity had greatly improved.
I still could not spot any moving fish but the first spot that I fished yielded a brown trout and a dace which was promising.
With the wind and rather dull conditions I did not expect to see any dace in the surface at the section above the mill dam but they where present near a bridge where the water was calmer.
A spot unfishable during the last weeks yielded quite a few takes and brought two more dace and a roach to the surface.
The last spot of the day where I always used to catch fish was now void of fish.
I spotted one fish but only because a brown rat that scurried on the bank I was fishing was startled by my presence.
The rat decided the best option was to jump in the river and make for the other bank, in the process I spotted a larger fish scooting off.
In a couple of days the river will return to a normal level and with the rising temperature fishing might pick up even more.
Another glorious day at the river, still slow fishing but catching a dace on a dry fly in the middle of february is exceptional.
Again very warm … maybe that is why the buzzard finally stayed long enough still for a picture. Spotted the first lapwing … nature is moving on.
Cabin fever got the better of me so I went out fishing despite the fact that the river was still carrying too much water.
The morning was quite chilly with temperatures just above freezing while later in the day the sun actually produced some warmth.
I fished my various hotspots that usually produce fish later in the season but nothing showed.
Near sunset I finally got a hit on the nymph and could land one dace.
On the plus side it was the first time I spotted insects hovering over the water so nature is going into spring mode.
The snowdrops are blooming everywhere and the winter aconites have also sprung up.
During the night I heard the common cranes fly over and they where heading north, all inspiring signs.
