Hot sunshine, 64 degrees with a southerly wind. I applied sun factor 30. The water level had dropped to 0.042m at Halfway Bridge. That is the normal summer level. We have had very little rain during the winter and no serious flooding. Stocked trout have over wintered but with low summer levels, they will be vulnerable to cormorants and mink. No fish are introduced into the river until late April so there are only over wintered and wild trout. It makes the fishing interesting because the next fish could be 3oz or 3lb.

We met at The Badgers at 10:30 despite three road closures and diversions around most of the County.  It was a long, hot walk to the new riffle but the water was in excellent condition.  The deeper runs through the gravel bed and the streamer weed were clearly visible in about three feet of water. At the downstream end of the riffle there was a drop off into deeper water. It all looked very fishy. We covered all of the pool without success and so moved downstream to the stretch above Rotherbridge.  There were fish rising below the big alder, they were testing the debris from the flowering tree to see if it was edible. We didn’t impress the trout and adjourned to Keeper’s Bridge for lunch.

After lunch we invoked Plan B and withdrew to Great Springs. It is impossible to blank at the lakes. My guest’s split cane rod was christened with a nice rainbow and we departed at 6:00pm having caught two pristine fish. It had been a long tiring day but it ended well. Another visit to the river was discussed for a month’s time when the Mayfly should be hatching.