After a week of decorating during a heat wave, I deserved some down time beside the river. I swapped a paint brush for a rod and the thirty degree heat for the air conditioning of the car. I got to the river late in the afternoon. My arm ached and I stumbled around on the uneven ground beside the weir pool trying to ignore the pain in my back. The pain killers kicked in and all was well.

The water was deep and coloured. Dark olive with a hint of sediment, courtesy of the weir. I was confident that the pool held fish and worked a deep sunk nymph through the eddies and close to the overhanging bushes. The narrow slots between the bushes and the gusty wind required accurate casting, no flies were lost ! I eventually hooked a small trout in the bubbles just below the weir but it jumped and flicked the hook from its mouth.

I drove to another beat and was happy to have the river to myself. I had an appointment with a fussy trout that had evaded capture on my last two visits. The fish swirled as I was approaching the shallow water in the shade of an alder tree. It was taunting me but I had a cunning plan, don’t put the fish down by casting a weighted nymph, start with a dry fly. What could possibly go wrong ? I chose a heavily dressed, mayfly spinner pattern and flicked it into the slack water just above a clump of streamer weed. The fish swirled and retreated into the weeds.

I walked downstream to another alder tree with a patch of streamer weed in its shadow, where a second fish had rejected my flies last weekend. Two swans were uprooting weed and I retraced my steps. I swapped the soggy spinner pattern for a small, very lightly dressed mayfly and as I tightened the knot, the fussy trout rose slightly upstream. I roll cast the fly from my hand and it landed nicely a couple of feet above the fish. The trout grabbed the fly without hesitation and went on a long run. It fought like a four pounder and I had to use the full curve of the long rod to lever it away from the bankside weeds. Short rods are no good for snaggy margins.

I was particularly pleased to have caught the trout. I had learnt about it’s habits on my previous visits. It was not easy to deceive and I was happy to see it swim away. It will be under the weeds next time but I will leave it in peace.

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