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Martin James award-winning fisherman consultant,broadcaster,writer





  

07/06/2018 - It’s Been A Strange Week

 

Monday morning I was on the river around 0600 hrs, the river was low and dirty looking due to algae coming off the bed of the river, also the cows don’t help matters, thankfully all cattle and sheep will be gone after this season. No more expensive repairs to fencing, in fact we will take the fencing down to allow plants, grass etc to take over, probably more insects. I fished on until 1000 hrs then called it a day, just one brown trout. A New Attractive Swim After breakfast I spent around three hours walking the banks looking for the deeper areas of the river bed, as these places are where food will collect, that hopefully will attract fish to feed in these areas, I found one very good spot where the depth was an extra two feet, covering an area some twelve feet long, around three feet wide. I walked quickly back to the cabin to collect a white painted post, back at the new spot I hammered the post into the bank so I can’t miss the spot when the autumn arrives, if I don’t do this I will probably forget where it was. An hour later I was on my way home. A Special Day For A Centenarian

 

Today Tuesday I had a friend take me to the river as I was having problems with my shingles, also my MS was causing me quite a lot of pain. We arrived just after day break, starting fishing around 0530hrs. There was only one fly I could use today, what would have been Dick Walkers birthday, I chose a beaded Walker mayfly nymph in his memory. catching 3 sea trout before the sun had come over the horizon, later I had 2 good brown trout. About 0900 hours we went off to collect the Angler’s Mail in which we found they had done a great job in celebrating Dick Walker, back in the riverside cabin we enjoyed buttered toast with a mug of tea, then we sat back talking about how Dick had changed our lives for the better. It was gone 1300 hrs when we decided to go off home. Hooked Up To A Big Fish Wednesday I chose to fish another stretch of river, targeting a weir pool, also a very deep pool around fifteen feet deep, it’s a spot where I have caught some nice chub and perch during the autumn and winter months. I chose to start fishing with a large size Dunkeld which I find attractive to trout when they are feeding on minnows. Weather conditions were terrible with a strong easterly wind, I reckon at times it was gusting at around 25 mph, not the best conditions for fishing upstream in the weir pool as the wind was blowing straight down river into my face. I persevered eventually catching two 16 inch brown trout, but the condition got the better of me. I moved off downstream to the deep pool which was sheltered from the wind by a wood covered high bank. I switched to fishing a teal blue and silver, after some thirty minutes, I switched to my old favourite a size six Walker beaded mayfly nymph, a bigger pattern than most anglers use. I had been fishing about an hour when another member arrived. “Any good” he said as I was going o say “No” I felt a solid take, line was ripped from the reel as the rod tip was pulled savagely down towards the water. “Big sea trout I shouted” But after some minutes, I realised it was a salmon, the fight had now become a give and take affair, with a lot of head shaking, occasionally the fish would take about twenty feet of line but I soon got it back often with an extra tree feet, while all this was going on three other salmon in the pool were getting quite agitated, often rolling and swirling on the surface, one of these fish we put at around twenty pounds. Slowly I was winning this contest, my only worry was the line rubbing on some of the very big rocks in the pool then all would be lost. Ten minutes later I slowly walked down stream leading the fish like a dog on the lead at the same time taking in line. The fish was virtually beaten, I just needed to guide it onto a shelving shallow sandy silty water’s edge. A minute or so later it was mine, the beauty of salmon is they can be easily grabbed then held by the tail, whipping out my ruler we got a measurement of thirty inches, estimating the fish at 12lbs. My third salmon this season, caught when fishing for big brown trout. Talking of big browns, a couple of weeks ago I hooked a brown about eight inches, as I was bringing it in, I kept feeling a bump on the line, that’s strange I thought, eventually I leaned down to grab the trout, then spotted a big fish a foot or so away, it turned out to be a big brown ..

 

Thursday I was again early on the river, despite problems with my right eye and shingles, I fished for about three hours without a break, trying various nymphs without success. I then went back over the same water with different dry flies, still no success, I didn’t even see a single rise, even to an emerge, the river seemed dead. It was time to return home. Friday was another tough day, I had difficult driving to the river, such was the pain from my shingles and MS. After parking my car, I went into the cabin then put the kettle on for a brew, next job take a couple of pain killers for some relief. Half an hour later having had my brew with no relief from the pain, I had to give in and come back home well and truly gutted. A wasted day but such is life at times. Saturday and Sunday were two more fishless days, it didn’t matter what I tried I couldn’t temp a fish. After around 3 hours I gave up on the Saturday, on Sunday I gave up after an hour, knowing I was on a loser. The high spots were seeing a moorhen, followed by seeing two lots of ducklings. What did amaze me was watching an angry heron dive off a tree with wings spread onto a group of Canada geese, after a lot of noise the geese quickly departed, the heron then settled on a rocky outcrop to hopefully catch its breakfast.

It’s Been A Strange Week

Monday morning I was on the river around 0600 hrs, the river was low and dirty looking due to algae coming off the bed of the river, also the cows don’t help matters, thankfully all cattle and sheep will be gone after this season. No more expensive repairs to fencing, in fact we will take the fencing down to allow plants, grass etc to take over, probably more insects. I fished on until 1000 hrs then called it a day, just one brown trout. A New Attractive Swim After breakfast I spent around three hours walking the banks looking for the deeper areas of the river bed, as these places are where food will collect, that hopefully will attract fish to feed in these areas, I found one very good spot where the depth was an extra two feet, covering an area some twelve feet long, around three feet wide. I walked quickly back to the cabin to collect a white painted post, back at the new spot I hammered the post into the bank so I can’t miss the spot when the autumn arrives, if I don’t do this I will probably forget where it was. An hour later I was on my way home. A Special Day For A Centenarian

 

Today Tuesday I had a friend take me to the river as I was having problems with my shingles, also my MS was causing me quite a lot of pain. We arrived just after day break, starting fishing around 0530hrs. There was only one fly I could use today, what would have been Dick Walkers birthday, I chose a beaded Walker mayfly nymph in his memory. catching 3 sea trout before the sun had come over the horizon, later I had 2 good brown trout. About 0900 hours we went off to collect the Angler’s Mail in which we found they had done a great job in celebrating Dick Walker, back in the riverside cabin we enjoyed buttered toast with a mug of tea, then we sat back talking about how Dick had changed our lives for the better. It was gone 1300 hrs when we decided to go off home. Hooked Up To A Big Fish Wednesday I chose to fish another stretch of river, targeting a weir pool, also a very deep pool around fifteen feet deep, it’s a spot where I have caught some nice chub and perch during the autumn and winter months. I chose to start fishing with a large size Dunkeld which I find attractive to trout when they are feeding on minnows. Weather conditions were terrible with a strong easterly wind, I reckon at times it was gusting at around 25 mph, not the best conditions for fishing upstream in the weir pool as the wind was blowing straight down river into my face. I persevered eventually catching two 16 inch brown trout, but the condition got the better of me. I moved off downstream to the deep pool which was sheltered from the wind by a wood covered high bank. I switched to fishing a teal blue and silver, after some thirty minutes, I switched to my old favourite a size six Walker beaded mayfly nymph, a bigger pattern than most anglers use. I had been fishing about an hour when another member arrived. “Any good” he said as I was going o say “No” I felt a solid take, line was ripped from the reel as the rod tip was pulled savagely down towards the water. “Big sea trout I shouted” But after some minutes, I realised it was a salmon, the fight had now become a give and take affair, with a lot of head shaking, occasionally the fish would take about twenty feet of line but I soon got it back often with an extra tree feet, while all this was going on three other salmon in the pool were getting quite agitated, often rolling and swirling on the surface, one of these fish we put at around twenty pounds. Slowly I was winning this contest, my only worry was the line rubbing on some of the very big rocks in the pool then all would be lost. Ten minutes later I slowly walked down stream leading the fish like a dog on the lead at the same time taking in line. The fish was virtually beaten, I just needed to guide it onto a shelving shallow sandy silty water’s edge. A minute or so later it was mine, the beauty of salmon is they can be easily grabbed then held by the tail, whipping out my ruler we got a measurement of thirty inches, estimating the fish at 12lbs. My third salmon this season, caught when fishing for big brown trout. Talking of big browns, a couple of weeks ago I hooked a brown about eight inches, as I was bringing it in, I kept feeling a bump on the line, that’s strange I thought, eventually I leaned down to grab the trout, then spotted a big fish a foot or so away, it turned out to be a big brown .

 

Thursday I was again early on the river, despite problems with my right eye and shingles, I fished for about three hours without a break, trying various nymphs without success. I then went back over the same water with different dry flies, still no success, I didn’t even see a single rise, even to an emerge, the river seemed dead. It was time to return home. Friday was another tough day, I had difficult driving to the river, such was the pain from my shingles and MS. After parking my car, I went into the cabin then put the kettle on for a brew, next job take a couple of pain killers for some relief. Half an hour later having had my brew with no relief from the pain, I had to give in and come back home well and truly gutted. A wasted day but such is life at times. Saturday and Sunday were two more fishless days, it didn’t matter what I tried I couldn’t temp a fish. After around 3 hours I gave up on the Saturday, on Sunday I gave up after an hour, knowing I was on a loser. The high spots were seeing a moorhen, followed by seeing two lots of ducklings. What did amaze me was watching an angry heron dive off a tree with wings spread onto a group of Canada geese, after a lot of noise the geese quickly departed, the heron then settled on a rocky outcrop to hopefully catch its breakfast.

 

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Martin James Fishing
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