Last Hurrah

The last day of the season arrived and I set out on a glorious spring day to a fast flowing stream in search of minnows, broon troot and peace. I got them all in spades.

The stream is set in beautiful woodland and today the resident wildlife seemed to be enjoying it as much as me. Buzzards, a kingfisher, loads of song birds and the first summer migrant, the chiffchaff. Or chiffchaffs, there were lots of them.

Little nine foot rod and a bobber float, drifting with the flow downstream, unhindered, amazingly, by any wind for a change.

Five or ten minutes a swim then a move, my type of fishing being a rather ( extremely ) impatient type. I had plenty of brownies, roach and some big minnows , then I hooked a tiny fish an inch long. A three spined stickleback ! Wahoooooo, I wanted one of them.

Sitting in the sun, just the birdsong, nobody about, I got the I-wouldn't-want-to-be-anyone-else-or-be-anywhere-else-in-the-world feeling. You know the one ?

A break to see the olds at lunch and then down for a last gasp session on the Stour. Ooooh, it looked perfect. But the Stour is a temperamental bastard of a lovely river and until the light really had gone I remained biteless.

 

Dusk worked it's magic and fish started topping. Yes, topping. Rattly bites on the spinning rod. Not an ideal tool but it's what I had. Holding the rod and touch legering I wangled out  two very decent roach and a chub.

A great way to end the season. A day of prep and then a short three day road trip in the camper. Fishing of course. Can't wait. The fire that never goes out