Having been a rather hectic couple of weeks , i found a window where i could manage just a couple of hours locally on the Arrow. Keen to get going , i completed all the chores on the home front , then made my way to a favourite beat , and one which holds water and does stay very cool . As always though , when i got down to the river , i carried out a quick thermometer dip , she was reading twelve degrees , so was happy with that cool reading . Nice to see things settling down after Britains teleported session into the middle of the Ghobi Dessert !!!!!
Dry fly sport this morning was fun to be fair , albeit tricky , with it being almost Autumnal , debris on the water , and a stiff breeze to contend with …. made casting my tiny Parachute Greenwells slightly tricky to say the least . Having an intimate knowledge of most of the Arrow , Lugg and Edw helps , and today was no exception , the usual haunts gave up some feisty fish to a well presented dry fly …… lovely aggressive smash takes too the fly , cracking stuff !!!!
Four to the net this morning , a couple of long range releases also , and some interesting stone turning on the river bed too . Not only lots of bullheads , under most of the big flat stones , but our native white clawed crayfish too , Austropotamobious pallipes ….which is endangered , nice to see four , in only twenty yards of carefully lifting stones , minimum disturbance created , and left to mooch on the river and go about their business . Interestingly , bullheads and crayfish seemed happy to share the same accomadation ….. who new that !!!
A fun couple of hours on one of my favourite , secretive beats in the sleepy Herefordshire wilds ….. you could say catching wild brown trout and crayfish is almost like Beauty and the beast , but all wildlife has its place , and beauty is in the eye of the beholder ……. Both perfectly adapted for their underwater role …. something quite special hey ……
