If you've been keeping an eye on the river levels over the past few weeks, you won't have been cheered much by the fact that it has rarely dropped below 50cm for more than a few minutes. Even then, it was the colour of good Yorkshire builders' tea, so the fishing was hardly to be recommended. Of course it does mean that the Grayling, in particular, have had a nice restful period since the end of November, and even before that, they were notable by their absence. The way things are going, the river may be undisturbed until April, given that there will be no fishing at all during March this year.
That brings us to the Reservoir of course, or some of us anyway. No problem about the clarity of the water there, and the weed that is left is now very weak and not causing a problem. There are definitely some trout there as well, though catching them is not as easy as one might hope (they have eluded me completely). Nigel managed 4 the other day, and I've seen 2 caught on a couple of occasions but they need hard work and perseverance. It seems that squirrel-tailed nymphs have done the trick quite a few times. You can probably spot a few decorating the trees if you look closely. Nigel has been doing more clearing there however, as well as brushcutting, so it keeps improving every time you go. Keep your ears open for invitations to a Working-Party there soon.
The biggest problem I have there (apart from not being able to cast as far as the leaping trout that are almost always right in the middle,) is the wind. Being raised above the surrounding fields, there seems to be a bit of wind even on the calmest of days, and that can make casting interesting of course. If you do go, I recommend you put on an extra wind-proof layer and do put in a catch return so that we can monitor activity and success (or failure) there. It will definitely help steer future stocking policy.
Many thanks and Tight Lines.
PeterB
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