Trouted

Wind from the North,do not go forth.

When the wind's from any direction and there is opportunity to angle,I generally take it no matter what and this was one of those occasions,rolling out of bed and pulling back the bedroom blinds I was met by light drizzle and very windy conditions.

A couple of cold pies were grabbed from the oven and a flask of coffee hastily made. Before I knew it I was winding my way to that beautiful timeless place that is the riverbank,the gusting,cold northerly wind chilling my face,one other angler greeted me and told me he had been roving about most of the morning managing one 4lB+ Chub on cheese.

This time I decided to try the bait and wait process,setting up in a slack area of the river where there was a reasonable depth and some nice gravel gullies,I dropped in a light amount of hemp and flicked out my cheese rod to the edge of a sunken tree,the maggot feeder was placed on to one of the gravel runs.

Later in the day the wind was blowing an absolute howler and many times I was hanging on to my umbrella for dear life like some kind of chubby Mary Poppins,two hours later and wind still cutting like a knife,my maggot rod tapped once,twice and was off,I was into another odd sprinting fight,which reminded me of my last trip out,the culprit was another trout,just under 2lb.



The Red Kite's that normally keep me company,were not to be seen,which was unusual as they normally revel in gliding about on the winds,Mr Kingfisher was about though and skirted by, flying as low to the water as ever,such a majestic creature and one whom I always give a respecting nod to.

Late afternoon came and the winds were getting increasingly worse,going from perfectly calm and still to instantly strong gusts,I was having some unsettling moments with the umbrella,one of which turned it inside out and as I grabbed hold of it,it uprooted itself and nearly took me with it into the bramble,I decided to put the umbrella down else risk it being ruined.A check of both rods gave me indication that the Crayfish had moved in,the maggots had been neatly snipped off the feeder rod and with the north wind blowing across the water I have to say I was not fancying my chances of catching anything more.

re-casting both rods to their spots,I moved the cheesepaste rod further out on to the edge of the flow,not long after,the rod tip jerked and slapped round,not once not twice,but three times,I was hoping for this to be a Chub,which to all intents and purposes this bite looked characteristic of,it fell quiet again,I sat back and sipped some coffee,my rump was by now comfortably numb.Sure enough the rod tip bent round again,this time holding,I struck and was greeted by another rapid running fight, "I wonder" I said to myself,not long after and the net was slipped under another very lively Trout,this one four ounces smaller than the last.


I placed my rod back out and sat musing about how many trout had been caught on the local rivers recently,I was beginning to wonder if the recent floods had brought some new stock,that being said I have had trout before,just not with this kind of regularity.

Darkness enveloped me,all was quiet except for the wind rattling through the trees,ruffling the rivers surface with its cold embrace,a solitary Owl called out into the night,I checked my watch and decided to give it another half hour,the time came and went quickly as it always does when you're fishing,that half hour turned into an hour in the blink of an eye.

My rod's remained silent though,I decided it was time to pack up and head off home,before doing so I gave the river one last loving look,it knew I had fallen for its charms a long time ago as a child and I knew that I would return again soon.