Mixed Emotions

I had a bad start in the office today so needed some therapy. Dropping off some kit in Buxton to one of the instructors was a good enough excuse. Errwood was only five minutes up the road from his house so there I found myself.
Remember the 'note to self' about the camera, well I forgot the camera and this was clearly the day I was going to catch a monster. Dropping into the Goyt Valley, bad omen no. 2 struck, I had only got my 6'6" #3 in the back of the van and it was windy. So I had got light weight stream kit to use on a windy day on a reservoir - GREAT!

Frustration turned to acceptance of the challenge as I kitted up with an olive nymph on the point and a Bibio on the dropper. Light line, novice angler, wind and two flies equals tangles! Things were not looking good.
   
I was fishing around Gilman Point. Now that the water level has dropped so much, it has created a sheltered bay which I thought would offer me the best protection from the wind. I did one circumnavigation of the bay working towards the dam head with no action. I got fed up with the tangles and the fact that I could only manage a 10 metre cast at best and felt a change of tactics was in order. Off with the pair and on with a gold head Montana. Action second cast! A cracking 2 1/2 pounder.

Things were looking a lot brighter. A few more casts and another hit. I had found the fish! However, this one felt a lot lighter but very fast. As it came to the surface she revieled herself as a natural Errwood wild brownie. She came to my hand easily enough but it was clear that she was not going to go back in sadly. What posesses little fish like that to try to swallow something that to them would be the equivelent of weeks worth of food in one gulp? The hook was so deep in the only decent thing was to despatch her cleanly and quickly. But what a beautiful fish! She had bright redish pink spots and red flashes to the end of her fins. She was a real looker! I spent some time studying the wonderful markings, but also feeling just a little guilty that she was not going back in. I chose to take her home to show Leo, my 7 year old as this would have been the first brownie he had seen, so in the bag with the rainbow. From this little misfortune could be gained a valuable educational experience!

I started to move back towards the point casting into the middle of the little cove when I had the next big hit. This was definatelty a rainbow. She fought for a short while then slipped easily into the net. She weighed in at 2.2 lbs. So, was this really my third fish? Was this my bag limit? Hmm, a debatable point as the brownie would have gone back all being well. So, I decided to carry on and wow, am I sort of glad I did. Less than ten casts later - the biggest hit of them all and I really thought that this was not going to happen. I was expecting my light tackle to snap at any moment. I am a novice and also slightly prone to exageration, so I will just say that this fish was bigger than the first and boy, did it fight. Two leaps into the air, then diving for the bottom, going left, then going right. Not believing my luck that the trout was still on the line I reached for the net and brought the trout to meet the net. Head in then WHAT? I thought the line had finally gone, but no, the crafty trout hat spat out the fly. Bummer!

Time to pack up and go home........till next time.

Love the streams,

March Brown