Thursday, January 1, 2009

Last day of 2008

The cold weather continued into the last day of the year - the temperature held at -2.5 degrees C all day, but we're hardy souls in the North West, so we decided to brave the elements and finish the year off with a day on the river.

It promised to be hard going today - our hands were freezing just setting up - we thawed out over the warm air vents in the car before venturing into the water and giving it a go.
With the water so cold the fish were likely to be deep so the method for the day was short nymphing and a team of bugs, wet line travelling through the rings was kept to a minimum as it just resulted in ice ups - I once read somewhere that vaseline on the rings prevents this but I've yet to try it.
It can sometimes be like looking for a needle in a haystack trying to locate fish on a large river at this time of year but we were fortunate today and hit on them straight away - we couldn't have asked for a better end to the year with consistent sport throughout the day, most fish came to the bugs on the hang, in fact after a while it became a case of hang and hold, the takes were very gentle and you had to watch for any movement of the line as it swung downstream and came to a stop below - the activity helped us to withstand the freezing water but I still had to get out regularly for warm-ups and a wander to get the blood circulating.

That's another year over, - where's it gone ? it's quite frightening how quickly they seem to pass nowadays - I didn't manage as many outings as previous years, what with my wife breaking her ankle and not working, and driving for four and a half months, and we moved house - hopefully I'll make up for it in 2009.

Best wishes and a prosperous new year to all (and of course - Many tight lines!)