At last!

What a slow start to the season it's been for me but not from the lack of trying, each weekend since March 15th ive been out only to draw a blank on each occasion. I was on holiday in gran canaria last week so no trout fishing then, but at least the little damsel fish and ornate wrasse were biting when I dabbled in a bit of LRF.

So on Sunday fully recovered from the long journey home I thought I would spend the afternoon on a local burn where surely it's residents would be beginning  to wake up? thankfully It didn't take long to find out as on my second cast an eager little brownie took the big klinkhammer only to shed the hook seconds later, no mater one of his pals took the nymph further up the pool and i was able to bring my first trout of the season to hand.

Usually I only get the time to fish this burn so far up before having to walk back to the car but today I had the opertunity to venture further upstream since I had arranged for my wife to pick me up at a bridge upstream,  great as I was keen to rediscover some of the pools I used to fish regularly after school many years ago.

Primula's litter the bankside

these daff's looked great in the spring sunshine

Working my way upstream I found that some pools produced a trout or two, and others which I thought might were strangely quite, not fully wakened up yet but I think.

old life

new life

Time was getting on before I had to be at the pick up point but time for one more pool, I remember this pool used to be a good place for a bigger than average trout then I was a lad so had a cast up the pool with a little more optimism perhaps than some of the previous pools, sure enough a trout swirled at the big klinkhammer but I missed him, he looked a better fish too so I thought a change to a little 14 klinkhammer might bring him up again, pleasingly it did and after a spirited little scrap I was able to end my day with a nice half punner, maybe even 10oz a good trout for this stream.

trout of the day

sitting on the bridge waiting to be picked up i could see another trout rising in the corner pool, he'll have to wait until next time.