First of the year

Saturday was the first vaguely springlike day of the year, however the wind still had some teeth though. My first thoughts were that there was a lot of water in the river but the clarity was surprisingly good. Combine this with the bright skies and the omens were not too promising. 

The walk down to the start of the beat failed to show any signs of feeding fish despite the odd Large Dark Olive. Got to the bottom and started setting up the rod. Frankly this had all the hallmarks of a day for nymphing. A scenario not really accommodated in my abridged set of flies for 2013!

So having failed to find any visibly feeding fish it was a fruitless visit in terms of trouty action. However it was good to be out again and to prove that I could still present a fly and lay a line on the water. And it was especially heartening to spy lots of juvenile fish in the rejuvenated tributary stream.

The river still in its winter wardrobe.....

The near obligatory rod and reel shot.....