Tuesday 28 June 2016

All about June!

Andrew with a Brown on the Dry
Although June remained mainly low and dry, we did have a couple of small flushes of fresh water toward the end of the Month. This certainly encouraged the salmon to become a little more active in the pools and slightly improved the trout fishing too. However, we did have to continue the searching process to find some good taking trout, but once again this did pay off at times, as long as we were prepared to move about a bit and wet a line in a few different areas than the usual hot spots. Andrew (pictured above) was definitely up for this.

Brian Returning his fish
It has to be said though, that although the water remained low in the main, Salmon and seat trout continue to enter the river on a regular basis, and are often being seen in numbers in the lower reaches, but also getting caught higher up the system too, especially following the short periods when we did have some fresh water flushing through, and guess what, those prepared to give it a try on the low water were often successful. Even I managed to catch a nice Seat trout of around 3lb on the one occasion I fished with my good friend and fellow instructor Brian Warrington, who himself managed to land a beautiful Salmon of around 12lb, which he promptly returned to the water, as you can see in the picture above.

A slippery catch
The night time Sea trout fishing has also been successful when the water has been low and clear and if conditions stay as they are, this should continue well into July, although there is some rain forecast over the next few days, so time will tell.

As part of the Borderlines team we took a group youngsters out again from a local school to try their hand at a spot of course fishing, their biggest catches were a couple of formidable eels from a local Stillwater, one of which you can see in the picture above.

Guide Fly Fishing Event
At the end of June we once again held our usual annual casting and demonstration day for members of the Carlisle Angling Association along with my good friend Jim Fearn (also an AAPGAI instructor) from Guide Fly Fishing. Jim brought along a selection of rods, reels, and lines, to the river Eden, for association members to try out on the day, offering the opportunity to those attending to ask any questions about anything fishing related whilst they were there. We also had some great discussions and explanations regarding casting styles, fishing techniques, terminal tackle, and how to improve your existing skills. Very enjoyable!