It was much more enjoyable today on the river as the water temperature had risen to almost 6 degrees C and in the sun the air temperature touched 10 degrees which was quite pleasant in 
comparison to recent conditions and gave me the incentive to fish on into the early evening. Several Kelts were beginning to splash about in the lower reaches and reports were coming in of a few Spring fish also beginning to show themselves which is always a good sign. I even managed to make contact twice during the latter part of the day, the first of which was a Kelt which was quite apparent from the outset by the way it reacted on the rod, but the second seemed quite a substantial fight and I was not so sure, but as we parted company after about 30 seconds we will never know.
comparison to recent conditions and gave me the incentive to fish on into the early evening. Several Kelts were beginning to splash about in the lower reaches and reports were coming in of a few Spring fish also beginning to show themselves which is always a good sign. I even managed to make contact twice during the latter part of the day, the first of which was a Kelt which was quite apparent from the outset by the way it reacted on the rod, but the second seemed quite a substantial fight and I was not so sure, but as we parted company after about 30 seconds we will never know.
There seems to be more and more goosanders appearing on the river these days and today was no exception. They are very adept at identifying the most productive areas for fishing on the river for obvious reasons which is often a problem especially as they will take small trout and Salmon Parr as well as Smolts which will be showing up in numbers in another month or two. At last the trout season is just around the corner and as well as having a few people already booked in for tuition, fishing and guiding for these hard fighting over wintered fish, I will also be taking every opportunity to catch a few on the fly myself. Last year was very productive especially between the end of March and the end of May when some of the better quality fish can be targetted before the Summer months get underway when you have to be more selective to avoid a multitude of smaller fish. Good sport though.
Although the Grayling season is closed from the 15th March to the 15th June inclusively, because these beautiful fish are so prolific throughout the river Eden system they are often unavoidable with the fly when fishing for trout especially around April time. This is almost certainly due to the fact that they are shoaling up for spawning at that time. As long as you are not specifically targetting these fish and you do return them as gently as possible without harm then this will not be a problem and from June 16th we can target them once again for some good sport.
