The cold March weather has been relentless here in Cumbria and many other areas too, with biting East winds and driving snow, I keep having to remind myself I am still in the UK. However, although these cold conditions have curtailed the start of the trout season somewhat (15th March on the Eden) we certainly haven't been idle, and despite these very unfriendly conditions we have still managed to stay active, with a selection of casting tuition sessions for both Salmon and Trout anglers alike, as they anticipate the new season upon us.
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| Borderlines Day (measuring the flow) |
As part of the team at Borderlines we ran a couple of entomology and river walk sessions for a local Cumbrian School, with planned fishing sessions to follow in the near future, and on the weekend of the 9th and 10th March Glyn Freeman and I, once again, delivered a workshop weekend on the Lazonby Estates beat of the river Eden. Like last year, the workshop was aimed at potential AAPGAI instructors i.e. those wishing to see what the Association of Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructors are all about. We had five attendees on the course, a great bunch of guys (shown below) from as far afield as Swansea in Wales and the Gordon Castle estate beat of the river Spey in Scotland, to more locally interested parties from Annan and Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. A great weekend was had by
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| A good bunch on the Workshop |
all, and the feedback was fantastic, despite the intermittent driving snow on day two. We plan to run another event in November if we get enough interest, so if this is something that you may be interested in later in the year then simply click on the following link for further details: AAPGAI on the Eden
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| More Wintery weather on the Tay |
A little bit of free time after the weekend as Glyn and I headed off up to the Tay to meet friends for a spot of fishing for ourselves, although we nearly didn't make it due to heavy snow and icy conditions and when we did get there we spent most of the time chatting in the warm fishing hut where the Gillie, and personal friend, Iain Kirk, kept the kettle on a low light. Eventually we did go fishing and encountered a few Kelt's and one of the guys did loose a good fish. I too lost something substantial on the first day, but because it got away I'm calling it a kelt!!! There were three spring fish caught on the second day, but not by us and just to rub salt into the wound they were taken on the beat we were on the day before, Hey Ho that's fishing.
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| All about Anchors |
Following this we headed off to Cockermouth for our first AAPGAI assessment events of 2013 where potential new instructors take their first step on the ladder and we hold an open day for those wishing to come along to watch the demonstrations and enjoy the one to one tuition available afterwards. Unfortunately the weather continued in the same vein, although the open day turned out to be reasonably nice and all 25 attendees enjoyed it immensely with some really good feedback.
Finally no sooner had I returned home than I had to take off again the next day, this time to the Wharfe to take part in a rod test for the Trout & Salmon Magazine. Again I encountered snow, however day two of the test was actually quite a nice day and we even saw a hatch of olives in the early afternoon with a spell of about an hour when we watched some really good trout taking advantage of them. Unfortunately the Wharfe at Bolton Abbey, (where we were) doesn't start fishing for trout until April 1st. However, seeing these good fish topping really reminded me of what we are in for on the Eden if and when things warm up at the beginning of April. "The sooner the better".
