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| Winter on the Eden |
Following the usual wintery days here in Cumbria, the weather is now beginning to pick up at last, and although it is still cold at times, we are now beginning to see some welcome sunshine, giving the days a slightly warmer feel, encouraging us to venture out of our favourite holding pool, "the lounge". However, Spring is most certainly in the air again and you can almost anticipate it's arrival, giving us all a great excuse to get our tackle ready for the season ahead. "As if we need one".
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| Snow melt water in early Feb |
With the Grayling fishing being sporadic again throughout the winter, exacerbated once again by fluctuating water levels, we didn't manage to get out as much as we would have liked to, however there were a few nice days, especially in January, which did encourage a few people out onto the river to indulge in a series of casting lessons, and the way things are progressing at the moment it looks as though the better weather is encouraging a few more to do the same.
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| Visit the BFFI next Year! |
Aside from the usual casting lessons though, I also attended the BFFI again this year, (British Fly Fair International) on the 7th and 8th of Feb, as part of the AAPGAI demonstration team, which I might add, we all enjoyed immensely, because as you all know it's great to see good friends again and have a catch up just before the season gets underway. Over the two days the turnout was very good, with Saturday being the better of the two, as it generated good crowds watching the demonstrations, which I think was certainly down to the weather, as Sunday was much colder in the cool breeze, encouraging people indoors to browse around the stalls and the excellent fly dressing section of the show. All in all though a very good show and well worth visiting in the future!
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| A Nice Eden Grayling |
On Thursday 19th Feb we had our first youth day out on the river, (so it must be warming up) with a group of 10 youngsters all putting their new found skills to the test, following up on what they have learnt over a series of sessions we have made available to them through Borderlines. The objective of this particular day was to target some of the river Eden's excellent Grayling, and I must say, they certainly made a very good job of it too, as they proceeded to land some good quality fish, one of which you can see in the picture above.
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| Returning an early Brownie |
All of the fish caught were returned safely to the water, with the main emphasis being the conservation of the River Eden Grayling population, although one of the boys did catch an early (out of season) brown trout in very good condition, which was also safely returned to the water to fight another day. At the end of the session the group managed to catch and return over 20 Grayling, probably nearer 30, but there was so much going on that we lost count. Well done guys!
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| One of the boys returning a Grayling |
A few casting lessons lined up now, mainly for the avid trout angler, as the new trout season will be upon us again in less than a month, "can't wait", and those of you who have been out with me (for trout) on the river in the past, will know that there are some nice fish to be had, especially as we get into April / May time, although March can be very good given the right conditions. "Not long now"!!!
