Cold Winds and Snow Melt

Eden High and Coloured

February has not displayed much out of the ordinary this year, with cold winds in attendance at times and the recent snow melt off the Pennines and surrounding areas making the Grayling fishing a little more difficult than usual, but as long as we have been well wrapped up we have certainly enjoyed some relatively nice days too. This has been apparent as a small number of you have already been braving the elements to indulge in a bit of casting tuition in preparation for the new season.

Beat improvements

It has to be said though that the Grayling fishing (in general) this winter (on the Eden) has been relatively slow in comparison to other years, and when venturing out for them we've had to be prepared to do a bit of searching, this has also been the general consensus from several other anglers I have spoken to on the river over this period.

The problem we now have toward the end of this month is the recent heavy rain, causing high and coloured water levels, not the best scenario for either Grayling or Salmon fishing I might add, but whilst the water levels were behaving themselves the river did produce a few salmon, caught by the few early season stalwarts who always venture out at this time of year. This is always a god sign!

A good bend in the Rod

I have taken out the lease this season for a section of the lower river, which a few of you have fished with me in the past, (and caught some good fish too I might add) therefore I have been kept busy lately with a few repairs and improvements down there and have several more in the pipeline. For those of you who haven't fished this section of the river with me, the beat is a tidal stretch, not far from the sea, and can therefore be a good opportunity to catch fresh salmon on low water when other beats may be struggling a bit, however there are some good Brown trout and night time sea trout fishing opportunities down there too, so it can be a good all round beat.

Tony's good condition Early Brown

Whilst down there I did indulge in a little bit of early season salmon fishing myself, along with Tony Bell, (pictured above) as there had been a couple of fresh salmon spotted on the beat from the other bank. Unfortunately we did not connect on this occasion, but Tony did do battle with a good conditioned early season Brown Trout, on a tube fly, which was quickly unhooked and returned to the water, but it has to be said that the condition of this fish, which was around the two and a half pound mark, was pristine and very plump, hopefully one for the trout rod later in the year!

Chilling in the Hut

Tony and I will be back down there again at the weekend (water levels permitting) to do a little more tidying up and to Coppice a few willows whilst we are there, February can be a good time to do this before the tree's start to actively grow again. I am sure we may wet a line too whilst we are there, as it would be rude not to. Watch this space!

It won't be long now before we are properly targeting some of these good Browns on lighter tackle, being as the season starts again (on the Eden) on March 15th, so let's hope we encounter a few more of these good quality fish when the trout fishing gets going again and throughout the season too, which I am sure we will. "Tight Lines to all".