A big brown end to the season |
Unfortunately, as with many rivers this year, the end of the season on the Eden finished prematurely, with a deluge of water triggering a succession of cancellations as the persistent rainfall resulted in a series of high and coloured waters as you can see in the picture on the left.
Fortunately some of you were here for tuition purposes only, which was just as well given the uncontrollable conditions we were experiencing, however from a safety aspect, it did eventually get to the stage where I had to call a halt to that too as the river became very swollen and inaccessible in many places.
Returning a small Salmon to the river |
However, we did manage a couple of salmon before the river became ridiculously high, and several seriously big browns attached themselves to our salmon flies too, which is not unusual in these larger waters later in the season, but they were all returned to the water unharmed being as the trout season was over. Jeff pictured right managed to hook land and return this small coloured salmon to the river before conditions became difficult again later in the day.
A very nice double figure Pike |
Time is too short to waste though, and apart from one rather windy, difficult, but eventually successful day, spent on a Stillwater hunting Rainbow Trout, we did also manage to arrange a couple more days for the youngsters via Borderlines, but given that once again the rivers were out of order and Stillwaters were by far the best option, instead of a session for Salmon or trout our quarry was to be the elusive but formidable Pike.
With this in mind the youngsters did themselves proud and managed to catch a few Pike throughout the day, including this very nice specimen (above left) laid out on the unhooking mat. This powerful fish was none the worse for ware for its efforts and swam off very strongly when returned to the water, as seen here (below right).
With this in mind the youngsters did themselves proud and managed to catch a few Pike throughout the day, including this very nice specimen (above left) laid out on the unhooking mat. This powerful fish was none the worse for ware for its efforts and swam off very strongly when returned to the water, as seen here (below right).
A large Pike in excellent condition |
A Demo on Split Cane |
If you have never attended one of these AAPGAI open days you should, as its a great day out. The next one is to be held at the Friars Carse Hotel in Dumfries & Galloway on June 13th 2020. To book your place details can be found here. It would be good to see you there!
In the meantime, as the rivers settle down again, (fingers crossed) we will be out there once again targeting Grayling and hopefully the big waters won't have done too much damage and we will be able to find a few good pockets of fish for some great winter sport. Here's hoping!
Christmas Vouchers |