Having been solidly teaching & guiding since the BIG YOLK appeared up above, this afternoon was the first real opportunity I’ve had to get out fishing myself for a while, what with the Mayfly having now seemingly come to life. The journey to the new river is no more than an hour door to door, circumnavigating an uncultivated field I arrive in green and very lush surroundings.

The marvel of mother nature… grrrr!, having trimmed back areas along the river recently to make it somewhat more accessible and more to the point fishable, it’s within no time at all she’s seen fit to relay her carpet of wild grasses, bur reed and brambles to hide any sign of an otherwise artificial manicure. And so the cycle begins again.

Today in a nutshell… and a great nutshell it was

There’s a storm brewin, and sadly it’s coming this weekend so clients Sunday, Monday & Tuesday will probably be getting a good soaking me thinks!.

If you’re into your Jubilee celebrations, then gorge yourself on jelly & blancmange … if you’re not – go fishing cos you’ll enjoy it even more ~ tight lines all.

A return to a more local and favoured river with Warren that teetered on the edge of just about fishable. The recent downpours have been very welcome all be it less so in their immediacy and volume, it is however thankfully running off at pace… with that pace comes better distribution of fish and the clarity with which to observe them.

The morning was spent testing some recently built leaders. Warren’s a great sounding board and from discussions I seem to have procured the best leader I’ve ever constructed in terms of turnover and versatility… a combination of extenders and tapers to suit any length of leader from 7ft through to 20ft… some wee titivating still required but it’s almost there ~ awesomeness

So with a ‘techy’ morning completed it was to an afternoon of play… the impact of recent weather visible throughout the river make for some challenging fishing

Warren fishes in what were the shallows!

With a good hatch of Olives early afternoon and having acquired a number these fine variable imitations from Warren, the only honourable thing left to do was to share its qualities with the locals

Warren did try nymphing for a few minutes with a ptn before changing to a similar olive imitation

Concentrating in the lower reaches, plenty of fish sacrificed themselves to our offering

With almost zero clarity, fish had no problems honing in on the fly

A stunning Coln wild brown trout

The joy when using a #2 weight… size matters not

Fishing and teaching on the rivers has been nigh on impossible over the last few weeks so today was what I hope to be the start of a return to normal… or as normal as normal is whatever that means.

Dear Mayfly… anytime you’re ready from here on in then please

Bugger: just seen a forecast for tomorrow and it’s yet more rain… the teetering continues!