Fishing in a 17 mph wind is not great fun at the best of times, but when it is coming straight at you from the north-east it can be a real pain. That’s what I was, literally, faced with when I nipped up to the River Seven for a session today. Wasn’t sure how I would […]
To the upper reaches of Pickering Beck on a nippy April afternoon with a gusting westerly breeze. We call this the Duchy section, on account of it being on land owned by the Duchy of Lancaster. The water is not stocked so all the trout in here are truly wild. The club has carried out […]
And on to one of the most exciting days of the season for me: the first crack of the year at the wonderful River Seven, a couple of miles west of Pickering at the base of the North York Moors. A magical river with a bit of everything – glides, riffles, pools, sand, gravel… everything […]
And so at long last the trout season begins. With a slight uplift in temperatures it’s off to Pickering Beck for the first crack. This time of year is inevitably a struggle. The water looked ok, but not at its finest given the lack of greenery. Selected the 7ft rod with a 3wt line carrying […]
The sun shone and the wind dropped for the final day of the coarse season so I popped down to the river. Water was still high after all the recent rain but crucially was falling. I had fished it a couple of times over the past week or so but it was higher and the […]
Another forlorn trip to Sandsend. A lovely day and a surprisingly high sea with a fair old swell on it. Arrived around 3 pm. In the distance a sunlit Whitby was magnificent: The sea pulled and jerked at the rod tip with some violence, making bites all but impossible to discern. I reckon I got […]
River well up but receding. Had a couple of sessions more in hope than expectation. Surprised to get a little knock first time and half decent bite on the second outing. But didn’t connect. C’est la vie. Roll on spring and the trout season.
River flooded out so it’s on with the longjohns and off to Sandsend on the North Yorks coast to see if I can fare any better than in the past. Have been here maybe eight or nine times and for all those hours’ effort have produced two small flatfish. This is hardly the most challenging […]
I set up just before 3pm on a windless afternoon with a spot of welcome sun. The river had dropped by about another foot and looked enticing. Then I realised I’d forgotten to bring my phone (ie camera), so went to get it. Was this hubris? Would the fishing gods chuckle to themselves and ask […]
Superb frost-bitten, sparkling winter’s day. Thermometer said minus 4 first thing, but by the time I went down to the river at about 2.30 pm, the temperature had risen to a cosy zero. No breeze and water still reasonably low. Loaded up the feeder with red maggots, with a double on the hook, and had […]