Up to the topmost, wild stretch of the Seven on the North York Moors. The river looked as pretty as ever, although the weather wasn’t up to much: 14C, overcast and a bothersome brisk northerly breeze blowing directly into my face. As I tackled up on the bankside I spotted a few nice rises in a pool 30 metres downstream:

But by the time I’d blundered my way to its tail the rises had stopped and nothing was interested in my small parachute emerger. After that I barely saw a rise and only one or two fish darting in the clear water. I perservered with the emerger for another half hour to no avail before switching to a small goldhead hare’s ear. Fished it with little confidence through water like this:

But nothing doing. I reluctantly bunged on a heavier nymph, with a 3mm copper-coloured tungsten bead. Casting it through the overhanging branches was not easy. Anyway the fish were having none of it. In a long, slow stretch above a small weir I spotted some rare rises so it was back on with the emerger:

I touched two small fish but neither stuck. I expect I was so desperate to land something that I was over-eager on the lift. Disheartened I plugged on for another half hour or so but saw no more action. A third blank for the season, in contrast to last year when I didn’t blank at all; it looks like that may have been an abberation. The rivers are taking a while to get going. Ah well, next time.