Field Repairs

Initially I thought I was only going to be able to snatch a few hours fishing on Wednesday morning and went to a lake where the perch often feed early. I had caught a few before receiving a message saying the work I had planned to do in the afternoon had been cancelled. A change of plan was required and I decided to check a new section of a small stream. Water levels are very low and I thought there might be a little more flow further downstream.

I spotted a few nice chub in a deep pool and was about to walk past them as they are out of season when I saw three brownies move from under the shade of an overhanging tree. The biggest of the three I estimated to be 2 or 3lb which is enormous for this stream. Big fish however, rarely get big by being stupid and the largest of the group vanished with the first plop of a lure cast to the head of the pool. I did manage to tempt one of the smaller fish, an absolutely gorgeous fish with textbook trout markings and colouration.

I  then broke the top 2'' of my rod off whilst untangling my line from around a branch stuck out low over the water. I had walked a few miles away from the car and was wading upstream and heading back and didn't want to spend the time needed to go home and collect another rod - field repairs were needed!

I used my scissors to scrape through the epoxy and whipping on top of the tip ring and then peeled the whole lot off. I then pushed the eye over the rod tip - a bit of a squeeze as the tip section is tapered but it went in nice and solidly. I then cut a few inches of braid off and used my fly tying skills to whip the eye on - I'm really glad I learned to do a whip finish by hand rather than using a tool. A dab of superglue and I was ready to go. A little further upstream this spirited fish gave the repair its first workout as it went air-born two or three times before being netted.

This fish is typical of some of the bigger trout in these Northern streams, really long and skinny with an out sized head - the consequence of scratching out a meagre existence in waters without a rich food supply.

Down to its bare bones.

I ended up with a dozen or so and enjoyed strolling through the buttercup meadows in the hot sunshine.

I'm looking forward to a return visit when there is a bit more water in. Weedy streams are fairly rare in my area but this has a healthy growth of Rannunculus in places - not quite chalk stream but very pretty.

The evening saw me chasing perch for a couple of hours and in the first thirty minutes had only managed a couple of small fish on rubber shads. A switch to a spinner (a lure I rarely use) saw a complete transformation as I had a hectic hour and a half where barely a cast went by without some kind of interest. The perch were chasing the spinner down often taking very near the surface. The fish were all of a decent size ranging from 12oz to a pound and a half. I went home and added some more spinners to my lure box!