8am till when we admitted defeat.
Today was tough, really tough. That's it!
It was a fishing test, and as Ellis has just said. Today we paid our dues!
I add that we tried and we enjoyed.
We were back on the Tees at Piercebridge in the hope of Grayling. Meeting at the usual place, I was tackled up and ready when Ellis arrived. Ellis had sourced access to a different beat up stream, so it was on board the motor and a quick drive to a new stretch. On seeing it, it looked a great venue, but the river was high and fast. The over night rain had certainly topped the Tees up. As we looked on, several large trees, branches and debris floated by! Wading was not gonna be an option here!!
We tried a few swims, but really struggled. I just did not have confidence in my ability to trot the float in the same area as my feed. Especially as my feed was probably going miles down stream!!
We soon got back in the car, moving to our usual spot where we had both caught Grayling before.
Seeing the river here, gave us a little more confidence. Just!
I was soon in the water to wade across the stream to our spot. I went very carefully as the stream (actually a side of the river) was alot faster and deeper than normal. I assume Ellis stayed back to check for my safety, but more of that later!
We were soon on the island, a quick jungle walk later and we were fishing. We carried on feeding and casting, soon getting into a rhythm. Standing almost back to back we were trotting in a similar area and kept the feed going in.
Soon it was time to move on, if for no other reason other than to warm the parts of our body below the waist that were now freezing!
We usually took a different wading route out of this area, but today thinking it may be too deep, we thought about a different route. Ellis suggesting he might try the deeper route.
I replied, "ok, but let me get ready with my camera in case you get washed away, it will be a great photo for the blog"
Ellis promptly replying " that's funny cos when you were going into the stream, I turned my go pro on to film you if you got washed away!"
At least we were on the same page with water safety!!!
Both taking the safer route, we were moving down stream. As we fished, we were catching a leaf every cast! Some nearly required the net. It really was a struggle. We battled on. Coming across another angler who had a few Grayling already certainly gave us renewed enthusiasm and soon we were catching a leaf a cast again!!
Finally I noticed the river was dropping, perfect for tomorrow we noted! By 12 o clock the routine was back and I was confident with the feeding and casting and it was coming together. My skill was soon rewarded and another leaf was landed.
As I continued with the foliage, Ellis was chatting to the other angler. At 71 years old and been fishing stick floats since he was 13, he was soon parting his wisdom to Ellis. He soon had Ellis feeding right, casing right, using the right weights, not using a swivel, hooking maggots right, using the right hooks, using the right line and after some tackle swaps, Ellis was all right!
The knowledge was infectious and soon we were both listening to "how to" guides and venue tips and tactics that had Ellis wishing he could remember it all!! I think the peg number 35, 37 and 38 came up alot matey!!
As the angler left, we obviously jumped into his swim. Ellis with basically the same tackle, as he had swapped it all! We fished on. Laughing to ourselves, and smiling fondly.
We worked our way back towards the cars. No Grayling today, but we left happy and alot more knowledgeable. Sometimes it's good to take stock of how you do things, it's not wrong it's just different!
I never did ask the guy how he would deal with a friend being swept away in the river, but am sure the right answer would be "well hopefully capture it on film!!"
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