20 - 20.1

Date fished 3/12/2022

8.30am until 3pm

November came and went.  River conditions meant I only had one fishing trip but had visits from my sister and my old school mates so the "wasted" weekends were not wasted!

Suddenly, December was here and after wishing my mum a happy birthday and watching the kids eat chocolate after finding them behind closed doors it was time for some fishing. Regular readers over the last 5 years, will know what December usually brings. Ellis must have remembered too, or maybe Carole told him, but he was correct in his suggestion of : 

Annual Piercebridge pilgrimage for grayling on Saturday?

We met a little after 8am and tackled up, I went for a standard 13 ft rod and Ellis opted for 17ft!

There was lots of water on the road after heavy rain over night so we were expecting a big river. It was actually lower than normal and looked very different. 

We started in our usual swim by the island and started getting bites. Ladies (of the stream)  are hard to hold on to and Ellis's first jumped back before the pic. We joked that it may be our only fish and hoped we would get another chance. With Ellis 3-0 infront, I finally caught and juggled a lady of my own. 

Ellis and I are not really competitive with our catches. I am just as happy to see him catch than if I do, although I do tend to poach fish from his swim! But today we started counting our fish. It must be the world Cup spirit and soon I had fought back to lead 6-3! Hopefully not a sign for Senegal, my work sweepstake team!! 

We soon needed to warm the feet so went for a stroll. We need not have worried, the sun soon came out and we bemoaned our decision to not bring caps and sunglasses on a December fishing trip!!

It was here that Ellis caught a 3lb (out of season) Trout. It was a great fish, but we left it in the water for unhooking and with no picture, it was safe to go meet our game friends later in the year! 

I commented also that we had not caught a minnow yet, literally two seconds later Ellis reeled one in. More on that later. 

We turned around here and headed back upstream. We fished some of our usual spots and caught in most. We didn't in the usual spot where we don't catch! Ever! Don't know why we always try there, we never catch but it just looks fishy! 

Some bigger Grayling in the next spot and the scores were almost level, I think! Anyway we were both catching so smiles and laughs were heard above the owl that was hooting at 1pm. 

We walked all the way up to the bridge and found a spot we usually fish. You will know, grayling like fast flowing water, so when we found a slack and Ellis spotted fish rising we didn't know what to expect. Ellis dropped his bait into the still water and his float buried. He caught the Tees only still water grayling!! Amazing. 

Ellis moved downstream but just far enough that he could hear me as I shouted "15" and he promptly bellowed back "16". The fish kept coming. 

We like to check the river levels before we fish and generally determine its fishable if the level is 1m or lower at broken scar. Here, however there is a live webcam, so you can check what the river actually looks like from the comfort of your lounge. You can also use it for taking selfies!! 

We walked back as drops of rain started to fall and decided a few more minutes in our favourite first swim. Four Trout in as many casts for me and with Ellis catching Trout and grayling it was soon 19 all. Ellis lost one at the net, ever the golfer he asked if it counted as it was technically in the "circle of love".

You Google it, maybe not on your work computer!! 

We declared a truce if we both got 20 fish and it was fitting that my 20th was a grayling and two casts after Ellis had landed his 20th. 

Back at the car, I assessed the sock situation. Left sock dry, right sock "soaking, like your whole right leg" said Ellis.

"Not too bad, not enough to buy new waders" I replied. 

Some waders are just for little puddles I thought. 

As I drove home, I decided 20 - 20 wasn't quite right. So I gave Ellis an extra 0.1 for his minnow!