May time can see plenty of water on our northern spate rivers or alternatively drought.
When I nipped up to the Yarrow this week it was the latter that applied with the bones of the river showing due to lack of rainfall.
I was fishing dry fly as per usual and only managed to catch a plump dace. I did however hook and lose several brown trout, yet fishing was difficult.
The fish could see me coming in the thin, shallow runs long before I spotted them. Nevertheless, I did capture the picture below of one trout that was feeding under overhanging branches.
This is the dace I caught below...
I also managed to fall down a steep incline into the Yarrow after stepping into a patch of backside greenery that 'seemed' safe to walk on. I sort of did a slow motion roll and ended up going in up to my neck backwards...
Could things get worse? Eh well yes they could. Soon after I had rung my socks out for the third time I grabbed an electrified sheep fence that gave me quite a nasty jolt....
My biggest concern was that although I was soaked through, the fly rod and camera were not broken in the fall...
Thankfully both survived...
Many attractive dragonflies kept me company along the riverbank.
All in all I had a lovely afternoon, albeit a very wet one, with the wonders of nature.
Next time the river may be fuller and the fish easier to approach - we'll see!
Pat,
ReplyDeleteI am designing some interpretation boards for the Ettrick and Yarrow Valleys. I would really like to use your image of Low Water on the Yarrow
As this is an interpretation board, the image will be reproduced an quite a big size. Do you have a high res image you could send me.
Thank you in advance.
Giles Etherington
giles@brandsatellite.co.uk
Giles - I have just dropped you an email... let me know if you are referring to the first image on this page...
ReplyDelete