These spring days are full of contrasts as the seasons turn. Fresh green shoots all around, the call of chiff chaffs, warm sunny days and cold days as the wind swings to the North.
As I drove to the river sleet settled on the windscreen and the temperature gauge read 3 degrees. Yesterday it was double figures and warm sunshine. It was good to wade in the lower Taw this evening and see the first sand martins swopping over the river. I have been fishing the river since the seventies and there is a certain reassurance in the constant flow through familiar lands. I glimpsed fry in the shallows and wondered what they were; minnows, trout or maybe roach or dace fry?
A fish swirled half a dozen times in the narrow run at the head of a pool. A salmon, a sea trout or a large brown trout? I asked the question swinging the fly across the river but got no answer! High water had reached above Bishops Tawton half a mile or so downriver. Had a fresh springer come in on the tide?
Just three days ago fourteen year old Ed Broggio landed his first salmon estimated at 8lb ten miles or so upriver close to the Junction with the Mole. Great to hear that a young angler setting out has enjoyed success.
Report on the weekend from Ben Smeeth:
