Coarse
when i got to the lane to turn for the river i was greeted from his "tearing" post by a barn owl who gave me a nod of his head and looked at me as if to say "what on earth are you doing here at this time"anyway as i slowed to a stop to try and get a pic he took flight across in front of me and i got out to watch him go across the rough grass field in search of his next meal ,then he could probably return to his "post" and enjoy his kill without being disturbed again by some clown arriving so early,so off i drove down the lane where in front of me i could see the odd pheasant poking its head above the corn to see what was happening ,and acouple of grey english partridge were running down the track as they prefer rather than take flight unless they have to.
got to the river and parked the car up and the mist was gliding across the water like ghosts dancing on the surface, the thin wisps moving in the slight breeze to and fro as the breeze swirled around in different directions, i got my gear out of the car and started to walk down to the river by now the sun was starting to appear through the mist between the trees on the far bank ,pic below
as i started to walk along the bank i disturbed a couple of herons who were tucked tight to the bank in the shallows obviously looking for there next meal
they took up making the usual racket and climbing with there wings flapping like mad to get height and away from what they see as a predator to clear the high
far bank shrouded in trees,so i carried on walking only to disturb another heron which seemed to make more noise than the two previously and soared up into a
tree top on the far bank looking down on me as if to say thanks for distubing me and my breakfast.
got to the point where i wanted to start and the river looked perfect, pics below
the nexts pics are where i started a little cut that runs down the back of the island ,where i could see fish moving but was unable to tell if they were trout,
the depth in this "pool" is very decieving and is around 4ft deep
anyway about an hour and a half later i had no fish to show for my efforts ,and decided to sit and have a sandwich and watch the kingfishers that were flitting
backwards and forwards up and down the "cut" so after a little while i thought i would have a move after a few more casts into the main river
itself,pic below is where my mate got a 6lb wild brownie last year
my efforts were unpaid so i decided to move ,along the way the wild garlic aroma was magnificent ,nothing like garlic as you imagine it and its such a
wonderful flower aswell,pic below
mingled amongst the garlic and other vegetation another truly nice flower the bluebell
in this pic which covers about 2 square yards in total i counted nine different wild flowers ,but you cant see them all in the pic
after a slight walk downstream i decided to fish at the back of the island where the two flows converge always a likely looking spot
whilst fishing here i could here the chub in the riffles making there way through them and spawning with a crash and rush of parting water as they make there
way through them spawning, after around half an hour it was now blatantly obvious i wasnt going to catch,as the sun now was so bright and trout dont have
"eyelids" like other fish and dont like bright sunlight,so i decided to have a look to see if the barbel were spawning and i wasnt let down by my
thoughts as i found them in the "cut" in the shallows in numbers the odd females surrounded by males as the pics will show you ,BRICKS I TOLD YOU
ABOUT THESE MATE!!!
LOOK CLOSELY IN THESE AND YOU WILL SEE THE BARBEL !!
WELL PEOPLE its a while since ive enjoyed doing a write up like this and it was a cracking day full of stuff to talk about and yet no fish ,but as i often say
some of the fishless days are priceless and i think that this day is one of them !!
thanks for reading it !!!
SUPER LEAGUE CHAMPS 2007 
enjoyed that - well done.lovely pics - I''l give
ya 1 too..........
