Off the Log #8

 The first fishing trip after the cursed Covid’s lockdown? Just had to be a river. The peace and delightful intimacy of standing mid-stream, half immersed into that other world where our quarry lives, has no equal.

 I confess to being rusty, but it wasn’t too long before my erratic casts began to improve, although those marauding trees and rushes, etc., found me an easy target as they snuck up on me from behind. It took a while to catch the first wild, brown trout, a little shorter than my hand’s length, a glorious jewel-creature nevertheless.

Fishing size 18 and 20 barbless nymphs upstream makes it almost inevitable that I’ll drop a few off, and being out of practice meant I missed or dropped many more than I netted, but it didn’t matter one tiny jot. It was real bliss, even though I get cross at my own ineptitude at casting and tying knots, and having to re-tie my cast. I managed to lose at least seven flies, in un-noticed foliage.

 I didn’t fish the whole beat, taking the time to soak it all in as I moved slowly upstream to each likely spot or tiny pool. There were far more varmint Chub present than last year, but there were also several places where I disturbed small shoals of fry from their hidey-holes. Even if the small stuff turns out to be more Chub, the very numbers of fry bode well for water quality and conditions.

A nicer fish that took a Frenchie; in this pic its actually slipping out of my grasp!

The day was warm but overcast, apart from one or two moments when the sun broke through. A staccato of short showers kept up, and I think may have dampened the innards of the camera I take for field work, because it suddenly began to lose clarity and focus. Once home, I tried drying it out, like you do, but found the lens mechanism (when the camera was switched on), now whines like a mosquito, and starts building towards a crescendo, but I switch it off again before it blows up! Researching my options established that to have it examined would cost roughly half of what the camera cost me two years ago, furthermore that any repair work carried-out will most likely take the total cost well past what the original purchase price was! That particular model is still available, and at the same price. What to do?

 Nevertheless, despite my fishing flaws and camera malfunction, I wouldn’t have missed my first session back on the little river for anything!

When I noticed something was up; you can see the focus has gone peculiar.