Fishing in the Cotswolds

About three hours later I caught my second Rainbow Trout. This time a lot more cunning and stealth was used. I used a technique known as 'stalking'. Quite often the Trout will come in close to the bank and rest up. So by following it in the shallows you can actually drop the fly in front of it's nose and hope it takes the hook. Which is exactly what happened on this occasion, however it did put up a lot of resistance and nearly took me in the lake with it at one stage !!
Barry and I both caught two Rainbow Trout each all around the same size which wasn't bad going as it was not easy fishing. Well it never is in my case to be honest.
Altogether a really enjoyable day outside in the sun and fresh air - in fact it has made me a bit sleepy now.


Happiness is the Rod - A small play on words for all Marillion fans.

Barry - The Troutmaster



It's nice to get an early fish in the bag as you feel you can relax a bit more and the pressure is off. It was lovely and peaceful just standing on the bank feeling the heat of the suns rays and enjoying the scenery. I saw a brief flash of shimmering blue and immediately recognised a Kingfisher, in a second it was gone again.


The first fish of the day !



The sun was shining for my first Fly fishing trip of the year. Destination was Lechlade in the heart of the beautiful Cotswolds close to headwaters of the Thames.

I was with my good mate Barry who is an excellent match fisherman. Probably important to make clear at this stage that I am an awful fisherman and without Barry I would be lost. In fact I had completely forgotten the art of casting out. After a few feeble attempts I did manage to at least get the line about 10 yards from the bank. Then by some small miracle I actually caught the first fish of the day!!A Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) I maintain it must have been suicidal and threw itself on the first sharp it had come across. It didn't put up much of a struggle and was safely landed weighing in around 4lb's.
Just in case anyone is interested it was caught on 'Hares Ear Nymph' using a 'bung' or so I was told? I'm not really up with all the different sorts of flies and fly tying which is an art form in itself.