I encountered my first problem almost as soon as I got to the river – my camera was totally dead. The boy had been playing around with it earlier and I think that he must have left it on letting the batteries run dry, no matter I had my wee [amazon_link id=”B004MMF7RI” target=”_blank” ]Kodak PlaySport Zx5[/amazon_link]that also takes half decent stills so that would have to do. The second problem was the huge black cloud hovering above me and the fact the water looked colored and dirty, more like a spate was on the way rather than thinning out afterwards. I did not see any rising trout as I walked down to the river.

I was late getting out as we were being ruthless with the kids getting them to bed and they were not happy about it at all. Still, when I got to my wee banker spot I did see the odd trout rising so tied on a small comparadun and got to it. Just then my fly box fell out my pocket and hit a discarded scooter with a bit of a crack.

Still, I suppose the crack adds a bit of character…

Even though the water was dirty it did not make the trout any less spooky however with a bit of stealth and some serious work covering a riser I managed to finally hook a nice quarter pounder..

Just as I was preparing to cast again at another spooky trout it happened.

Kreeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaak

The noise scared the absolute shit out of me and I looked up expecting to see a Pterodactyl hovering over me ready to take me back to its young for a hearty feast. Turned out a heron was coming in to land and it was none to happy to see me standing next to its perch. I wandered up the river to find some more trout. As the dusk deepened behind me there was an almighty big splash which was definitely no trout, it was a Salmon and I half considered sticking on a wooly bugger and covering it just to see what happened. I decided that possible madness lay down that path and instead waded slowly up to a rising trout. The water was dead still and every slight movement sent small waves out across the pool. When I first started fishing someone once told me “wade like a burgler walking through a room full of sleepers” and this I have always kept to. In fact it annoys me no end when I fish with folk that splash through pools sending waves everywhere scattering good trout.

There was a trout rising a few rod lengths in front of me and I crept up slowly. As I moved into position a slowly took my fly from its ring and pulled some line from my reel, the trout rose, I was almost there. The trout rose again and I was in position, I flipped my fly on to the water and gave the standard maximum couple of false casts and the fly landed in the sweet spot a couple of feet above the rising trout, it drifted down to just where the trout should see it……