Praying for the wind to drop

Yes we fishing into Normanton Church on Rutland today and if only the wind had dropped i am sure we would have caught loads.

As it was there was plenty of action but they just weren't holding on. Our first drift of the day went from just outside the lodge all the way up Normanton to Fantasy Island. There were pockets of fish all the way. The wind was a pain though. My leader didn't last long and i perhaps made a mistake by adding a shorter one. The decision to change from the Di5 to Di7 was a good one and at last i could really control my flies properly. On the drop with a cormerant and I was into my first fish.

Derek Purves had invited me to a regular Scots gathering and it was good to catch up after the last Barclays match. I am sure Derek was contemplating the conditions as he changed his top dropper though.

It was a shame that that drift ended though with loads of action and for Martin and Stevie behind it was very similar. Travelling upwind though was like being on the North sea. I put my back to it and shut out my mind, however it seemed as though there was someone behind me chucking buckets of water at Derek at will. The bilge pump didn't work and we soon started to fill up - i knew that bailer was to be used for something useful!! We got to Yellowstone and Derek then had time to do his coat up properly.

A few drifts later we turned into the point of Old hall and after Derek took a fish I was into a nice brownie and suddenly had flashbacks to the Classic. However it was catch and release today and after a great fight it was very welcome to the net.

After a number of drifts later we felt as though we were on auto pilot so headed back to the Church. While it wasn't quite as good as earlier we chased the shoals around and managed to catch a few more. I ended with 3 and Derek 6 however he had a few more that could be counted as they were shook off before the net.We had been carved up a number of times during the day but when the Rutland Belle came too close, I was definitely intimidated!

All in all a great day, great company, good fishing and a football match later. Come on United!!