Hardly a Toil

With not too much holiday left for this year i didn't think i would have another trip to the River Arrow but after working flat out in October i decided to take a TOIL day (Time Off In Lieu).

A few conference calls and e-mails from the banks of the river couldn't stop me relaxing and enjoying a lovely day on the Court of Noke beat of the River Arrow.

When we arrived it was a cloudy but still quite warm. The river was running well not at all coloured but as autumn has been late this year there were a lot of leaves in the water that had not rotted down yet. We walked down to the start of the beat and dissapointly didn't see a fish rise but we did pick out loads of pools and likely fishing spots.

As we started fishing the farmer turned up and had a good chat to Phil giving us some good tips to handle the electric fence and good spot to try. I tackled up with a gold head hares ear and a black buzzer under a site indicator and trotted down the edges on both the near and far bank with good optimism.

I had a conference call at 11 and just as i was sat on the bank listening, Phil shouted out that he was in so i walked over hoping to christen my new net. Wow what a fish! Phil was stillplaying it when i got there and as it came up to the surface and turned over it was cracking. Precariosly balanced part way down a steep bank with Phil talking me through it in one ear and the team discussing key activities in the other I could just imagine a slip and i would be swimming. However the fish just managed to tip into the net and it was on the bank.
It was the largest grayling i had seen and at the time we were sure it must be close to 2lb. It was taken just in the spot the farmer had pointed out on a pink goldhead trotted up the inside line.

We continued upstream but the fishing didn't really pick up. Phil saw only 2 fish rise but i didn't see any and it felt that with no food and the leaves hiding the food on the bottom the fish had just gone to sleep for a while.

With my interest waning a little i went for a wander to see what wildlife was about. A sparrowhawk came down the tree line and wizzed through the trees, a great spotted woodpecker perched on a dead tree, a kingfisher sped up the river at low level and as i was crossing the river a dipper came down stream and at the site of me stopped in mid air, turned and headed back upstream almost in slow motion, magic!

Phil managed to pick some field mushrooms and at that point i could wait for my tea - Mushroom sandwiches.

we managed to mark the fish on the rod and Phil confrmed it was 42cm in length and just over two pounds confirmed. good enough to make a nice day out.