Finding myself at a loose end on Saturday I drove to the Wharfe at Burley-in-Wharfedale (Yorkshire Anglers stretch) to blow out some cobwebs on my river tackle. It seemed to take me ages to do anything but tackling up was worse than ever. I tied some 3lb copolymer tippet onto the end of my tapered leader using a water knot only for the tippet to pull out every time. I wondered if the step down was too great so put some 5lb in between but the same happened. I finally got the knot to nip down on the 4th attempt. Wtf? Anyway. I fished the tail end of my favourite pool, even though I never catch anything in it.
As per tradition, nowt happened, no fish, no offers and indeed no sign of any insects because it was actually pretty bloody cold. I had a size 14 GGRHE on the point and a partridge and orange on the dropper, surely a reasonable choice for this time of year. One day I will catch a GIGANTIC fish from here.
I walked back upstream to the more productive but noisier part of the beat and fished a mixture of upstream and downstream techniques along this stretch.
I packed in when I encountered a tangle that my freezing cold fingers couldn’t deal with. It’s not quite spring yet! Far too cold to be on the river. I am however pleased with the pictures which were taken with my new smartphone, I’ve uploaded them without any manipulation. Bearing in mind the camera is very much a secondary function on this device they’re quite effective – look at that dynamic range eh!