Season 2013/14 finally begins.

After a bad case of Cabin Fever this Winter, the new season finally arrived. The local rivers had received enough rain to keep them in good condition and the weather had settled leading up to the first weekend.  The KP was at 67cm and was expected to be clear. Rod and I arrived and everything was perfect. No wind, patchy sunshine and plenty of other anglers all out for a fish.  Never seen so many at the KP. I fished with a nymph while Rod used a Humpy. Rod also had his new Orvis wand to christen. The end result was three trout for Rod and none for me. A great way to start the season.

Cabin fever - year 2

After a couple of seasons enjoying some success on my two favourite rivers, I faced the realisation that winter time is really long and hard to manage. Cabin fever is a terrible thing when all you want to do is wake up to a great sunny still day and go and catch a fish. I was looking for a distraction and the footy wasn't cutting it for me. I remembered how much I enjoyed tying flies years ago, so I dug out my old vice and found some silk. A trip to the local tackle shop, another into Turville's and yet another to the Compleat Flyfisher and I had enough supplies to begin some basic flies. Royal Wulffs, Humpys and Coachman were the order of the day. Tied some horrible looking flies, but after a lot of practice I began to get it right. Proportions, whip finishes and really clumsy fingers made it difficult enough, but being old and blind made it even harder. Had to buy a magnifier as well to help. Here are some of the better ones for public display.

The first trips to the river

These yielded about 30 trout between us all taken on dries. Favourite fly was either a Royal Wulff or a Humpy. Red in colour and either a size 14 or sometimes a larger size 12 was used. Most trout were rainbows which fought really well on our three weight rods, with the occasional brown thrown in. I was addicted.