Hi All
Hope you'll indulge me by letting me post these images from our Monnow Social a second time. I know that not everyone drops by the Monnow threads and... well... just trying to win a few more fans for our river!
So many fine memories of the weekend... except of the Friday night, which went missing:
I wasn't the only one trying to find my head on Saturday morning. Tony trying to find the ring pull on his mug of tea:
I teamed up with Sewinman for the day to fish the upper river... with mixed feelings as it happened, for the last time I had fished the beat that was to be the target of our attentions, it was very very good, and surely a return could only disappoint. Disappointment, though, was not a word that was to feature in our vocabulary that day. A glorious 16" fish came to my second cast of the day in a swirl of froth and bubbles but disappeared before I could fix him with the camera. But, a nice confidence builder to start the day with.
From then on, it was just Groundhog Day... different spots, different fish, same old story... fishing for majestic wild trout in magical surroundings:
Morgan had spotted a fish rising in a lie behind an awkward little stump, but some patient approach work and a delightful cast bought the desired result: "I think it's a good one!"
and it was too:
Around the next corner was a tongue of current swirling and lashing its way around the roots of a heavy old tree. The current had licked away a deeply shelving pot, the bottom of which was concealed beneath gnarled and boney roots. Trout country.
'This-kind-of-trout' country, 17" of Monnow Missile:
Time for a drink:
Above this pot was a shallow stony run about 50yds long, full of crevices, dimples, cobbles and pots. It seemed as if everywhere we cast to held a beautiful trout. And to be honest, everywhere did.
We found a half dozen or so rising fish in slack water, and did our best to tempt them with some little dries but to no avail, we were skunked by these fish and moved upriver in search of streamier water and better cover. After each bumping and spooking a couple of good fish, we began to think that maybe we had enjoyed our slice of luck for the day. But at the next pool, the biggest, fattest slice of trout shaped fortune I have had this season came my way:
...and so it continued.
Morgan into a cracker in a quiet backwater:
A searing fish that charged up and down and (rather unhappily) put down the other four that were rising in the same pool.
Wonderful, wonderful fishing.
Wonderful, wonderful fish...
When I dream of trout streams, they look like this one:
...and they are stuffed full of trout like this:
...and then I remember... all through that day... each stream scoured corner, each well chosen lie, every cast, every rise... I want to live and breathe them all, dreams are best left for the sleepers.
End of Pt1.
More Monnow Magic Pt2.1
Danny
a pic of Tony J drinking a soft drink?surely not.....I've never seen that before
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