I went up to the Tarn first thing yesterday morning with the intention of doing the invertebrate check at Turn Dub. The natural bowl that hold the water looked spectacular lit by shafts of sunlight breaking through the heavy cloud. As I watched these searchlight beams sweeping the Tarn I was mesmerised by the sight of a rainbow brought to being by a sudden squall crossing the valley. From my vantage point the near foot of this intense spectrum of colours seemed to come to earth right on the hut. Search as I might I could find no crock of gold either in or under the hut.
On getting down to the river it was immediately clear that the check would be impossible in the high water conditions. Despite having a staff and life jacket with me the current was far too strong to make wading a less that life threatening exercise. So discretion being the better part of valour I beat a retreat. Levels are still high today so the Turn Dub check will have to wait until conditions are more favourable.
On a brighter note, I have mentioned before the fact that there seem to be a lot of young trout throughout the fishery this year which bodes well for future fishing. Further confirmation of these observations comes from Gavin P who fished up from the Tay bridge on Tuesday evening. Gavin tells me that -
Last night I took the
opportunity to fish up from the
Even though conditions
last night where not the best with the gusting strong winds there was a
considerable amount of surface activity as I worked up this stretch of the
river. Fish appeared to be feeding strongly in and around all the foam lanes at
the edges of the currents despite the awful weather. Most of the fish came to a
dry fly with just a couple on a bead head nymph.
When I walked back to the
car a large fish came out of the water in the narrow faster stretch at the
bottom of the pool just above the Tay Bridge, which is I would think is in line
with the salmon Alan caught earlier, and with other fish moving up into pools.
It was quiet clearly visible, and was a dark fish, but wouldn’t have been as big
as the one Alan recorded. This is a good sign for the salmon anglers as fish
look like they are stating to collect in the pools.
Regards
Gavin
One other item as I was
driving down the lane to park In Phil’s Field in front of the car was a stoat
running around the lane chasing a Chaffinch. When I drove nearer it dashed into
the grass edge and stayed there even when I stopped at the side of it and wound
the car window down it still stood in clear view looking up defiantly. It made
no effort to run away even though the car was stopped within 3 ft of it. I have
never seen these little creatures be so bold, and as I drove on it came back out
into the lane appearing not to be even concerned that a car had just disturbed
it. Amazing behaviour.
Ian