Night Moves...

...and Comfortable Arrangements!

Late to get out last night I wandered downriver still undecided as to where and how I might start the evening's proceedings.  I met Paul, a fellow angler who had been more diligent than I in getting out and fishing through the day.  He reported encouraging news of his day thus far.  We chatted very briefly about a nearby tributary we both know well, mutually bewailed the drought conditions and then went our opposite ways to start fishing for the evening.  He going up and I going down river. 

I started in a comfortable place, for me, which meant I could sit on the exposed roots of a giant crack willow.  It is one of those spots I mentioned last year, where in low water the angler can get almost unrestricted access to water that is otherwise awkward to cover well.  As well being very comfortable these roots and trapped silt offer the angler the added advantage of sitting crosslegged like a garden gnome thus maintaining a low profile and remaining hidden from the fish rising upstream.

Here is the very spot.  Moss has grown on the trapped silt, soil is forming as other plants take root and I have the benefit of the tree trunk to lean against as a very easing back rest. 


However, it would not be such a comfortable place to lay a fish for hook removal before release.  In Town many of us regulars use unhooking mats to protect the fish, but in Town we are not tramping miles between fishing stations.  Even where the river flows through Elysian fields, the ground is not always a fish friendly place to lay our captives momentarily, before they are free to get on with their lives.  Remember those overtrousers I favour?  They make an excellent unhooking mat to lay the wet net on and they are always there ready for the job if you are fishing on your backside in the quest for invisibility.

I couldn't resist making an attempt at photographing the rise forms of a fish sipping away at spinners.  This one shows the elongated ring(s) nicely.  I apologise again for the noisy image and the somewhat excessive Photoshoppery to try and overcome the low light levels but it shows quite nicely the so very distinctive shape of the spinner eater's rise that signals to us we should be putting on a little spinner fake and making the most of these piscine Night Moves.


As always, click the images to get a closer look and click them again for an even closer view.

Regular Rod