Always worthwhile and anyway whilst out with Henry how could either of us stay away from the waterside? It's in our DNA. Henry to investigate and your faithful blogger has always been drawn to water, so it was inevitable on Monday that on our return home from a walk by the river our eyes caught sight of a splendid brown trout already on station.
What was on the menu? Damned if I could tell, but there it was, perfectly poised, ready for anything that drifted over and took its fancy. A very encouraging sight.
More encouragement came again today, Wednesday, when wandering down the river Henry and I disturbed a Heron, which was standing well out from the opposite bank on some nice gravelly shallows. What was Nog after? An easy meal methinks! The wild rainbow trout are on their redds now and there on the other side of the river, just where we had seen Nog, was a distinctive, cleanly-scraped patch of gravel. All Nog had to do was wait until the rainbow trout were very preoccupied by each other and throwing a little of their usual caution to the winds. Much easier to spear. Nog has to eat. The more cautious fish will avoid the Heron's spear of a beak and that is Nature's way...
Regular Rod
It's always worth the effort to take a closer look at a nice stream. I've always been fond of water too and all it's inhabitants not just the trout but also the insects that it thrives on. This stream looks lovely! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWater's looking very nice.
ReplyDeleteHeron are actually amazing predators. They catch a lot more fish than people realize.
ReplyDeleteA sure sign that Spring is here; rainbows on the redd and herons standing by. Thanks Rod.
ReplyDeleteRecently there are a lot more heron than in previous years which means that the food source for them is abundant. So seeing heron fishing in our local rivers is a really good sign
ReplyDeleteIt most certainly is a very good sign. On our local stretch of the Derbyshire Wye we seem to have more fish now, in a greater variety of sizes than I can remember since first fishing here in 1969!
DeleteI think we're all starting to get 'anglers itch', can you get ointment for it? Spring is a lot later this year if my frog pond is any barometer. 2011 spawn on 18th March, 2012 spawn 8th March, 2013 - nothing yet! On the urban Don I have also seen brown trout moving on to the regular feeding lies so fingers crossed. Thanks for the regular blogs - I really enjoy the observations
ReplyDelete