We went further down river today before heading back up slowly, sticking right on the water's edge. The high water has been bountiful.
Here is some of that bounty. A glorious new example of what I believe Bass fishers in the USA call "structure".
Just look at that tangle! It's a veritable thatch! It won't be an easy fishing place but what a brilliant lair for a trout big enough to own it and keep it for itself. Trout like structure. I love it!
Henry is always working. He made a harvest of some of this high water bounty...
His work resulted in the recovery of Seven tennis balls, one football (full size) and two full bottles of floatant! His mouth is too small to hold the football so, after flicking it out of the branches it was caught up in and into the water, he swam across pushing it with the side of his head and shoulder until it was close enough for me to lift it from the water. I'm convinced that we are the lucky "owners" of an extraordinarily intelligent dog. He works all these strategies out by himself!
It will soon be time to bore him to bits as I make him sit quietly whilst I try to catch a fish...
Here in England, last year we had a new law. Instead of getting plastic carrier bags free with our shopping, the law says we have to pay 5p (equivalent to about 7 US cents) per bag. This tiny fee has had an almost miraculous effect on our rivers. Folk eschew the bags they once had for free and instead we now use stronger shopping bags designed with longevity in mind instead of being instantly disposable. This means the previously inexhaustible supply of tree and river hugging plastic bags has all but disappeared.
Old Bag
The river does have lots of man-made flotsam adorning the banks at the high water mark but those damned bags have almost vanished. Today whilst out wandering by the Wye with Henry I came across only one such bag. It was blue with no logo and probably came from a market stall in Bakewell. Infuriatingly it is out of reach to your blogger so it is still there. I'll go down via the left bank next time and see if it can be scraped out with a stick.
Young Bag
Being downstream from a town is not all bad news for Henry. He delights in finding all the balls other dogs lose when their owners chuck them a bit too far and they end up in the river, where their dogs don't fancy a swim...
"Loose!"
The high water as well as bringing flotsam has stimulated the moles into retreating to higher ground. Here in the background is evidence of their flood defences. That larger mound is know as a "fort". It just gives the family a little bit more height and somewhere to remain hidden and drier...
Here's Henry half a mile further upstream with another ball and there behind him is another mole family's "fort".
