Wolfscotedale (Hook A Duck)

Me and Splash off the Fly Forums had a day on the river yesterday and although the river was a little cloudy, her Majesty (Dove) will soon be returning to good form after the awful summer of late. We started with an hours fishing in the meadow which always proves useful for setting my sights or getting my eye in for some tricky casting along the river below. The surface wasn't boiling but there were enough rings appearing to tickle your dry fly taste buds. Moving on through the valley we managed to take a few trout all off the top as we made our way downstream including a lovely trout being caught by Splash in the pic below. Unfortunately this trout quickly turned into a bar of soap and as I turned my camera on, I found out why he uses the name Splash.

The rising fish slowly disappeared around tea time although as we worked back upstream, we caught a few and missed a few while exploring the pockets and channels in the faster water.

While pouring out my boiling Kelly I heard Splash shout " Shit I've got him" I quickly dropped things in a fluster to see this monster of the deep. The first thing I noticed was a good bend in his rod, then I followed down his fly line and noticed his fish had wings that began to flap and splash about. Hook a Duck! he'd caught one alright, and I'm pleased to say he landed and returned the bird without any harm. This bird had the courtesy to pose for a pic before swimming off over to the other bank and throwing daggers at Splash for a while, he did return to his usual business after he'd stopped sulking. On a serious note this is another good reason to use barbless hooks and although this bird needed to be landed the barbless hook dropped out in the net and if you were lucky the hook may drop out earlier but one thing for sure is although a rare incident it can happen.

It was good to get back out on the river and especially with good company and although the fishing wasn't blistering, we managed a few fish and a lot of laughs.