Every winter I dream of this time of year- long blue sky days, gentle winds and steady drifts with enough fish to keep us all happy……And then the reality kicks in as anothers summers promise is drowned out again- who’d be an angling guide!!. As you might have seen or heard on the news we had a months rain in 24 hours over the weekend and once again the lakes and rivers were over their banks. I had been down in West wales catching mullet with Tiny and actually enjoyed four days of sunshine but the journey northwards told its own tale with rivers bank high and brown the whole length of Britain. Back in Cumbria I went to Bassenthwaite to check on the Doghouse but couldn’t reach it as the lake was 9’ above normal. Derwentwater was a mere 7 feet up and the rivers equally high. Poor Matt healey up for his annual break had to suffer very difficult conditions. He should hire his services as a bad weather wizard to the tribesmen of the Kalahari Desert. It didn’t help matters when I suggested swinging a sculpin pattern through a deep pool tail. Demonstrating the cast and the twitch n pause retrieve, the rod hooped over and the trout in the main picture was on the end. Profuse apologies from yours truly. ” doing an Eric” Tiny calls it but it does happen, sorry Matt. Some good perch showing up though as always at this time of year which bodes well for the next few months. I’ll be running a few youngsters sessions for local anglers during the summer hols so give me a call if your son or daughter wants to join a small group of would be experts. Nominal costs and all the kit provided. Here in Keswick we have a thriving young angler population and its good to help them along the way. After all they are the future of the sport and deserve all the encouragement we can offer. Beyond that, there are some great salmon coming in off the Eden with more than a few twenty pounders amongst them and there’s a few biggies showing up on the Derwent system as well. All we need is this rain to stop for a while..please. Mind you, if the weather does improve we’ll be back to talk of drought orders and hosepipe bans. As I said at the start… Who’d be an angling guide!!!

Another embarrasing moment!

Urban wilderness Mullet. Great fighters

I love big perch. Almost a four pounder