With the hot days of late – and we have made the most of all four of them ! It has felt a little like proper summer and we have even had a few summer fish into the bargain. Out with a group of west Cumbrian youngsters on one of the recent junior anglers days over at Taylor Lawsons Brigham coarse fishery we roasted in blazing sunshine on the main pond. In spite of really hot conditions everyone caught a fish or two. Mostly these were Roach, Rudd and skimmers but a drop with a single maggot in a tree lined corner doing a demo with the float rod and reel rather than the 3m poles the youngsters were fishing with, resulted in a sail away bite and a lesson in how to play a big fish on four pound line and a size 14 hook! Thanks to a lot of luck and a carp angler with a big net we managed to get the 17b mirror on the bank. Great inspiration for the lads and lassies and a whole lot of fun for the man on the rod…who knows…I might be tempted to take up carp fishing..After all I have bought a boille rig kit, learned to tie a knotless knot and even taken to watching thinking tackle on sky telly without falling asleep………. Out on the lakes the pike are switching on a bit more now as summer days begin to shorten a little. We had a fifteen pounder on a fly off Bassenthwaite the other day and lost a very big fish, again to the fly on Derwentwater the previous day. One of those slow positive takes followed by a deep, steady unstoppable run towards deep water before the hook came adrift followed by some very restrained muttering. Judging by the bend in the trusty LPXE fly rod it was a good top end double and maybe even bigger. Talking of fly fishing we have had some great days on the river recently with surprisingly good hatches of pale wateries and small sedges bringing fine conditioned trout to the top in hectic mid morning sessions. Very civilised and a welcome surprise to an angler more used to evening activity at this time of year. Killing pattern has been Erics Half Arse but in very small sizes. Looking ahead, as the days shorten the perch will continue to give great sport- Ian G had a three pounder last week as part of a great catch of perch and roach and we lost a couple bigger ones as well. These should continue to feed well up to the first frosts. And of course there are the salmon to look forward to. The Eden in particular has been having a bumper season which bodes very well for the back end sport……My thumbs are tucked in…all I have to do now is find a new winter mooring for Windermere and the job is well sorted. For now though, Tarra, and I hope your line is as tight as ours are.

Eric

Inspiration on a size 14

Another good one for Tom Mc George

Derwentwater Perch on a jig