River Day on the Swale

By

Robbie Bell

Sunday the 28th of October saw us on the Swale for another Rivers Development Day. Turnout was a little bit disappointing with only stalwarts Andy Croucher, Tony Hoggart, Graham Lumsden together with myself enjoying a fabulous Autumn Day and some great fishing.

Andy, Graham and myself decided to stay at a local hotel on the Saturday evening where we enjoyed a nice meal and with an hour back on the clocks perhaps more beer than the R.D.A.

Never mind the crack was good with much talk of our hoped for return trip to Colorado in October 2007.

We had a fantastic time there this year and we are sure we can have an even better trip next time.

One of the highlights of the stay at the hotel was our waiter.

He was straight from the Basil Fawlty school of customer service!

It wasn’t a case of "Good morning Gentlemen ..would you like Tea or Coffee with your Breakfast?" more like "TEA OR COFFEE!!!!"

One lady who asked for Brown Sauce was informed that

" I’ll have to search the WHOLE Hotel for Brown Sauce!!"

He even told us the night before after having a starter and a main course that we were "TOO LATE FOR A SWEET"

It might sound strange but he was so rude and eccentric that it was actually funny.

Never mind Sunday morning saw us meet up with Tony and on an absolutely gorgeous Autumn day we tackled up and headed for the river. Tony had a fantastic morning catching a shed load of Grayling on a double nymph set up with Graham and Andy also getting amongst them on a similar method. I was fishing Czech Nymph Style and met with only limited success. After a meet up at lunch time I decided to tag along with Tony to check out his style of nymphing. He explained to me how he was fishing and then said there was always a Brownie under the bridge. Sure enough he got him on the second or third cast.

Tony then fished up a long run and I followed him up trying to copy his method. Unfortunately the fish were now not co-operating. I decided to change back to classic Czech Style and met with almost instant success. After catching about five or six Tony came back downstream and I went through my method with him. So we both ended up catching fish and learning from each other which really is the name of the game.

All this in a nicely dropping river with warm sunshine on our backs.

By now Tony’s leaking waders were getting to him and he decided to pack in and head back to the car park. I walked back with him and we had a good chat and compared notes on flies and leader set ups.

After saying our goodbyes I headed downstream to meet up with Andy and Graham.

Myself and Andy ended up fishing a run and catching roughly the same amount of fish on two different methods and on different flies. Sometimes the fish want it only one way but at others any good method will get them. That’s Fishing…..

Unfortunately my day ended a bit prematurely!

I was wading up a strong run when Andy hooked a good Grayling ten yards in front of me. With my attention diverted I stumbled slightly on a rock. The fast water developed this stumble into a Military Two Step and this was immediately followed by the forward dive with half pike!

After a moment of panic when the buoyancy in my waders stopped me getting my legs down I remembered the famous Hugh Falkus video and rolled on to my back and was able to stand up.

I’m blaming Andy! Ha Ha

Never mind nothing lost except time and I always carry a spare set of clothes when river fishing so I made my way back to my vehicle to get some dry kit on 

I must admit however, that changing my wet underpants in a busy car park was a bit of nerve racking challenge!

A short time later Andy and Graham returned and after we had a further exchange of notes and another chuckle at the waiter Andy set off home. Graham, who had a couple of days leave came back to Berwick on Tweed to stay with me.

The next day found the two of us on Coldingham Loch.

Coldingham is a 22 acre water which sits on a limestone outcrop and is spring fed. This produces clear water and fantastic insect life. It is like a minature Rutland.

The weather forecast was not good and so we found ourselves alone with the whole Loch to fish . Conditions turned to be a lot better than forecast and we ended up having a splendid day drifting the entire Loch.  Sixteen good rainbows came to the boat on a variety of methods and we ended the day with a small flurry of fish in the fading light.

All in all a excellent weekend with good fishing, great company and a comedy waiter thrown in for free.

Andy Croucher with a good grayling.