Not happy

[John Aston]

In 2020 we lost April and half of May , thanks to Covid Regulations proscribing fishing . I had high hopes for 2021 but last fly fished the river on 9 April. April was ruined by no rain, piercing sun, icy north winds , overnight frost , occasional snow and pitifully low levels . May is the nicest month of my fly fishing year , in fact it is the nicest month of the year full stop . A welcome change in wind direction , much milder(if still cool ) and rain improved prospects immeasurably - but as so often happens these days the weather has got stuck - so every day sees a sunny start followed by yet more torrential downpours.

Result -my river has been unfishable all month , and wasn't worth fishing last month. I honestly cannot remember a worse start. And while some feisty rainbows on stillwater have offered some relief. I am now pining for my river trout fishing to start in earnest . Having seen the weather forecast I may now have to seek counselling ...

 

[theartist]

Down here we've just had our first proper rain for over a month, the rivers seem to be staying up for now due to the winter rainfall but the ground was a dust bowl and cracks in the soil were more like late august, some trees had tinges of yellow despite it being spring. There also much more weed this year due to the clear waters and the dry weather, which does look amazing although not to sure about the amount of algae already which could be problematic come summer.

Shame we can't swap as the chalk streams down here rarely get too coloured even when it does eventually rain.

 

[sam vimes]

so every day sees a sunny start followed by yet more torrential downpours.

I decided to chance my arm going out this afternoon. The forecast was up to 30% chance of light showers between 1500 and 1900. What actually happened was a downpour from 1600 to 2000. What fun.