An afternoon on the Dane

I walked the whole stretch today. it was lovely to see the bluebells out. 14 degrees so warmer than the weather man said, and lots of fish were showing up and down the river.

The hatches in the late afternoon sun were quite spectacular. The fly life at the moment is abundant.


































Found a lovely glide below some water falls and many trout were smashing emerging flies. One or two were topping and tailing. It was great to see so much activity.

This large trout came to a Fulling Mill mayfly 'flyline'.

As far as I could tell most of the hatches coming off were olives but there were one or two mayfly coming off and all the fish I landed or missed takes from were whilst fishing a size 12 Fulling Mill Mayfly 'Flyline' (rear of the pic below). I've also stocked up on size 12 Fulling Mill Mohican Mayfly for when the hatches start to be more prolific.


















Quite a bit of the upper Dane is in a very narrow steep valley so quite sheltered. On days like today when the air temperature is quite cool for the time of year, there are quite a few pools that benefit from quite a bit of sun and I think these factors have encouraged long and plentiful hatches where anglers on other local rivers are reporting short sporadic activity.

Anyway, off to enjoy a Caol Ila Distillers Edition 2015 in front of the fire and to reflect on the fishing.

Can't wait to get back on the river!

David