With the season drawing to a close, I had to get another days river fishing in. We have finally had rain in Devon so decided the best place was the lower reaches of the River Exe which another friend, Simon, allows me to fish.
This turned out to be a great weekend with England beating Scotland at rugby. Then on the Sunday, Sandy and I went to Sandy Park (no link there) to see Exeter Chiefs in the semi-final of the Anglo Welsh Cup against Harlequins. Great to see the younger squad members playing so well, and they won 24-7 in style.
We stopped the night so that I could fish the Exe in the morning. It was a hard days fishing. I tried rolling a lead, trotting, swimfeeding, but by 5pm I hadn't had a bite. I had tried maggot, worm, luncheon meat, short leader, long leader all to no avail. The I noticed a little tremble on the rod tip. These didn't develop so I scaled down from a 12 to a size 14 hook and immediately caught what I was after, a 7lb 6oz bream in excellent condition. River bream are so much nicer looking and less snotty. I followed that with a 4oz dace and that was it, no more touches.
It was rewarding having worked so hard for the fish to finally get there. A high note to end the season on, and thanks once again to Simon who I must now owe about a gallon of beer. I also showed the ....... cormorants how to do it too!!