Opening day - early morning on the Windrush

June 16th has been a magical day since I took up fishing aged 10 or so - even more magical than the previous day, June 15th, which is my birthday.  For the next few years after I was 10, I would have new fishing tackle for my birthday and could try it out the next day.  There was the year I got my first "Avon" rod from Billy Lane's tackle shop in Coventry.  Or the year I got a Mitchell 300 reel (which I still have - not sure about the rod though).  This tradition of fishing-related presents has even continued this year - one of my presents was Matt Hayes' book Fisheye: A Guide to Angling Photography.

So the alarm goes off at 3:30 this morning and I can hear the sound of rain.  Not huge amounts, but some.  I am up and out of the house by 4:00, for a shortish session on the Windrush.  My goal is to catch a barbel, which is really quite a foolish plan.  For one thing, the Windrush barbel stocks have been decimated over the last dozen years or so - indeed, I haven't caught one since 1996.  But, on the other hand, there was also the issue of river height.  The constant rain in June has pushed the rivers up.  The Windrush is a thick chocolate colour at the moment.  This suggested that chub, my main quarry, might be very hard as well. 

Over the last few days, I have baited four swims that regularly produced barbel in the distant past and by 4:30 I was settled in the first.  Conditions were worse than I had thought.  The flow was very fast and there was quite a lot of debris coming down.  I was constantly getting taps on the rod time and the occasional stronger looking pull which would turn out to be a clump of weed.  I moved swims every 20 minutes or so without any sign of a real bite. 

However, in the second swim I fished I did see an otter for about 4 seconds and this had appeared in the background on the video I shot.  Otters are one of the main reasons for the demise of the Windrush as a fishery and so I have rather mixed feelings about seeing one.  This is actually the second I have seen this year.  Most people will never see a wild otter, so there is some pleasure in seeing this one.

I also scared a heron that was only a few yards from me when we came across each other.  They are surprisingly big birds when you meet one close up!  I am still very keen to get some good, close-up video footage of herons.

One effect of the trip was to produce my worst hayfever attack of the year so far, with my right eye in particular being really badly affected.  I have bought some stronger eye drops - it would help if I wasn't tempted to keep rubbing it!

So because it was the glorious 16th, and because I have a small clip of an otter, I have made a video from today's trip.  Going forward, I am not sure there is too much point posting film of blanks, but maybe if something interesting does happen . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdEcbLOd8qk&feature=plcp