It rained heavily last night and the rain continued to fall as I headed out in the late morning to take a look at the river. The weather seems to have been dry for some time now and I was curious to see how the fish would respond to the rainfall. Perhaps the disturbance of the droplets on the surface of the shallow river might animate them a little or, at least, make it a little easier to approach them unseen. I figured one thing was certain, the rain was unlikely to make them any wetter than they already were!
One advantage of visiting the weather when the skies are overcast, or when it raining, is that it is likely that I would have the river to myself. The picnickers and fair weather fishermen would be elsewhere. And this is the way things turned out. For the three hours or so that I stalked the fish I saw nobody else.
The gypsy barbel and carp seem to be very unevenly distributed just now. I walked a fair distance and found longish stretches pretty much devoid of fish. There were even some promising looking pools which I stalked quite carefully and yet saw nothing.
There were plenty of birds about. The skies were full of house martins feeding, perhaps, on midges. On one occasion I saw, high above them, a solitary eagle. A few black winged stilts decided to play a game I normally play with little egrets. This involves the birds enticing me to approach them and get within range to take a reasonable photo and then buggering off just before I can do it.
Close to the confluence of the Rio Grande and the Guadlahorce I saw a big bird fly overhead – a white stork. I don´t recall having seen one on the river before, although I did have the good fortune to come across four or five black storks a few years back when taking my neighbour Kay down to the river. Needless to say, I did not manage to take a photograph of the stork before it was well on its way but it was a real treat just to see it.
The fishing was pretty good. The overcast skies made spotting a little harder but, in the end, I managed to land three barbel and lost a couple more. It seems that the fish in the current at the head of a pool are more likely to take. There are plenty of fish to be seen cruising around, often in small groups but, I suspect, they are not really in the business of feeding even though they may occasionally accept a nymph. The fish at the head of the pool, on the other hand, have made the commitment to hold in the faster water and are actively looking for food conveyed by the current. They also must commit quickly to either accept or reject a nymph and don´t have the luxury of time to examine it.
The skies cleared while I was on the river and the rain eased and later stopped. While I was packing my tackle away I noticed that the clouds had begun to relinquish their hold on the mountains and revealed a smattering of snow which must have fallen in the night.
I am hoping to paint one of these for Harry Abbott. I think I will have my work cut out- look at all those scales!
The little white and black thing is a black winged stilt. He was off before I could get any closer!
Back he goes….
Handsome fish, these.
fishydreams 