The season opened on the Wednesday the 20th March and the weather on the weekend looked good so I decided to buy my season ticket and have a throw even though the temperature wasn’t forecast to get above 7 ºC and there would be a cool northerly wind. While I was mindful of the old proverb
Wind from the West, fish bite the best.
Wind from the East, fish bite the least.
Wind from the North, do not go forth.
Wind from the South blows bait in their mouth.
The reality is that I wasn’t sure when next I would get a chance with family and work commitments and for me it is always about the day out as much as anything else. The car park looked like a bad omen, a party that had got out of hand had obviously been held here over the winter with the accompanying litter, clothing and smashed glass, including what seemed to be car window safety glass and a burnt car tyre. I made a mental note to bring some gloves and a litter bag on my next visit. It was chilly, especially when the sun disappeared behind the clouds but there were some sunny spells that gave me hope that this would get some life moving in the lakes and provide an opportunity for sport. The walk in wasn’t as wet as I thought it might be and gave me more hope as the fox moth caterpillars were out and moving and the ponds were full of frog spawn. Spring had certainly come to the high fells.
While I tackled up at the shooting box I could see the odd ring on the surface of Gamallt Bach, there was clearly something hatching. I had decided to start on Bach as the conventional wisdom is that it warms up earlier than Mawr owing to its size and morphology. That said the water temperature was a cold 8 ºC at 10 cm depth and not any warmer than the shallow areas of Mawr from what I could tell. I was cold wading for any length of time.
Once I got down to the waters edge it was apparent what was drifting into the margins borne on the northerly wind. There were loads of tiny midges of maybe a millimetre in size, occasional gnat and and even more occasional stonefly. No matter what flies I tried, dry at first then wet, my long standing blank on bach continued. Mawr was better once I switched to PTN and flash back GRHE patterns but nothing got as far as the net which was disappointing. The water was clear and when the sun shone wading in the light peat stained water was easier and I found some really interesting places where you could walk out on shelves quite far into the lake. I was the only person there all day, well I did hear a dog off in the distance and saw wellie boot marks on the walk out so somebody else had walked by during the day but the peace and serenity was simply astounding. I filled my energy tank with 6 hours of that goodness before calling it quits and heading home to the midlands.
Tight lines
Greg
