And indeed it was a wonderful day to be on the river, though a beach towel and sun cream would have been a more appropriate armoury on certain parts of the river. Thankfully Anglo-Belgian relations remained amicable as there’s always plenty of room for everyone on this Riviera.
The river at Middle rose also by 5-7 cm so fish were a little unsettled.
Understandably fishing was patchy, though Gaetan managed to haul seven fish out of Pashas in the morning before the sun moved round and came into play. This made for a well earned role reversal with his partner (fishing) Tim P who still shot better than par for the day.
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| Ura keeps and eye on Gerard |
Having finished with camp affairs in the morning, I bumped into a well tanned but fishless Stefano M and Joseph C heading down Generator. They went onto Party and before long I could hear whooping and hollering as they each hooked into fish, landing one each and losing another.
This seemed to be the theme for the day with small pods of fish moving about the river providing brief periods of sport.
At the end of the day I found Ian S and Doug U collating a Varzuga themed fly box for their long time guide Sasha who's worked hard all week to keep them in fish. This will doubtlessly be very well received and I for one had to put my Velcro gloves away at the sight of it!
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| Lucky lad |
As is ever the case with high summer fishing anywhere you go, those who pick their hours wisely (or fish every available one!) will be justly rewarded. Peter W has been up at four every morning this week and every day has moved or lost a fish in Generator before breakfast…. This morning it was landed and I can only imagine the satisfaction; or is it relief?!
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| Early doors fish |
More of the same to start with today at Middle, though a pretty cloudless sky with a warm wind has been replaced by some very welcome cloud and a drop of rain. It feels fishy!
The headwaters at Pana had risen 3” by yesterday morning and coupled with the bright weather produced a very tough day with only a couple of fish to show for their endeavours.
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| Hitch fish |
Kitza battled on with seven for their day.
Here's hoping for a different theme tomorrow,
Oli Shuldham
