River Dhoo - Glen Vine
This river runs just off the back of my house and I've had my eye on it for Tenkara for quite a while. So along comes the evening and I pull on my waders and boots, hang my chest pack over my neck with the net on it's magnetic keeper and wander off down the road to the old railway track that runs parallel to the river.
It's still a 20 minute hike to where I want to start fishing but I can be sure not many people will fish it. Access is not possible by car. On the hoof is the only way in.
What a piece of river though.
Easy casting, foot and half deep with occasional pools around the tree roots. Water weed in patches to provide cover and undercut banks. What more could a fish want for?
Well I for one could want for a mosquito net hat and a bath in 100% DEET. The black plague is evil. I'm breathing through my teeth to try and filter out some breathable air. It was early evening and the sun was not long off dipping below the tree line at the valley sides.
Most of the fishing was into the bright sun low in the sky which made casting and seeing the line very hard indeed.
Fish? ... There must be fish here somewhere. It's hard going. I see rises in the distance, but by the time I've ninja crawled up the bank to have a cast they seem to have disappeared. As the light fades I've not risen a single fish and I am sure it is down to stealth.
Perhaps the occasional mad flapping of the arms about my head to repel the midges is giving my position way? I press on and fish some very interesting water but despite seeing plenty of rises I'm not winning.
All is not lost though as I cast blind over some long grass and the watch one of the orange sections half way up the line suddenly dart in-line towards the water. Flick of the wrist and a fish is on! Without the contrast I don't think I'd of seen it with a solid colour or clear line.
It's only a little chap but as you see it was definitely getting darker. After a few casts at a very large rise just below a foot bridge I decide to call it a night. Instead of retracing my steps back to the easy gate out of the field I decided to push on upstream to the next gate....surely it's not that far.... wrong!
There is loads of interesting water left to fish, but it's just too dark for the camera. I think this will have to be a full days expedition with stealth mode engaged to see if I can tempt any of these very spooky fish from their homes.
Eventually I got home after 3 near heart attacks... pheasants clattering out from under my feet and a heron I had to duck to avoid it's dangling legs. It took nearly twice as long following the river rather than on the railway track. Time to plan the next outing to see if I can crack this little bit of river.
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