Tag: Eden

  • End of the Trout

    Had a day on the Eden, water was low and gin clear so I struggled. Everyone else had the same idea so it was a bit busy. Had one trout on for a few seconds but that was my lot for the day.

    Can’t grumble spending a day on such a beautiful river.

  • Eden 2023

    Notes are a bit sporadic this year on account of buying a house. Didn’t get out as much as I would have liked but there was still some magic out there.

  • Back to reality

    I purposelessly went fishing today in the miserable weather to try and bring myself back to reality after catching that Salmon. It rained for a solid 5 hours which was a bit cold and grim but… I caught another incredible, out of season, clandestine trout, I was buzzed by kingfishers, I saw a salmon leap clear out of the water and I was hissed at by an otter.

    And then I caught a couple of stonking grayling on tungsten bugs. Grayling are such a revelation for me. I never used to dream of catching grayling but now I do, they are majestic and fight like demons. Wriggly, slippery bastards in the net and they look stunning in photographs. I must catch more.

  • Week of dreams

    Picture the scene… it’s the final week of my first wild trout season and I’ve been struggling to catch anything. The river has been low for months and the trout have been incredibly spooky. And then the rains come on strong in mid September and the Eden has lifted for the first time in months.

    The conditions are absolutely primed for lift off but my car is knackered, it’s misfiring and spluttering and there’s coolant leaking into the spark plug wells. F*ck it, get the tampons and the tungsten, we’re going fishin’ 

    What follows is the red letter week we all dream about. Fish in every pool, a river you thought was bereft of fish suddenly comes to life.

  • Popping my Eden cherry

    When my mate at work had a stroke, it got me all panic’d about the meaning of life and worried I’m not spending enough time doing shit I love. And with a tiny trout I just caught on the Ribble in mind I decided to decide join a fishing club and try and do it properly.

    I always thought fishing for wild brown trout was a rich man’s game, all top dollar chalkstream’s and Range Rovers. Turns out that’s bollacks, the North West has some prime trout fishing on proper northern freestone rivers. Just the ticket for a fella like me.

    And so it begins on the Eden. I arrived on the beat early and was immediately blown away.

    There was zero fish caught today but I’m writing this a couple of years later and let’s just say the Eden has provided some incredible moments ever since.