Aware of Brian, Stan and Toms tales of the opening weekend, decided on a couple of hours on the afternoon Mon. 17th. The river was low, clear and bloody cold, although the days are sunny I wonder if it has anything to do with the severe overnight frosts and freezing SE wind. Anyway, was at Blandwath bridge for 1.30pm and decided to start in the deep pool downstream of the bridge. As I got out of the car, a mink crossed the road in front of me and went along the bank downstream,towards Musgrave.

I'm keen but not a martyr and managed about 2 and a bit hours before I couldn't feel my fingers. One tentative take on a gold head pheasant tail was all I had to show for my efforts. There were the occasional fish rising but they were in the runs under the riverside trees and bushes and my skills didn't strech to putting a fly where the fish were. What were the highlights of the session? Well I managed to keep my losses down to about 3 flies in the trees, several redshank and a kingfisher in full breeding plumage and I've found the tree stump where the mink have made a den or whatever those verminous creatures lairs are called, but tomorrows another day and I live in hope.