First day, new stretch

So last Sunday was my first day on the NAC stretch of the River Nidd. I was pretty keen to get out on the river, as most of us were after the terrible condition over the past year. To be honest, the day could've gone better....

1. I got 20 minutes down the road before I realised I'd left my membership card, parking ticket, fly vest and all my fly boxes, tippets and leaders at home.

2. I accidently chose the wrong road name on the sat nav and drove to the middle of nowhere meaning a 40 minute drive now took 1hr 30 (not including the turn around to get my gear).

3. I realised when I finally got the the river I'd left my full coffee pot at home and I was gagging for a cup.

4. I blanked. I'm not that bothered about this, as I rose three fish under poor conditions, but I was a little annoyed at how rusty I'd got as I rose three and missed them all!

Conditions weren't great, around 8 degrees air temperature, maybe 4 in the water (legs went numb at one point while targeting a sporadic riser). Had tied a few CdC olive patterns in anticipation for a hatch, which obliged at around 1.30pm. Nothing major, just a trickle of small olives. Speaking of identifying upwings, read Oliver Edwards article in FFFT this month, very interesting.

Rose the fish using a klinkhamer, no interest using the upwings. In total I think I saw around 10 dimples in the space of 2 hours, which isn't bad considering. Absolutely no interest in any of the nymphs I tried, had some baetis imitations on, a tungsten PTN flashback, striped quill nymph (from barbless flies - very good!).

Saying this, it was still a great day getting back out. It's a cliche heard a lot but I still love being on the river in beautiful surrounding, catching fish is the bonus. It's also a great stretch of river, tricky casting with alot of over hanging branches and trees common to the Nidd which meant I was casting over the wrong shoulder or left handed most of the day. Good practise though!

All in all, things could've gone smoother, but I am heading back this Sunday (15-18 degrees apparently!) so I'm hoping I'll be casting better...and I'll remember everything this time, fingers crossed.

Picture above is where some smaller fish were rising. Standing at 45 degrees to them I had to cast over the wrong shoulder to avoid getting hooked up into the tree behind, and side cast to keep in under the branches seen above. A bit tricky to say the least!

Tight lines to all out this weekend.