Indian Summer

I am always nervous about taking someone fishing to a stretch of river or a lake they have never fished before - I am desperate for them to like a place as much as me, especially when it is somewhere so dear to my heart. I needn't have worried the other day. Even though my guest had paid hard £'s in an Avon Roach Project auction to spend a pampered day on the Golden Scale Club stretch of the Dorset Stour. He enjoyed it from the off!  

Keith from River Reads in Devon was splendid company and it's not every day I get up extra early to go fishing, but Keith had supported a mighty fine cause and I actually arrived early in readiness to show him the river which is unheard of. Ferneyhough Yates would be joining us too, but I knew from experience that we would have the river to ourselves until he turned up in the afternoon. Especially as I knew he would not have got home after his night ramble in the countryside until at least 2am.

The early morning mist was soon burnt off by a warm sun...........one of the last, I fear, of this perfect Indian summer. The spicy aroma of autumn and hint of wood smoke in the air gave a sense of cooler days ahead. The Swallows were grouping in huge numbers and feeding over the meadows and river to prepare for the journey ahead - I thought they had already left, so it was a real bonus to share one last day with them. The river did not disappoint - a wonderful bag of roach, dace, gudgeon, perch, chub and even a couple of jack pike to make Keith think he had hooked a monster was enough to make this day memorable. After a splendid lunch and more dipping of floats we three ended up fishing on either side of the river to enjoy the last rays of the day in the most wonderful of landscapes and in splendid company - real boys fishing as Keith put it and I could not disagree.