Having not been out over the weekend due to weather and other commitments I felt the need to go out to fish last night despite the rain squalls. A chap beat me to my chosen beat, but he seemed unprepared for the weather!

However I was down by the river by 6.30pm, in my waders, under the tailgate and sheltering from a downpour!  Noticeably cooler, there was still evidence of fly life but no fish rising, or least that I could distinguish from the rain drops. When the rain stopped I was able to tempt 4 trout and 2 grayling with my olive-bodied klinkhammer as I worked my way upstream. The larger of the 2 grayling, despite being very pretty, refused to pose for the obligatory photo by leaping to freedom.

The other highlight of the evening was the appearance, as the light went, of a very large dragonfly, which I took for a bat initially until I could see its double wings. It was zipping around the bankside vegetation and back and forth over the river catching flies, midges, in midair. It can just be made out in the following pictures but what you won’t be able to see is that was at least 4” long! So large I could hear its wings fluttering. By this time, around 10.15pm, there was no sign of further rises so it was time to go home