September in Eden...another season draws to a close.

September in Eden saw another season draw to a close. Due to the unprecedented events of 2020 and the early season lockdown due to the Coronavirus outbreak, it's been a much shorter season than normal - and it seems to have flown over! But, compared to August, we finished with a relatively good month and, despite a mix of fluctuating river levels and days of bright sunshine, most who visited Eden managed to get some action.

Leo is into his first trout on the fly

Young Leo and his dad stopped off for their first taste of fly fishing at the start of the month, and they both managed to get a bit of action...which was great, especially for Leo, and hopefully it will have given him the incentive to carry on with our great sport.

A trout from a coloured Eden

Early September saw fluctuating water levels but, luckily, not enough to stop us fishing and all was good for Mike's rescheduled visit. He'd planned an earlier visit to concentrate on the dries, but Covid put paid to that. Surface activity was in short supply, our Autumn flies were refusing to play, so Mike concentrated his efforts sub-surface and his offerings produced action for him, including an Eden PB!

Mike into a fish on his day in Eden

Mike shows off his Eden PB

Mark into his first fish of the day

Mid-September was relatively dry. The rivers were dropping and clearing. But our trout fed well with most of our sport coming to nymphs on the French leader and North Country spiders, although one or two that were introduced to 'The duo' and 'New Zealand dropper' did pull fish to the nymph with the occasional one coming from nowhere for the dry. Steve had his first go at Eden and managed his first grayling and an Eden trout to 'The duo'.

Steve with his first grayling on the fly

Alan brings a fish to the net

Alan was my last client of the trout season. And the best was definitely saved until last, when his first fish of the day was a PB at 3lbs 6ozs and the biggest fish caught by any of my clients this year. We mixed things up on a bright autumn day in Eden and Alan went on to score on the spiders and rise fish to dries. So it was a really positive end to my 2020 trout guiding! Let's hope that the positive vein continues into our winter grayling fishing.

A beautiful 3lbs 6oz Eden trout for Alan

August - another unsettled month in Eden!

August was another unsettled month in Eden! Heavy rain on the evening of the 4th brought our rivers up and we lost a few days whilst they were settling back to a more fishable level. Once they did, we managed ten days of settled weather before rain on the 18th heralded a very unsettled final two weeks!

Mitch is into a fish as Oli watches on

Days were lost but, luckily, not too many and most visitors to Eden managed to get some action. August has never been a month for much in the way of surface action, so most of our efforts were concentrated around sub-surface offerings. Mitch and Oli stopped off for their first taste of fly fishing in our area and, for young Oli, it was his first go with a fly rod. It's great to see youngsters trying our sport and Oli got some action, so hopefully his positive debut will inspire him to try again!

Oli has a trout in the net

It wasn't all positive. We've always associated August with 'dog days' and so it proved at times, with the fish playing hard to get. But, most of the time, hard work prevailed and we got some reward for our efforts. Colin had a tough day when his visit coincided with a more seasonal spell of August weather, but we rang the changes and moved around and managed to get fish to cooperate!

A fish for Colin on a tough day in Eden

Wet weather on the 18th brought a spell of unsettled weather and fluctuating water levels, but it was very welcome. We needed something to perk the fish up and the cooler water temperatures did the trick. Pete was out with me at the beginning of the unsettled spell and he hit it just right, when a few nice fish responded positively to his offerings!

Pete shows off a nice fish!

Beth into her first fish on the fly

The cooler, unsettled weather and water temperatures continued for the remainder of the month and it helped a few newcomers to Eden, and fly fishing, to get their first Eden trout. Harry had an awful day, weather-wise, for his visit. It poured down all day and he ended up fishing a rising river, but the conditions suited the fish, they turned onto the feed and he had a good deal of action before the river peaked and the fish turned off....

Harry with  a nice fish on his river debut

A lift in levels perked the fish up

We have a good selection of rivers in Eden and we can normally find somewhere to fish, but the severe weather blew all the rivers out in the final week of the season. A few days had to be rearranged but, hopefully, not completely lost, just delayed until better times. 

Another nice fish from a high river