I'm scared of the dark and the bats... so I got up at stupid o'clock this morning to fish the Don in the early morning light. 02.22 to be precise. Was on the river by shortly after 3am. Cold, but still. No fish showing that I could see. Ah well, picked up a handful of small things. Had a pleasant breakfast by a weir, and watched a poor wee swan with a dodgy wing.
Hugh Falkus can stick his night-time sea trout fishing... After a kip, a coffee, another coffee... went back out for a few hours this afternoon... loads of small fishes... then one cracking sea trout nailed me. Fought very deep and dogged for a good time. Most nervous that it would come off, especially as there was a wee crowd watching...
About 22"-24", 3.5-4lb i'd guess. Cock fish, quite a pronounced kype. Couple of pics of the fish in the water; missed the nose off of the net picture (ah, perhaps I'm just keeping the fly a secret...). He went and sulked right at my feet for a bit, so I was able to get some pics of him recovering, before camera shyness forced him to flee. 2.30pm... I could have stayed in bed 11 hours more and still caught it!
iain