18 April 2008

Our trout season in north-west England begins on March 15, but in only two of the past 28 years has that date been warm, with a light wind. This year started typically cold and wet and, as I write on April 18, the cold continues. This is, beyond doubt, the coldest first month of a trout season that I have known. There has been no respite whatsoever.

I have visited the Dove, Ribble and Hodder a total of six times, counted a grand total of 71 large dark olives, seen five trout rise and caught four of them. If the cold easterly wind should stop blowing then we would be in with a better chance.

Better news. I was talking with James Norris a couple of days ago. The Eden is in the middle of a great run of sping salmon, with several over the 20-pound mark. So it looks as if Atlantic survival and feeding has been good over the last year. Therefore, those of us who fish later rivers, like the Hodder, Lune, Derwent and Nith might be in for another great season. As I wrote in the magazine a few months ago, if you have never fished for salmon and fancy a go, this year should be as good as any since the 1960s.

Last night, the Hodder Consultative, a collection of the riparian owners on the Hodder and EA, had our Falkus Memorial Evening. The turn out was magnificent. Mike Harding (the ‘Rochdale Cowboy’), who is a keen trout fly-fisher, gave us a hilarious performance and we must have raised a fair wodge of spondulicks for the river. Because of the decline in sea trout runs, the Consultative is supporting the wild spawning with some hatchery eggs that will be released later as smolts. It is also working hard at improving spawning and nursery habitat in the Hodder valley. Does you river have a similar body? If so, give it your 100% support.

I will be back with you in a fortnight...but please God, can we have some warmth!

Malcolm Greenhalgh