Wes came along on this fishing trip. Steak and egg breakfast, and we were on the river by 11:30hrs or so.

The plan was to fish the same stretch of water, and for Wesley to learn about the Sawyer PT nymph technique. We started in Beck Pool, and I demonstrated the powers of flotation administered from the Mucilin tin. Sure enough, on BP's placid waters, the floating leader was plain to see. We had one rise (leader draw down, which is not really a rise, so I'll refer to a leader draw down as a "bite", and a surface disruption as a "rise") but no further action in Beck Pool. BP has been very disappointing this year. I think it is one of the areas that gets fished a little more than the rest of the river. Still snagged up in the hazel branches is a 2 inch devon minnow and 6 feet or so of 10lb line. For this spinner to have been lost here, it is likely that it was cast from the other side of the river, i.e. the bankside next to the little beck. Whether or not this method would catch fish in here I don't know, but what it does mean is that the pool has been poached, or at least visited with the intent to poach, and I suspect that other methods have been used (maggots & worms).

I fished the next pool, rising a fish, and catching 2 small ones in the nice rapids there. I then made my way upto the curved pool where I had been broken off by that big fish the last 2 trips. Unfortunately, I never got to fish it, as I saw Scrutters standing next to where the big fish ought to have been.

We fished a little further up the river, and then chanced upon the foundation of a new game called Tag.

We started off fishing together; one person casting, the other nearby. Whenever the caster got snagged up, the other took over to cast. The beginnings of this game were rooted in the situation whereby the angler whose "turn" it was to fish, got snagged up near to where the fish were, and not on a back cast. When the angler gets snagged up near to the fish, the other angler starts fishing, until it is possible for the snagged up angler to retrieve his fly without spooking the fish upstream.

Naturally, we sensed an excellent game, and started refining the rules.

So, it is a 2 player game, each has his rod, reel, line and flies. Each is responsible for maintenance of his equipment and flies. At any given moment, there must only be one player actually fishing. Players changeover casting and non-casting whenever a tag is called. The 2 players must work upstream very close to each other so as:

1) the non caster can see when the caster has committed a "taggable offence".

2) that the new caster can take up casting almost immediately the tag has been called.

3) the non-caster must not impede the caster, nor should he scare the fish.

Tags are awarded if the following applies, and results in a changeover of casters:

1) snagged up in trees or any other obstacle, both in or out of the water.

2) Three missed rises or bites.

3) One hooked fish.

4) Perhaps a time limit imposed too, yet to be determined? Maybe as little as 10 to a maximum of 30 mins of fishing time.

Whoever is casting sets the pace of movement upstream, however, "marching" upstream to top spots is disallowed, as the river must be covered fairly.

Points are awarded 1 for each fish landed. Whoever has the greater amount of points wins the match.

For the season's league table, 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss.

Anyway, I'll expand on the Tag game in a forthcoming website special bulletin. It could be an option to organise Tag2001 Tournament for next season. If split into home and way legs, each player should have to play a minimum of 8 tournament days. Home legs are at the chosen location of the "home" player. Obviously, this game is not suitable for lake fishing or even open river fishing. It is best suited to the tricky waters that have a lot of surrounding vegetation.>>

The angling for the day resulted in an aggregate of 21 fish, of which Wesley got 9 (8 trout and 1 grayling). All fish were taken on home tied PT nymphs. Casualties were quite high, about 7 flies were lost (including one fly that Scrutters just clumsily dropped into the water), and a further 7 were severely maimed by the trouts' teeth.

We saw a mink in one of the pools below the s bends, and just above the bankside pool. This creature had obviously scared off the trout, as we saw none rising in the vicinity.

There were plenty of duns, spinners and sedges flying around, and the trout were eating them wherever they got the chance.

The weather was excellent, quite free of wind and not cold and no sign of rain.

Just 2 more weekends of fishing left in the season. I keep my fingers crossed for good weather.

MPDM/18.09.00