04/10/2012 - North Esk

Really doesn't get much better

Time - 1715-1830
Weather - Pleasant enough
Water - Dropping back towards normal
Method - Mepp 2
Total - 3
Species - Brown Trout 11.5, 9.5 & 8 inches

With the end of the trout season looming large I've been looking to cover as many of my favourite haunts as possible. Firstly to catch fish quite obviously. But also to have a last recce of the river before the close season when I'm much less likely to see it as the winter weather and any spates or floods reshape the river and some of its pools. Always quite an interesting time when the new season begins and I see what improvements and damage has been done (for me anyway).

First of the session

The Mavisbank stretch of the North Esk down behind Loanhead is usually very accommodating for me. But my sortie was also a preparatory investigation into the likelihood of my chances for the following day when I would be taking H around a few of my preferred beats. I was immediately into a fish in the stretch just below the road bridge of 8 inches which obviously bode well not just for the remainder of the session, but also my forthcoming expedition the next day.

Tubby

Moving down to the weir I was quite surprised to see how clear of debris it was since my last visit. Obviously the high water of the last month or so had moved a lot of the logs and suchlike. Surprisingly and annoyingly the elements had also obliterated the run below the pool at the foot of the weir. Earlier in the season I was getting a hit pretty much every cast by casting across and looping the spinner back across the current. Today it was basically unfishable.

Unfortunately I didn't have any previous pics of the weir, so I made sure I took a couple for future comparings.

Left bank of the weir

At the foot of the weir there was enough water to make most of it fishable despite the usual one or two underwater obstacles to avoid. The next fish to join me on the bank was a hard fighting 11 incher followed quickly by a nice 9.5 incher. All were in excellent condition.

Moving further downstream I enticed a lot more interest but couldnt hook any of the blighters and finished quite happy with my tally of 3 in a reasonably short time. H should be in for a treat on Friday.

And the right bank too