My rod from Steve Parton was long overdue a christening and last night the thought of that forced me up to the Dove when the weather was really telling me otherwise. Showers in Derby soon became persistent rain as I went west along the A50 but after being in all weekend needed a few lungfulls of fresh air without the kids bending my ear or the dog requiring attention.It was blowing up the Dove valley and I could see the squalls passing over the bridge at Ellastone, ah well in for a penny as they say. The rod cast like a dream and is incredibly light. I have been fishing with a Snowbee 9' ZR2 for a while and although the Sparton is only 6" shorter it felt like I was fishing a 7'6" rod so really pleased with it. Only one small brownie came to hand and I dropped another fish off, both on nymphs. Good news then as it did not start out life with a blank and I'll look forward to some more hopefully productive sessions with it.
Balsam has sprung up with a fury at Ellastone this season so I pulled up a few clumps and would ask other anglers on the stretch to do the same. The exit from fording the millstream near the bridge was almost entirely choked with the damn stuff for those who know the beat.
Well done for getting out. The balsam seems to be very widespread this year, perhaps to do with the early warmth. I try to pull some every time I go out but I could do it all day on the Wytham and not make much of a dent!
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteI know of Steve Parton, what rod did you get from him? Most or all of his blanks are uk made I gather Harrison?
Richard,
ReplyDeletehttp://derbyangler.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-new-river-rod.html
Regards,
Dave.