The bank holiday weekend has historically been devoted to the fishing needs of the other half and as such usually involves a hideous car journey to and from the river.

On arrival, one is then greeted by hundreds of flabby flip-floppers, lighting barbecues and inflating dinghies bought from the Summer Section of the local supermarket. If you hadn’t already guessed, I’m not a fan.

Having voiced my concerns, we both agreed that we would “sit this one out” as the TV weathermen were predicting ‘record breaking’ bank holiday conditions…again.

 

As I smugly settled down for a weekend of inactivity, I got a ‘Hail Mary’ call from Nigel, the owner of the Tufton arms hotel up in Appleby. Due to a health issue he was unable to guide his two clients and wondered if could I possibly help him out?
Permission granted, I headed up to Cumbria to meet the couple in question, beginners Anne and Dinesh.

 

After the short walk the town stretch of the Appleby Eden, I was amazed to see rising fish so we hurriedly got Nigels pre assembled spider rigs into the water. Although there were a few half hearted plucks at the flies I felt we needed a slightly different approach.
The change to a small nymph brought some savage and largely unexpected takes that sadly, we weren’t able to convert into netted fish.

 

As the sun got higher, the river got busier and the reason for the early fish activity became apparent… they knew what was coming!
Dog walkers threw sticks and balls into the water to cool their dogs down; several of the locals held what appeared to be the annual stone skimming championships and one family set up a beach wind breaker and took periodic swims in between their snacks.

This increased waterside activity didn’t help the fishing and so reluctantly, it was time to move on.

 

The new stretch of river was much more secluded but much less productive and although there were a few more plucks at the flies, we had to be content with the solitude and the sheer beauty of the river Eden.

Considering the challenges, Anne and Dinesh did exceptionally well to catch anything and were really unlucky that they didn’t get one of the larger fish into the net. They did however get to experience Appleby and some of its more colourful residents.