I was getting over a persistent cold and regretted not feeling well enough to go to the river last Tuesday, as it was a glorious day. Today wasn’t that bad either, but when I got to the river it was racing down and muddy brown. It must have been at least four feet above the summer level.

I started at what I call the beach, but the beach wasn’t there today as it was under water. However, the beach is on the inside of a bend so there was some slacker water near the edge. I also knew the bottom was gravel so it seemed a good place to start.

Unfortunately all that happened was I kept getting debris hitting the line and building up. I persevered for a while but other than a good view of a kingfisher flitting about along the far bank, there was absolutely nothing doing.

I was wearing my new roving jacket that I bought on offer from Fishtec. It has pockets everywhere and today I only had the jacket and a small bag for bait, food and drink, making myself very mobile. I decided to walk upstream to the footbridge trying any likely looking eddy or slack on the way. To be honest even the ‘slacks’ were boiling a bit with the weight of the water and I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t get a touch. The problem was that these eddies and slacks were over what normally would be grass on the river bank, which isn’t a particularly good bottom to fish a bait on. I decided, therefore, to go back to where I started and keep trying the gravel beach as it seemed likely that if the fish were going to feed anywhere, it would be there.

Well, my logic may have been good, but nobody told the fish, and it became clear that the conditions weren’t likely to reward me. I’ve never done well when the water is coloured, and have noted in the past that the fish have gone quiet when the upstream sluice is opened in the summer, letting through coloured water.

I decided, therefore, to call it a day at around noon. A pleasant couple of hours by the water and a new experience, as I’ve not seen the river in this condition before: but no fish.