Cold spring days on the river
This short video clip shows how acrobatic the early season browns of the River Hodder can be.
Although this March caught specimen was not huge in size it leapt clear of the water about half a dozen times, fighting hard all the way to the net before I popped it back to grow some more.
Taken on my standard light line gear and tiny dry flies these colourful fish are wonderful sport indeed.
The main stay of early season flies is usually the Large dark olive (Baetis rhodani) which obliges the angler with good sport around lunch time. Hatches of this drab insect are a very welcome sight on cool March days when little else stirs the water's surface.
Fighting fight and gorgeously marked in red and gold - that's the treasure of the Hodder's rich bounty