Yesterday I bought some maggots and walked a stretch of a local river. It looked pretty good, fairly clear and not a raging torrent. The afternoon was fresh and the ground firm with a little snow remaining in the shaded furrows of the fields. A lapwing called and wheeled, a hare sprang up and ran away, a small flock of duck on the river seemed to comprise of a couple of pairs of mallard and a few more pairs of teal. It was hard to tell as they flew up and round just out of easy viewing distance without binoculars.
I was up for an afternoon session roving with the float rod today. Then morning came and our usual winter weather had returned. Rain and wind. I was expecting a couple of deliveries too, and when they turned up I decided to work on my webshop uploading the new product details (which will go live on Sunday) rather than visit the river. With some of that done I headed to Liverpool to collect some blanks and on my way home I crossed another small river that was well up and charging through in a muddy torrent. I doubt I'd missed much. How long it will take for the rivers to get back into fettle is hard to say, and will depend on how speedily they rise and fall anyway. If it stays fine and mildish, it hit 7C today, I'll take the maggots for an afternoon out over the weekend. Once I've finished updating the webshop and whipping some rods.
