Last Gasp

A few hours to pass between hospital visiting hours - so with a mild and still afternoon it was time for another attempt at catching my first trout.

Signs looked good on arrival, lots of fish splashing around and a couple of guys on their way home with eight fish each.

However two hours, several sandwiches, a chocolate bar and most of my patience later, all I had to show was one fish that had followed the fly to the bank and then zoomed off when it spied me.

Finally, with four minutes left of the fishery opening hours, the line stopped dead halfway through the retrieve. After a good runaround (where I almost tipped myself and camera into the water) a beautiful rainbow trout was in the net.

For the fish it was a lucky day. Such is my lack of trout catching skill I only paid for the cheaper 'catch & release' permit, on the expectation of another fishless day. So Mr trout avoided the frying pan and got to scoot off into the lake again, after a few photos.

An improbably mild evening now. Bats in February, and after last weeks' big freeze?!