Despite the rest of the country being blanketed in snow and ice, the sun is shining in Lifton today. The only hint of harsh weather is a bitterly easterly wind which is freezing the fingers while we fish.
Due to a large dose of rain last week, we have been restricted to tackling Tinhay Lake's trout, but - remarkably - these fish have been rising well to hatches of large black midges.
Earlier last week, Aidan Decadenet managed a brace of fish on a sinking line and Green Pea black lure. One of the fish was most noteworthy - a superbly-conditioned, grown-on brown trout of between five and six pounds. The trout fought like fury, but young Aidan kept his cool and landed the fish in style, which he then returned to the lake.
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| Aidan Decadanet with a superb Tinhay Lake brown trout. |
This weekend saw a group of anglers fishing the lake, and beginner Jan Spendlove showed the boys how it's done, landing three perfect rainbows of around 1 1/2lb on a Black Buzzer. Regular fisher, youngster Dan Barnard celebrated his 11th birthday in style with two lovely rainbows to 3lb on a lure fished deep. Well done that boy!
Amazingly on Sunday 24th March, we saw two sand martins at the lake. They were working hard in the freezing cold for a few adult buzzers, but they must have wished they were still back in Africa. Pussy willow is breaking on the riverbanks, the snowdrops are now all gone, surely Spring must now be just around the corner.
