One of our members recently had one of those experiences which makes your jaw drop, your eyes pop and a little bit wobbly on your feet. In his own words -
“ Thought I’d pop down to the river today … the only free day in the week! With wind and rain due this afternoon I thought Beat C would be protected from the worst. I started at the bottom of the Beat … waded in just above the fence line. Put up a grey klinkhammer, caught 1 small brown trout from the draw of the pool. Took a few more steps alongside the bank and a few more casts and hooked another one … started to reel it in … it fought ferociously … lots of spare line around me on the water surface as it came back to me … when I thought this little fella got snagged on something … I couldn’t get it to hand … it was stuck solid … then when I looked down into 2ft of water alongside me … this little fella was in the mouth of a huge trout … this monster was at least 18” to 20” long and 2” thick through the shoulders. It was at that point I lost the battle … my tippet broke at the knot! I use 4lb tippet! I know this sort of incident is not uncommon … but it does show there are some big trout hidden in the corners … I think it darted out from the tree roots to grab the little fella as it swam past! Just an interesting fishing experience!”