A Wintry Return to the Frome.

 My season has had quite a few dry patches as many anglers will experience over the course of a season but there has also been some real highlights too, for me the most prominent was the recent capture of a 2.11 Grayling and since that trip I have decided to put a little more time into the very river that gave me that lasting memory. Albeit a very long way from home I have embarked on a couple of days trips to a new section of the river, much further down but with equal possibility of catching some even more special than what I have already managed.

Releasing my prize of a hard days work, much enjoyed I must say.

 2½ hours each from my home in south London is a huge commitment and the efforts required to fish it are great but it's sport that simply isn't available closer to home. Over the past couple of years I have really enjoyed targeting Grayling and so the journey hasn't in truth been a bother or the financial's behind a trip like these I have made recently, but when I have been on the bank I have found it very hard going, on the first trip the river was up 4-6inches and carrying a little colour, not a problem as Grayling are happy to feed with a tinge in the river but on my second trip the conditions were even better, the severe frost I thought wouldn't have been an issue but enquiries were very few and far between.

 The only decent fish I caught was a Grayling around the 1.04-1.06 mark, not a monster but in fairness it was my target species, in immaculate condition it was very good to see but the scenery and wildlife kept me more entertained than the fishing. During the morning a very inquisitive Weasel kept me company all morning and it was my first ever sighting of one in the wild, wonderful little creature they are but none come better than the Barn Owl, as dusk approached I had a snow white shape glide over head as I lye in wait for a Chub on the Stour whilst on my way home, I've seen a few this year and they are an awesome sight.

 With the severe frost came a completely white landscape, it looked so clean and untouched by humans, it was almost perfect it but for the freezing of my rings whilst I was trying to trot, it didn't make trotting easy at all. Not a bad day to be out though.

The Frome at dusk on the first of the latest trips.

At minus 5c I wasn't the only mad angler on the bank!

A motionless tip on the Stour.