Tracy&James | Thursday, 12 March 2020
I think the winter in the UK should be renamed the wet season, the river Dee remained high throughout the time Tracy and I were in North Wales. As such, we still haven’t fished it this year – I suspect the first time we do actually fish we may be dry fly fishing for trout rather than bouncing heavy bugs for the grayling. We’ve both got our fingers crossed that it’s a least fishable for our next trip up that way.
The weather also very nearly put paid to the first BFCC casting day of the year. On Friday afternoon Tracy heard from the groundkeeper at Cullompton Cricket Club that the pitch was waterlogged and there was no way that it could be used (this was despite being reassured the week before that everything was ok). This obviously threw a real spanner in the works being as the event was scheduled for the Sunday morning and some attendees had already travelled to Devon, with others having hotels booked etc.
Fortunately some BFCC members came to the rescue, frantically ringing various sport clubs, schools etc. looking for a pitch that we could use. A number of the places contacted had the same issue as Cullompton CC, i.e. they were waterlogged, testament to how much rain the South-West has received – perhaps even more than North Wales. However, a football pitch in Bampton was eventually found and John Dawson (a GAIA instructor) sorted out all the permissions required to use it for the day – many thanks John if you’re reading this.
The attendance was slightly down on previous years, probably more to do with the weather forecast for the day rather than the late change of venue. That said, the instructors were kept busy with a mix of juniors, beginners and improvers. The competition events were slightly hampered by the muddy ground, however unusually for a BFCC event there was a decent wind so that kind of compensated for the grubby lines.
The good news for me was that I did ok in the competition and I don’t seem to have aggravated my tennis elbow (actually golfer’s elbow). I can still feel it, but it’s no worse than before the weekend. As long as I don’t do anything stupid, like practice for an hour solid, I’m hoping I can manage this for the year. Certainly I feel a bit more relaxed about it than this time last year when I was counting down the days to our saltwater trip in the Bahamas whilst barely able to feed myself with my right hand.
The next BFCC day is in Willesborough, Kent on May 3rd – the day before my birthday. This is going to be a good one with the return of the Bart-meister who will be looking to break the #5 record yet again. If you can make it to this one then you really should.
All the best, James