River Frome - Wool

0830 - 1400

Cold with  unbroken bright sunshine. AT when I started was -6ºC warming to a balmy 5ºC when I packed up. River high - barely within its banks, VERY pacey and quite clear (though not as clear as the Kennet ATM!). 1.36m on the East Stoke river gauge (highest I've ever fished the Frome).

7 Grayling: the two that went on the scales went 1lb 13oz & 1lb 6oz the others all around 12oz. 1 Sea trout - circa 2lb +.

The river gauges on the Frome have been registering levels above the top of 'normal range' since mid-October - until Tuesday of this week. With more rain forecast for the weekend plans were changed and a trip to Dorset was hastily arranged in case this was my only chance to actually use my DDAS ticket this year (the Frome season only runs from Nov - Feb). In truth there was still way too much water than I would have liked and I suspected it would be a bit of a struggle. Actually trotting a line was the biggest challenge for the first couple of hours, with the line freezing in the ferrules between each cast I was mightly pleased when air temps lifted into positive territory. Those 2 hours produced just 1 modest grayling from the fastest stretch so I spent the rest of the session below Wool (old) bridge where the water is a bit deeper (and slightly calmer). This second half was topped and tailed by the bigger grayling and the sea trout which stayed deep and had me convinced I was into a really big lady - ho hum!