The Tiny River Alne - Maladroit and Malacophonous

The first BBQ of the year when some simple Greek chicken thighs was complimented with homemade tzatziki and wedges.

The key to these wedges is to cook them for 40 minutes in chicken stock, lemon juice, olive oil, oregano and huge amount of crushed garlic and then for the last 20 minutes, drain the liquid so that they crisp up. Obviously some background tunes we needed and thankfully, YouTube came to the rescue. 

I've seen 59 years young Carl Cox plenty of times over the years but this mix recently from Sydney reminded me why I need to get back to seeing gigs like this.

A proper sensory overload to tickle the senses, nudge the neurones where my home audio despite what the neighbours think basically doesn't cut the mustard.   

Those acid undertones and those woofer moving techno beats a trademark ever since he began DJ'ing and not let up for the big man, as a DJ, he's still one of the busiest. 

Now he has become wealthy because of it and now resides in Melbourne, which having been myself, I'm not sure of the appeal of the urban sprawl. Then again with his spending power spondooolies I doubt he's slumming it. 

Anyway in total contrast to last nights moth removing, and subwoofer working, this session was a short crankbait session on the river Alne, which is the closest bit of river to me, just a short bike ride away (if need be)

The local rivers are in desperate need of rain but when the Alne is like this there are still bites to be had and this morning was no exception. These little Salmo Hornets dive just the right amount on the retrieve and have a fantastic action. 

I've had some nice chub and trout here in the past but for an hour an a half I couldn't get past the smaller fish. Plenty of bites though,  5 little chub and a few small brownies and even more aborted takes. It's quite amazing how some of these fish grabbed the lure and for some reason don't hook themselves. 

The rain was going to ramp up later in the day but after 31 degrees yesterday it was nice to have some respite from the oppressive heat. 

The Alne is rarely crystal clear but as its shallow almost every fish take could be seen especially from the more elevated swims.

I hit a problem though, a huge one !!!!

You see the last swim prior to my favourite the weir, I stupidly got heavy handed after getting the lure caught after a wayward cast and rather than walk backwards with the rod straight, I bent the rod so much the bleeding thing snapped. 

I thought it had just separated at the joint first, but not the 'snap' was a tell-tale giveaway and there was a small section hanging for dear life in the bottom section. 

Bugger !!!

I wasn't that far away from Angling Direct though, 6 miles in-fact and I needed to top up on bait so I ended the session early to try and get a replacement. Problem was there wasn't a direct replacement so I've sourced one for £31 quid (Korum Speed Spin) and to be fair, its a fantastic little rod and served me well since ownership. 

One of the fox rods looked perfect but I ain't spending £90 on a lure rod I don't use that many times throughout the year.

So that was that, 1.5 hours of fishing a broken rod and a costly error on my behalf. As I was driving home the rain was coming down in earnest and it will be a shower dodging day. Hopefully some of that rain will reach the rivers, because boy, (can I say that in 2022 ?) we certainly need it.