Things pretty quiet on the river at present with even the coarse fishing in somehwat of a trough though some decent pike have been caught recently including a 29lb fish  I know of.   Many people don't advertise their catches or location of course.

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                                A  CELEBRITIES SALMON.

Not sure quite when this took place, sometime in the nineties or even the late eighties as I recall.

I had a call from a friend who apparently knew cricket legend Ian Botham who had heard about the Nyth and wondered if he could get a day there.   Well I was able to arrange it when no one else was fishing and one mid morning he turned up accompanied by his England team mate South African Alan Lamb.

We stood talking and watching the river for some time during which a fish showed several times in a pool on the opposite bank just above the Lodge called The Hole.  It was known as the hospital as fish which chose it never seemed be caught as they just would not take for some reason.  The sight of these fish fired up Alan Lamb and despite my reservation he set off to wade across about halfway across the river to fish it.  He remained there throughout the visit and as expected caught nothing.

I took Ian down the beat and all the favourite spots failed to produce a take.   He was a pretty useful fly fisher but fish seemed scarce.   We eventually reach the Whitmore Rock which had a reasonable stream running through it and though it did not produce often this time it did with Ian into a fish.   A reasonable fight followed and a slightly coloured hen fish ended in the net and was safely returned.

That was it really .  Nothing else seemed to be in residence other than the couple of fish in the Hole which so frustrated Alan Lamb.   A pleasant afternoon with two really nice people who I think really enjoyed their afternoon and I enjoyed their company too..