This is not a sorry tale.

This IS a sorry tale.

I tried hard and caught ‘rien’.

But I found the most gorgeous river and I will return because this is the Somme stream I want to conquer in my fabulous French ‘quest’!

My exchanges with ‘Peche 80’, and in particular, Simon Major (Agent de Developement at Fédération de la Somme pour la Pêche et la Protection du Milieu Aquatique), told me that the fishing on the Selle near Conty, was “interesting”.

I  arrived at this fishing extravaganza…several lakes, stuffed with massive carp, no doubt, but with the Selle, providing its fresh water, flowing alongside.

A fisherman’s paradise…but there was no one there and it felt it was mine for the day.

Like many northern French chalk streams, the Selle has a grey tinge to it, rather like the lower reaches of rivers fed from Alpine snow melt. But this is different because the alkaline water has streamy ranunculus, too, containing a healthy larder for ‘farios’

Enough! Enough!

Here are the pictures which guarantee my return.

BUT…in my day on this 1.4 kms of water, which I walked several times, just peering and seeking a rise or two, or rather, any rise…I happened to be at a place when at about 3pm, I spied the first rise of the day, and this proved to be the only one, too.

I cast to it. The fish was tempted, and rose to my mayfly imitation, splashed, and rejected it.

A truly curious day, when Mays were coming off but there was no action/reaction to them. Maybe there was in the evening.