Yesterday the weather was grey, rainy and pretty windy, so I decided to have a go at the sea trout in one of my local rivers. I fished a giant Muddler fly on an intermediate line. The buoyancy of the spun deerhair head made the fly bulge, and created a hefty V-shaped wake on the surface – at least at the initial part of the swim. On one of the first casts I had a splashy boil under the fly, when a fish attacked.

I felt encouraged. This could be a Duffers day. You know one of these days, where sea trout loose all mind, and eat Muddlers without reservation. I had two more boils before a fish actually committed fully. I set the hook and immediately got a feeling that this was not the sea trout of my dreams.

When the fish came to the surface, the spike dorsal fin revealed that it was a decent perch that had taken my Muddler. I truly love perch fishing – but this day I had my mind set for a fresh run sea trout, and I felt just a bit disappointed.