Pete Tyjas and pal Duncan are fishing new water. There was a time when they'd be on the water at stupid o'clock but these days they take a more relaxed approach.
I poke the sausage around my plate one more time before deciding it tastes too good to end up in a bin.
Duncan orders two more coffees as he sees I am in no rush to finish.
It never used to be like this. I remember a time when I’d be awake well before the alarm went off fuelled by the excitement of going fishing. This feeling has never changed and the coffee helps fight off any last remnants of the early start and pushed them back until they will no doubt resurface at the end of the day.
Being tired after a day's fishing is a good feeling. It isn’t the sort of tiredness that makes you feel like you are going to fall asleep at the wheel of the car on the way home. It is just enough that you know you have walked a lot, fished hard and caught a few along the way. I often drive back with no music in the car with just my reflections of the day for company.
No, what has changed is that the lead up to the fishing itself. These days it is a much more relaxed affair and having breakfast is the perfect way to start it, along with good company.
We sort of hoped the place we had in mind would actually be open and would do breakfast if it was. Thankfully it was and despite my reputation for being ridiculously early Duncan had beaten me to it and grabbed my hand and shook it as I walked in.
If there was some way of bottling Duncan's enthusiasm, not just for fishing but life in general, it should be handed out to the world as it would prevent wars and bring balance and positivity to the planet.
We quickly start talking about where we will be fishing and have to be asked by the waitress three times if we’re ready to order before we do.
Fishing new water is an exciting event. You might be the same as me and shake just a little as you get a glance of it for the first time and try your best to tie on the flies, carefully threading the leader through the eye of the hook as quickly as you can.
I try my best to look cool about it all and see Duncan has a new rod. If you know him this is a pretty regular occurrence but this one is a good choice, a keeper. I shout my approval as I see the rod tube before he pulls out the blank as I know it is a Sage SP.
We walk a short distance and do the polite bit about who will fish first. Duncan is a little more insistent than me. I probably licked my lips a little as I see a straight fast run into a pool where I plan to fish my two nymphs on the seam of the run.
The bank is a little steeper here and I use a tree for support as I ease my way in. The stream isn’t big, only 20 feet wide and the water is clear. It looks like the height is dropping after recent rain and so I am fishing heavy enough that I think the grayling will get a good look at my flies.
My concentration is broken for a few moments as the branch I am holding gives way and gives me a firm whack on the top of my head. I don’t look but assume Duncan is trying his best not to laugh. I take my cap off and feel the bump that is already starting to form.
I have always maintained that I am not superstitious but when I take the fly off the keeper ring for the first time and make the first few casts it gives me a clue as to what the day has in store luck wise.
Some days I can just take hold of the fly ready to cast and the dropper fly spins around the rod so tightly that only my nippers will set it free again. The branch on the head wasn’t a good start but everything is good as I work the run but without success.
Duncan watches from the bank as I climb out as the pool ahead is too deep and strong to wade through.
We walk just a short distance upstream and I offer Duncan a go. The river here has made an S shape as it drops into one corner, straightens for 20 or 25 feet then makes another turn. The current is a little slower and the corners deeper. Having fished one pool only so far I am starting to formulate ideas that perhaps given the height of the water the fish may be holding in the slower spots.
I watch Duncan pull out a grayling, give him a cheer and head to the upper bend of the pool to try my luck.
I dead drift my first few casts
I watch as the indicator halts, as takes go it is a pretty subtle one but the caffeine coursing through my veins means I’m not going to miss it. I already know it is a grayling, not a big one but a grayling.
It is a new river and my first grayling from it. I am under way.
Pete Tyjas is a full time fly fishing guide who lives in Devon, South West of the UK