Below if you can make it out is a picture of Glen and Kev fishing before we set off on the last stretch. Yes we are perhaps a little mad but we all love it.
Friday, 3 July 2009
Dovedale Bash
Below if you can make it out is a picture of Glen and Kev fishing before we set off on the last stretch. Yes we are perhaps a little mad but we all love it.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Darley Dale
The Mayfly seemed poor on the Derwent this year, however there was a small hatch yesterday probably the best trickle I've seen on the Derwent this year. Early evening was met with some crashing rises and I managed to take advantage of a few aggressive little buggers and 1 or 2 lunkers as well. I noticed that the dreaded Himalayan Balsam had taken hold along the banks and shall contact relevant clubs as dealing with it now will be relatively easy to control at this stage with a working party.
This trout above really tried to shake off the Fandango making a nice picture we are all familiar with. Below shows a couple of bigger trout, especially Billy Bunter in the bottom picture who came crashing out of the tail end of a pool with an audience of small boys - I like being a hero.
Monday, 22 June 2009
*uck A Duck
As usual I had the place to myself and what a lucky boy I was with the fish lively and raring to go at my new Fandango fly which I shall put a picture of on the blog. The size and quality of trout was excellent as shown below and this venue really takes some beating on its day. These 3 fish below are as finer brace as you could hope for in Derbyshire and along with 30 others made a fantastic evening to remember.
Monday, 15 June 2009
Chatsworth (Derwent)
We carried on fishing for a couple more hours and I managed a few browns and rainbows resulting in severe arm ache, these bows really where on steroids. We decided to walk back for tea which is when the real fun began. Colin nipped to his car, while I went to sit down on the picnic table in anticipation of some grub, I instantly rolled backwards taking the bench with me. I quickly looked around and gladly realised nobody had spotted me rolling about and I quickly brushed the cut grass off me and put the table back. I then fetched a patio chair from inside the summerhouse and placed it next to the picnic table. In my embarrassment I decided to keep quiet when Colin returned and he began laying out a fisherman's spread to die for - salad, pork pies, ham, potato salad all sourced locally along with the bottled beer he poured out for us. Colin then sat inside the table and rolled backwards with the bench throwing our Kings spread allover himself and the riverbank. Once I could breath again, we brushed the grass off the food and salvaged what we could, and set the table again. This mishap didn't matter at all as we still enjoyed our feast while I told Colin about my own bench rolling expedition earlier at which point we nearly wet ourselves laughing (again). Then a hot air balloon took off and drifted overhead to add a little extra atmosphere to this wonderful evening spent by the river, in truly superb company - a genuine brother of the wangle.
We moved into the front of Chatsworth House for the last hour and caught a dozen browns on dry to finish off the most perfect day. I cannot thank Colin enough for inviting, guiding, feeding and sharing his time with me, hes a lucky man to fish Chatsworth regularly as this stretch of river is absolutely stuffed with fish. I look forward to a return leg when I invite Colin for a day's fishing, however there's a lot to live up to after the most excellent day yesterday.
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Trust your Instinct!
Around 7.30pm there was a shower so I leant against a tree for a while which soon brought me back down to earth, but my poncho did the trick and the fish carried on rising. I had the place to myself and I was going to make the most of it, especially as the next fly proved successful, mind you a fag end would have probably worked.
I had more fish than I wish to count with a excellent mixed bag of wild/stocked/big/small and not a single dog or chav to take the edge off a fantastic night.

Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Dovedale Delights
I noticed Alex Swan fishing up behind me and I owed him some money, after realising I was failing too out run him, I let him catch up and we fished a few pools together, both catching some nice fish while chewing the news.
Arriving at the nursery pool we both then bumped into Roger Bryant and Neil H off the fly forums and had a quick con flab before fishing again - mini social. On the whole it was an excellent nights fishing with plenty of superb fish like this one below.
After teaming up with Roger for the later part of the evening he caught fish after fish offering me endless fantastic photo opportunities, sadly I ended up with this picture below of Roger lifting into a fish. I apologise now for my lack of photography skills but I can report that his company was superb, and his fresh enthusiasm was admirable and I look forward to meeting him on the bank another day.
Finally we all met up for another chat at dusk and the Mayfly where in force as darkness took hold when Neil H decided to throw himself down the rocks where we had congregated, gladly hes alright though, anyway Neils Leap just doesn't sound right. Nights like these are what make this sport special, and I'm pleased to be associated with LADFFA and its feasant phluckers - a memorable night indeed. Roll on Duffers