Willersley Castle

I fished the Derwent at Willersley Castle this afternoon and on arrival the car park was full, fortunately a fisherman had just finished and after telling me there were 6 chaps baitfishing, I parked in his spot while deciding wether to change venues. I decided to give it a go as I only had the afternoon so what the hell, I took my 10ft rod and nymph line and off I went. The fishing was slow at first but I decided to use my chest waders to their full advantage and as all bait fishers didn't have waders, I stuck to the far banks and deepish water. It wasn't long before I had caught 2 specimen trout and a few grayling, so my day was complete already. This beauty below proved difficult to get a picture due to the close range of one hand to the other, mind you it was a real clunker.

I slowly made my way upstream picking of the odd fish, mostly in the tail ends of the pools, until eventually I reached the wier. I sat on the island and boiled up my kelly kettle to make a fresh cup of Ringtons tea, and boy did I enjoy it. On reflection today was one of my most enjoyable days throughout winter considering how things started, and Willersley Castle remains one of my favourite venues to fish to date.

Totally refreshed I then managed a couple more trout and a few grayling from around the wier area, including these 2 grayling below, one of which just wouldn't stay still. My damn hands are so big they don't do any of these fish the justice they deserve, but to give you some idea of my shovels, my own kids call me shrek!

I swear this grayling below turned, looked me in the eye and said thanks for being delicate, before releasing him back into the Derwent.