Mayfield

Arriving at 2pm at Ashbourne the sun was shining and spring was definitely in the air, and the river Dove was looking lovely as ever. There was a reasonable hatch of Large Dark Olives coming off, so I instantly set up with a Grey Duster and hoped for some dryfly action. Fish were rising to take the LDO's so I cast my fly, held my breath and wallop, I was in. After a little gymnastics demonstration, I had this little beauty below in one hand, while reaching for the camera with my other hand. Shellshocked by my instant success, I cast my Duster again only to be hit by a lovely Grayling - which I released in the water, due to being out of season at the moment.

I managed to tempt another fat little brown below with my Grey Duster, which had me committing suicide by wondering how many I could catch before home time. Needless to say the hatch withered away and so did the rises, I should know not to count my chickens, but it's difficult when things go right, and you catch a few in succession. After slogging it out with my hopes fading, I left the bottom section to have a look at the top section - which does hold loads of trout and can be good if they're rising. I spotted the odd rise here and there and they seemed to be taking sedges that had appeared. I did my best to match the hatch with the likes of F-fly, Deer hair sedge etc. Although I had a few takes on the upper section, it became frustrating, maybe I wasn't up to parr, but these little buggers were fast as lightening, although I did connect with a few, only to drop off instantly. I moved back downstream with little success and never got another touch as everything switched off. The result was I had 3 fish on dryfly with the sun on my back and a sweaty brow, which confirmed my first day of spring had finally come.

Below is a picture of the upper section above the wier which holds some real clunker browns.