Yesterday we took a good look at the 3 stretches of the Manifold available on the DCAC membership. The North section was very shallow and we quickly switched our sights on the middle section, where we spotted fish but somehow this pretty little river didn't draw us in, so the search continued, The South section appeared better but our conclusion was it would be suitable for 1 rod wondering up the Manifold dipping a line now and then, but any more would be stretching it so we decided on Mayfield. After deciding on our route back to Ashbourne we quickly came to a road block and some poor lady was cut from a car and air lifted to hospital, although I was focused on getting my line accross the river, in hindsight I could have been more considerate and hopefully she is ok. When we arrived at Mayfield there were 1 or 2 rises near the bridge but although the air was thick with Mayfly the trout weren't playing ball. We eventually made our way to the top section looking for any sign of action to find the locals had turned the Dove into their local Lido (pictured below). The trout were none existant and to our amazement we would have had a better chance in a paddling pool, was this really the middle of June. We walked the whole stretch back to the cars without spotting a single rise - wow!
With half the day left we decided to try another venue and Willersley was the chosen destination, so off we went again.
Arriving at Willersley we quickly realised not only were there no rises, but no Mayfly either.
We had to except this was a strange day in Derbyshire and nothing was going to add up. Slogging my way upstream through the fast flows I did manage a few nice trout all in fine form like the 14 inch brownie below, which put a smile on my face. We met another member of the Fyforums who came for a chinwag called Garth. He came over a nice chap and I'm sure we'll chat again. Down to his experience at this venue he managed to catch fish, but confirmed things were not as he expected today either. Other than tempting a fish to come up through the fastwater with my Balloon Caddis, this beautiful sunny day in June would have gone down as a bleak days fishing. You can't always get what you want but if you try sometimes you get what you need - wise words indeed.
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