Toton on the Dry

Today I experimented on the Toton stretch of the Erewash where the river Erewash foundation have carried out work/restoration and sticking with the dry fly only theme, God knows what I might catch. The Erewash was very low and in desperate need of rain so the fishing needed to be stealthy with such clear and shallow water, the fish would spook very easily. I started on my EHS and hooked into a fish under the first bush and no mistaking the big white lips breaking the surface, a nice chub. Unfortunately I bounced it off in my excitement but as I plodded upstream I soon began to tally up a good amount of fish.

It dawned on me compared to many rivers the Erewash has real potential in terms of easy wading, good gravels and lots of cover which to be honest did cost me a few flies, nothing new there. Once in the channel the fish became easy pickings and I managed to find a few larger chub that gave a brilliant scrap on my bamboo.

As time passed I filled in my Data sheet and realised I'd caught 12 chub, 2 Dace and 2 Rudd all on dry fly which was pretty impressive me thinks, especially considering the autumnal weather today and the river conditions. I didn't find any grayling or trout today but it detracted nothing from my satisfaction that this river is worth the effort and deserves the foundations effort to protect and nurture her.

The best thing about the fishing today was its free, and the pics show you can have plenty of success in October on the dry fly, fishing for coarse fish. Once the river fills up, its a good time for fish to move back upstream from the Trent, hopefully another sea trout would be nice this time of year, especially if I catch it.