Trugg in Wonderland

After a call from Glen I found myself in the Peacock with a motley crew Glen, Commo, Wood, Bonehead and not forgetting our own personnel keeper Jan who was preparing us for a days fishing on Derbyshires finest. On all accounts the fishing Gods appeared to favour us on this day with a little top up of rain and a good temp so my expectations were very high. The anticipation was clearly killing Wood who soon had us on our way to the river to wet our lines. We made our way towards the top of the section and after some fish spotting we tackled up and got cracking.

I can tell you the fishing was amazing from the off, Woody found a nice pod of Ladies and the rainbows weren't shy either. My first hours fishing gave me enough enjoyment to warrant the price of the day ticket and the river Wye screamed out loud and clear that you get what you pay for and the day had hardly began. The fish were in aggressive mood walloping sedge and my Larry's Pride proved deadly yet again. I spotted a fish rising under a bridge right against the wall and with some tricky casting around a bush and after losing a couple of flies this amazing brown below payed me a visit, and it was my most satisfying catch today and well deserved for all my hard work.

Below is another nice brown fattened by the recent healthy menu available and without my long handled net I'd have been totally bamboozled finding myself on a high bank so when visiting the Peacock water remember the long handled landing net should be the 1st thing placed in your boot, in my opinion anyway.

Me and Wood pulled this trike from the river and decided to have a little fun, below is Woody showing he's still got it with some free styling poses.


We all made our way down into town where me and Glen swung our legs over the wall for an hour, gently rolling our flies out to catch a few more fish, including this fine grayling Glen caught on a red tag the traditional muvver.
At this point Richard W appeared walking his dog and came for a chat which ended in a friendly invite for a cup of tea at Richards house next to the river. On entering RW's gate it reminded me off the Secret Garden, well maintained and in glorious colour but most amazing of all, the sound of Joe Public had totally disappeared leaving the sound of the river on the breeze, RW's a jammy git living there but no doubt he's worked hard to live his dream. You honestly couldn't imagine anyone on the other side as we all chatted away putting the Fly world to rights. I have to mention Mrs W's chocolate cake being second too none and with my athletic figure I've tried a few this cake was sensational and I'd have walked the length of the Wye for a slice of that chocolate cake alone.
For the record Richard W is a legend around these parts with a vast knowledge in our sport so too find myself sitting on his lovely patio having afternoon tea while he shared his fine voice with a song or two thrown in was totally surreal and thoroughly enjoyable. RW represents everything good in the sport offering excellent advice, experience, friendship and above all offering his wife's fantastic cakes. After a good long rest me and Glen decided to get back to the fishing and opening that big gate back into the bustle, taking into account RW's beautiful secret garden and eating cake I felt like Trugg in wonderland but the day was gonna get even better.

We fished into the night assisted by Jan the keeper and RW who not only offered his flies which proved deadly but landed our fish for us while also providing a large unhooking mat to ensure safe handling of fish plus offering his assistance where he could as we fished the town for some of the larger fish. This night totally confirmed the large fish were more than happy to take naturals and RW's Sherry spinner caught me 4 lovely browns, one around 3lb but when I looked upstream for a hand, 3 other rods were bent over playing these Bakewell monsters. I landed a wonderful 3lb brown and unhooked it still in the net and released it back into the river to prevent any damage to the fish, hence no picture. I moved upstream and mingled in with the others and caught my largest rainbow of the day on RW's sedge which he also netted for me(top man). Well all of us caught plenty of fish on a most splendid day on the Wye and with the good company and days events we all bid our farewells but while packing up me Woody and Glen spent another 20mins rolling around Bakewell watching the recording of Glens poacher watch, over and over again, its truly hilarious and was the cherry on the cake to a most memorable day, mind you passers by obviously thought we'd been released from a mental hospital as we cackled away.

Can't wait to do it all again and thanks to all involved in a totally magical fishing trip.