Darley Dale

Fished the second half of the day and on arrival there was a few scattered rises as I snailed along the bank. The weather was fine but a little blustery and the drake was trickling by at best. I managed a few scattered fish on mayfly patterns and only a couple of stockies, the rest were small compared to previous visits but beautifully marked, full finned and dark looking.

I noticed the H. Balsam hadn't been so aggressive this year, in fact none existant in the picture below, which I can tell you was completely covered last season. I'd like to think the war was being won by battling anglers pulling their hearts out but I've noticed the evil plants return has struggled compared to earlier seasons in many places, even in areas left to do its evil deed. This lead me wonder how much containment could be put down to the long harsh winter, on the other hand Mr Knotweed seems to have thrived through the long winter on my local river Erewash, be interesting to hear others opinions.

Par for the course as the temps dropped around 7pm the rises slowly sank away leaving me and the cows peering over the river. Another dissapointing observation of mine was no watervoles again, suprising as I could have guaranteed spotty old ratty putting in an appearance at this venue in previous years, even had one swim under my rod before now. Overall a nice quiet night with the stretch all to myself which is rare this time of year.