Derbyshire On The Fly

Grayling Days

2011-10-28T02:14:00.000-07:00

I've decided not to blog my ventures chasing the ladies this season to avoid things become repetitive. The good news is I'm offering my services to help struggling brothers of the wangle in their approach to catching grayling,therefore their photo's will be added below throughout the winter season. No over the top prices and plenty of laughs along the way,should you wish to jump at a fantastic opportunity to get ahead in the ladystakes contact me on info@rivererewashfoundation.co.uk.

Venues can be arranged or I'm happy to visit yours.

Hope to hear from you - Mick Martin

Mayfield - Dove

2011-10-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

Lovely to see plenty of water back in Her Majesty and she was fishing her socks off today to both nymphs and dries. I had the place to myself and made the most of a few spare hours around lunchtime. Strike while the irons hot if your a DCAC kinda dude. Water was refreshing but far from cold yet and holding a little colour which probably helped today.

Big Girls - They Are Beautiful

2011-10-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

Me and my brother fished the Wye on Sunday in search of a few grayling and what a fine day it turned out to be. We arrived in overcast conditions with little insect life and nothing rising so we assumed small nymphs were in order. Once set up and after a few casts the sun broke through instantly kicking off a good hatch of LDO's and sure enough with no offers to nymphs we began spotting a few rises. After both setting up again for dryfly we landed onto the right track in what could only be described as a lovely spring days dryfly fishing for grayling.

Our John began catching grayling in a spectacular hatch resulting in a few lady's like the one below. We both had some intense dryfly sport as good as any all season, hard to believe this sun drenched afternoon was during the middle of October. Eventually the hatch died down and the grayling sank soon after so off for lunch.

We fished through Scots garden with little success for a change just one or two and then walked down to the beach and fished back up. I was most pleased that all the homework and reckies throughout the season payed dividends as knowing/remembering where a few likely spots are for big girls to hang out. The best of the day shown below were the icing on the cake for a lovley days angling. The 2 beauties below say it all about fishing for grayling on Derbyshires finest and check my brothers blog for a nats whisker off 3lb grayling (Derbyshirefishingblog).

Top Tip - You'd do well to remember big grayling come good as the light falls during Oct/Nov and below is the proof. Baffles me how many anglers dissapear once the sun falls off their backs, missing that chance of a stunner.

Der - went

2011-10-05T08:24:00.000-07:00

Nipped to Willersley Castle for a few hours nymphing at lunchtime and was suprised how low the Derwent was, my God I didn't recognise the place. No insect life to speak of but it was a try out day before Sundays grayling fishing. My last day of trout season and what a beautiful little brown to finish on with a few other tiddlers to boot. My new homemade Viper indicator worked a treat I'm pleased to say, so bring on the winter I say.

Wye

2011-10-03T01:36:00.000-07:00

Arrived afternoon to tons of traffic Bakewell bound so fished the lower stretches under overcast sky quickly turning into showers. There were a few sedge about and a trickle of LDO's but nothing to write home about. I targeted pods of grayling and stubbornly set about catching them which wasn't easy and very time consuming, however I did catch plenty under a pound eventually having to use 20's or smaller but only in 2 out of the 3 chosen pools. Bloody frustrating how I cracked the code twice only 1oo yrds from an impossible to catch pod just upstream, but thats fishing folks.

I spent the last 2 hours around town after a brief chat with Alex Swan when the rain fell a little heavier finishing the fishing really. I managed a few rainbows but called it a day before dark. As I've filled my boots the last few weeks no doubt I won't catch one next week now the trout season is closed.

Mayfield - Dove

2011-09-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

Spent a few hours fishing in glorious sunshine today perfecting my techniques after a season of dry fly only, while also trying out some new indicators and leaders for my guests on grayling days through the winter. I've never seen Her Majesty so low with little fish holding water available, pretty grim to be honest but I managed a few trout and grayling on both dry and nymph.

The big girl picture below was the best of the bunch of underwater shots. Obviously I haven't quite got the hang of it yet, just need to work on my distances a little to try and get the whole fish in the shot.

Patience Is A Virtue

2011-09-26T06:06:00.000-07:00

I arrived at Riverside just as the Heavens opened and decided to sit this one out in the car, while watching the steady stream of walkers swimming by.Eventually the sky cleared and I took a few trout both brown and rainbows passing through Sheepwash and Scots Garden. I did spot a couple of huge ladies but had to give in with frustration as they simply weren't being caught today, not by me anyway. I came across another angler named Patrick and we joined forces for a pleasant evening, both landing lovely browns.

I landed this fine brown on my Larries Pride and bounced off Colin under RW's bridge aswell before venturing into the park where i spotted a grayling rising. It was taking the odd spinner trickling by in the evening sunshine and on my 3rd take and buckets of patience I eventually landed my best fish of the day. The takes faded with the light so no point hanging around tonight so farwell to Patrick and adios Bakewell.

Things Sloe-ing Down

2011-09-12T08:09:00.000-07:00

Arriving 2pm I set about picking sloe berries from the banks of the Wye to create my festive tipples for winter. My sloe gin is already on the go so I thought I'd try slodka(Sloe vodka)with todays batch as I've heard good reports and I'm partial to a vodka now and then. Once bottled in December I intend to pass the pickled sloes over to Mrs Trugg for her scrumptious flapjacks and fortified wine, while I set about creating some fun labels for the odd present - happy days.

Fishing! well there were strong gusts with broken sunshine and the trout didn't fancy playing ball today, although the ladies were totally switched on and up for a frolic, talk about jumping into someones grave, they had definitely taken over the river for today. I steadily picked off grayling all evening using treacle parkin,sturdys fancy, olives and even a couple of fat girls taken on spinner late on along with a few trout of course. I landed more grayling than trout, a real bonus in my book and while rapidly closing on the end of summer, yesterday did feel autumnal. If yesterdays ladies are anything to go by (pics below)I'm in for one hell of a winter season sloe gin,slodka,huge grayling and the wonderful Wye - Derbyshires finest.

Brush with the Future

2011-09-05T01:16:00.000-07:00

Arrived 2pm at Fishermans to some scattered rising and quickly began catching grayling with a few rainbows all taking yellow f fly and Tupps both in 20's after realising they were on the menu amongst the millions of sedge and midges. Moving up towards the pumping station I had some quality nosebleed angling, sighting grayling under my feet while peeping over the reeds, then dropping my fly and watching them slowly rise to the surface and Bingo!

Moving through the pavillion I managed some specimens as usual, this river has so many its untrue and my larrys pride did well again, bringing a 4lb brown which gave a real tussle for 15 mins along with a few large rainbows. Today suprised me as I expected an autumnal slowing down in terms of angling but it was all systems go with amazing fishing in September.

As the light faded 2 young anglers appeared who'd struggled a little through the day so I offered a little assistance hoping to save the day, afterall these lads are the future. I offered one of my succesful late evening sedge patterns and the takes began coming fast and after playing a few fish 15 year old Conor finally landed this fine rainbow below. Obviously he was made up and watching him release that fish safely was immense joy for me, never mind being engraved on this young mans memory for ever and well worth arriving late home for dinner.

Ennio Brown Will Do

2011-08-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

I met up with Ennio off the fly forum around 3pm for a days fishing both meeting at the black barn section in glorious sunshine,clear sky and very little water in Derbyshires finest. At first things were a little difficult but with a little help from the clouds we began picking a few off including a few grayling which are always welcome on the dry. Sedge were in larger numbers than ever today so it was inevitable that sedge would eventually win the day.

Early evening we moved into the recreation ground were my Larries Pride after some risky predictions lived upto its name resulting in some fine fish including Ennios best, a 5lb brown to die for,a fish of a lifetime in anyones book. Andrews lunker gave a good fight, setting off downstream with Ennio following to ensure landing it, which obviously I quickly assisted him to complete his triumph. Shortly after another 3lb brown came to the net after walloping the Larrys Pride yet again, no denying this fly works I'm afraid and I dare say Ennios glad I offered him a few.

Nearing the end of a casual plodding style of days fishing the light fell and concentration was needed to play a few more fish after dark. The trout were displaying there predatory instinct tonight reacting to our twitching sedge which isn't always the case, like a marriage you get the cold shoulder from your sweetheart sometimes and the Wye is no exeption but tonight she was hot and eager. We could of continued catching specimens alnight long but we were both satisfied so we downed rods, chatted away, and watched the bats performing before eventually parting from our excellent days fishing.

Big Girls, They Are Beautiful

2011-08-16T01:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I visited Lakeside the upper boundary of the Peacock stretch. The river was very low indeed with nothing rising but once there I decided to have a look around, afterall I like to think you learn something everytime out. While peeping through the wildflowers I spotted a lovely grayling parading in the spotlight created by the sunshine and dappled light through the trees above. I slid down the bank and observed closely for a while and began spotting huge grayling basking about on the riverbed.

Now these big girls were definitely not feeding but like any other fly angler finding myself in an excellent position with a loaded rod in my hand I couldn't resisit a flick at them in hope of a miracle. Needless to say there was no miracle, in fact I swear I heard those ladies laughing at me. I took in as much info about the pool as possible and come winter I will be back for them, hopefully to have the last laugh. I left the upper section with a small rainbow and a tiny grayling to my tally so not completely beaten but maybe bruised a little.

I moved into town for late evening and managed a few nice rainbows to 4lb, a few landed by Jan who payed me a visit. There was little rising at dark and I believe the Wye was having a rest and I cannot complain as this river regularly bares her soul to me - not a finer river in the land.

Maybe There Is A God

2011-08-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

I went boat fishing at Thornton a couple of months ago and have been waiting to post about the days experience for an age all about fishing with my oldest brother Mark. I didn't feel it was appropriate at the time so I hung fire until the right time.

Some months ago our Mark was given the tragic news of being terminally ill with cancer and he rapidly became weak and began to struggle especially with the tumours beginning in his heart, bottom line he was short of breath, fatigued and very weak. When visiting him he asked if I could take him fishing once again and who could refuse spending a last days fishing with not only a brother of the angle,but a brother.

Moving on swiftly we arrived at Thornton Reservoir, a venue we'd both fished together but this time under very different circumstances. Assisting him onto the pontoon we made our way to the boat where we decided the best approach was to sit him on the edge of the pontoon while I climbed into the boat with a mind to pull him into the boat safely.
I'm pleased to say nobody drowned and the idea kind of worked, but i should add how we both nearly wet ourselves laughing waltzing around that boat, and one thing about our Mark was his brilliant sense of humour and infectious laughter, you know the kind, once you start you can't stop.

We eventually began fishing and as usual we had a laugh, taking the mickey out of each other, completely forgetting this was our last chance saloon for a days fishing together. To be honest we didn't get a pull all morning so I began to worry a little, understandibly I sooooooooo needed a succesful day for my brother. While rocking about I heard a shout from the boat behind, Daryl and Ady two REF lads who'd also coincidentally booked a boat today, they'd also struggled a little. I shouted were going back to the lodge for a teabreak and began rowing like Steve Redgrave to get back in the warm sap. Suddenly both oars sprang from the horrocks sending me flying back off my plank smashing the back of my head on the plank seat at the front of the boat, knocking myself out momenterilly. I came around struggling for breath, terribly winded from landing on the anchor on the bottom of the boat. I was seeing stars when I realised Mark standing up in an attempt to help me which to be honest made it impossible to stop my head spinning. I shouted "for fuc* sake sit down your spinning me out" I slowly crawled back onto my boat seat to realise Mark wetting himself and true to form we both belly laughed until we cried.
After gathering our thoughts I went to row back and realised both oars had floated away during my dying fly impression - bollo***. After the initial panic I rang Daryl and explained our predicament and after he stopped laughing he explained he'd pick us up in a few minutes and share lunchbreak at the lodge with us.
We both sat drifting aimlessly along for a while when we heard a tapping on the boat and after leaning over the side to my astonishment, both oars were pushed up against the boat, I didn't even have to leave my seat to grab them, just reach out and pull em back in the boat. Talk about suprise, I couldn't believe it, bloody miracle sprang to mind but I decided to play it down to be sensitive to my brother and his condition - spooky though. I cancelled the rescue party and tentatively rowed us back to the lodge were Daryl and Ady were waiting to laugh at my war wounds.

To my amazement things carried on when Daryl and Mark knowingly grabbed each other "how you doing" said Mark. It turns out our Mark was Daryl's manager at Boots for years and they were good friends before Daryl eventually moved on. Well the day was getting stranger by the minute as they both caught up as we all had a few laughs over some hot chocolate and sandwiches. This teaming up raised Marks spirits adding to the enjoyment of the day for him, so all we needed now were the trout to appear.

We all had a good chin wag before heading out together for round 2 where I tackled us both up with fast sinking lines and booby doo's. Instantly Marks rod bent over, followed by an amazing fight and. thank God! we were off the Mark. (pun)

The fish came fast and furious for Mark so I switched to the same booby but nothing happened for me. Mark carried on with a fish every cast, to the point the chaps in the boat behind shouted "what's he bloody using". I've never seen anything like this as Mark landed around 15 fish when nobody else caught. Eventually Mark admitted he was too tired and could'nt play another fish as I helped him with the last one.

We made our way back to the pontoon where Daryl and Ady were kindly waiting as they anticipated I'd need a hand getting my exhausted brother out of the boat. After a banter about Mark catching by the dozen I helped him in the car and while walking round the car Daryl turned to me and said "makes you think maybe there is a God" which took the words right out of my mouth.

Although frail, Mark explained it was the finest days fishing he'd ever had which was music to my ears as we drove home - job done.

Sadly Marks funeral was last week which is why I'm blogging today as I feel the time is right and for the record everytime I drop into a boat for a days fishing, no doubt he will join me at some point.

Rest in peace brother

Land of the Giants

2011-08-10T00:30:00.000-07:00

Arrived at Bakewell around 5pm and with some tricky casting and bravado creeping through overgrowth and reeds along the bank to reach the waters edge, I got my rewards. I found a small pod of grayling freely rising and after whipping through a few likely flies the old Sturdys Fancy cleaned up producing 6 lovely grayling, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

There were plenty of sedge and the odd upwing floating about but switching to Larrys Pride proved effective yet again bringing a few specimens shown below. The Wye was fishing its head off from 7.30pm onwards providing a real purple patch of supreme trout fishing and I was lucky enough to be on my own in paradise, not another rod in sight. One thing i should mention is spotting a giant Kingfisher,far bigger than any I've seen before and I've fondly observed thousands all my life but for whatever reason that kingfisher was more dipper like and massive like the trout.

After scouring Metcheck Tuesday proved the most likely conditions to be succesful this week,luckily for me it was on the money, lets hope the wet weather predicted tops up the low river at the moment.

It was a brown night again where they all came out to play, funny how some evenings they refuse to engage and others they are very obliging. Switching to a large elk sedge worked well as the evening cooled and the light fell took a few more fish before deciding to pack up and have a good chin wag for a while with the only angler who can fish for the last 30 mins in the evening.

Wye Backdated

2011-08-09T01:06:00.000-07:00

Spent the day on the Wye before my holidays and thought I'd blog the day now, better late than never. I took a guest who had plenty of success, especially on my Larry's Pride I'm pleased to say. Plenty of sedge and olives around and the river had a little top up recently so happy days.

My guest quickly got his target of a grayling and a fine fish indeed along with plenty of wild trout. I received a wack across the mouth with his rod but he still didn't shut me up. We managed a pint in the Peacock before the evening session which was pleasant, apart from the love songs which nearly sent us both to sleep.

Bakewells finest RW came out for a chat and on realising my braided leader which I don't use I exlained I'd snapped the needle knot while snagged in a tree,with my eyes I'd no chance replacing on the riverbank so used my emergency superglue and braided loop. Richard was having none of that and swiftly took me home and fitted me a new leader and with no doubt the finest knot my flyline had ever seen - many thanx RW.

We fished until dark with a few fish taking spinners but as the night fell the trout weren't playing cricket for whatever reason, a little dissapointing but we b oth managed a couple under the odd streetlight before calling an end to a great day.

Night Prowlers

2011-07-25T00:59:00.000-07:00

After a glorious victory for Hamilton in the German Grand Prix I drove to Bakewell with a smile on my face and arrived at the pumping station just after 5pm. Still bright and warm with rising fish I set about catching a few fish and with an olive hatch I soon found some action with my duster and small f fly.

Later I moved around the town sections in search of a few lunkers and with the deliberate intention of fishing late, taking advantage of the spinner fall. I managed a couple of rainbows including this brute below caught on my Larry's Pride before the river coming into a lull, took a familiar tea break.

I bumped into Glen Pointon who'd also came to fish into dark so it was gonna be a laugh tonight in nothing else.

Sure enough we noticed a few spinners bobbing around and the fish began sipping them down like a fine wine. We tied on our orange spinners, well mine cus Glen forgot his the skanking git, and we instantly caught a few fish. By now we were losing the light and the river was alive with rising fish, luckily Glen helped me tie a few flies on as my eyes were struggling somewhat.

Now it was my turn to cadge a few ltd sedges as I'd no sedge left in my box and no suprising they worked a treat as the fishing was electric. Nice to fish with Glen again and we both had a night to remember and completely unique to the Derbyshire Wye.

Wheres my Froggs Fanny Pointon?

Manifold

2011-07-22T12:24:00.000-07:00

After a morning in Manchester I stopped at the Manifold for a few hours on my way home and seeing as though my tackle was in the boot it would have been rude not to.
I suspected the recent rainfall would have topped the river up nicely and apart from a splash of colour I was bang on the money. The overgrown grass and wild flowers showed the venue to be virtually unfished lately, so a quick stroll downstream to fish back up.

I tried a few favorite patterns but found my Larries Pride and other sedge patterns the order of the day, in fact in my experience its usually LDO's or sedges for success on the Manifold. I noticed a few rising fish and picked off a few beautiful little browns. The undergrowth proved heavy going in chesties and theres always plenty of hurdles along the Manifold.

I spent 3 hours in solitude and for the first time I seriously considered whether to tie corks around my Viet Cong hat when I got home - bloody flies everywhere. I was fishing a pool when I stupidly tried to grab one step too many and found myself plunging into the abyss,performing a cross between doggy paddle and treading water. Once I got my breath back I clambered up the bank to ring my clobber out while killing myself laughing, what a pirrock.

I tried my best to fish on but after one more brownie I crawled my way back to the car, wet through and covered in flies. I then drove home in my wet grundy's receiving a few stares from Joe Public, especially moving through Derby City Centre - get in there.

Bakewell Bliss

2011-07-14T03:54:00.000-07:00

Arrived at Rowsley meadows tea time after work to lovely conditions but a very low river Wye. I was struggling at first until noticing a few sailor beetles and after trying to match them, I soon brought a few browns crashing to the surface like the brown below. I also managed a good number of small grayling on size 20 olives which I thoroughly enjoyed along with observing the busy kingfisher I'd not seen here before.

I moved into the town sections for the last few hours and caught some wonderful hardfighting fish before a visit from Jan (riverkeeper) who also had his arm pulled off while holding my rod. Strange how on the odd evening trout seem to have an extra zip, unexplainable but very true, stillwaters included. I suppose I'll have to put it down to something in the air and anyway being the only rod out on Derbyshires finest I just revelled in my good fortune.

I was joined by RW the Dryfly Expert who made pleasant company as we both loitered around town until dark, and after missing a good few fish on spinner, mostly down to my eyesight, we eventually both dribbled over a gorgeous cock brown under torch light. Funny how 2 grown men quickly throw away most of their 108 combined years to become wide eyed boys once again, mind you I suspect a big wild brown trout is the holy grail for both of us.

Ghostbusters!

2011-07-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

Today the River Erewash Foundation received training from the Wild Trout Trusts Tim Jacklin. Subjects covered were gravel sortment, spawning opportunities and gravel cleaning using our new Ghostbuster backpack.
Needless to say Tim proved informative and instantly grabbed the interest of our riverkeepers who will be dotting a few prepared gravel spots throughout their own sections during Sept/Oct. This period provides a suitable window in the river season, in between coarse fish and trout spawning seasons and well past the summer nesting period - perfick!

Riverkeepers turned up for a bash using our high powered blower, a real boys toy with a steel adaption made to provide extra power and prevent stones jamming while working into the riverbed removing most of the silt, leaving sorted and prepared gravels. After a few teething problems like keeping the fuel tank full rather than empty, combined with standing upright rather than leaning therefore letting air into the fuel system causing engine cut out. After working this out all members got cracking with no further problems but I suppose before today nobody was used to working with an engine on their back.

In terms of a leading river authority Tim Jacklin comes top of the list along with Paul Gaskell (The Doctor)also from the WTT - Trout In The Towns project. Imagine having Lionel Messi and Diego Marradonna playing in the same team at their best, thats how lucky we are having their support in river restoration attempts today. If your not a football fan I'm telling you their the dogs danglies - nuff said.

On reflection today couldn't have gone much better with keepers now armed with the confidence to prepare gravel spots dotted throughout their catchments, hopefully tempting any trout seeking a ready made futon in a riverbed of nails,not forgetting a double up for barbel etc. Of course fixing short logs in tail ends of pools would last much longer, providing similar gravel sortment while also offering suitable spawning opportunities, but in the real world the whole process would take an age, especially with nearly 20 miles of river, not counting the 6 tribuatarys. For now we see our attempts very necessary for the near future giving the odd isolated trout a slim chance of thriving rather than none.
REF members should be proud that they raised their own money yet again to buy our riverbuster in the first place, let alone what they intend to carry out with the equipment,hats off to the River Erewash Foundation.
Finally when theres something strange in the neighbourhood,
who yer gonna call.

Lathkill

2011-07-04T03:22:00.000-07:00

Fished the beautiful Lathkill again yesterday and with the sun beating down,river low and wild flowers in bloom providing an unbelievable smell as I brushed by the bank downstream from the fishermans hut. I could have sat and watched the kingfisher go about his business all day while breathing in the explosion of scents. In my ignorance I could only place wild mint and I really must/mean to study riverside plants to place a few names as I wonder along.

In a word the fish were simply skittish, like I've never experienced with just the slightest glimpse of Old Majestick sending them scarpering everywhere, even after I'd crawled to get in position. This was the most challenging days fishing I remember but only while the sun walloped my back everytime I left the shade. I began to take the odd fish mostly browns but before long I was racing back to the hut for refreshments.

After a good doze I fished early evening with a much improved catch rate but not so rewarding if I'm honest, still all beautiful wild Lathkill browns and rainbows, second to none in perfection. As expected not seen or spoke tp a soul all day not including myself when the fishing was tuff mid afternoon. Sedges were being taken with gusto and although I noticed a few mayfly lingering about, they weren't being taken. Another amazing experience on the most perfect trout stream imaginable.

I've left something to read for the next man to enjoy while putting your feet up in the hut.

Brown Sugar

2011-06-30T01:57:00.000-07:00

Fished the Wye lastnight after work and on arrival there was the Balewell Duck Race so I fished through Scotts garden for a while until the crowds dispersed. I declared war on a pod of grayling and lost miserably although I managed 2 small ladies who fell for Sturdys Fancy. I fished through town and began catching fish on sedge patterns, mostly browns for some strange reason. This beautiful specimen was taken at a famous location and luckily another kind angler took this picture below, a monster brown in any river so I was delighted to introduce myself and send him back on his way.

The fishing got better as the light began to fade and they moved into those shallow fastfood holds with confidence. After an almighty crash this huge brown below took off downstream with me running after it. Unfortunately no help with a picture but I did my best while ensuring no harm came to this lunker sending it back fit and healthy. Wow! 2 great big wild browns in one session,there can't be many places offering such an amazing opportunity.

Too Hot To Handle

2011-06-27T02:59:00.000-07:00

Fished the Wye with a guest yesterday and although there was a few fish rising early afternoon with a small olive hatch providing some fish, by 3pm the heat was stifling and unpleasant for man and fish. Off to the Red Lion for a couple of pints as the rear garden is shaded perfectly,like walking into a fridge only outdoors, absolute bliss with a cold pint in your hand.
The Wye had received a tiny top up while adding a slight tinge which I'd hoped would bring on the evening rise with a vengance, especially as the sun dropped of the water later in the evening.

Early evening we strolled onto the pavillion stretch for a few fish and before long the river came alive with sedges and spinners on the menu. We met a couple of rods in town being using bread flies but I proved a point by landing this perfect wild rainbow below right next to them, they do take naturals afterall and i obliged in handing them a few of my spinner flies. I was wondering to myself how far I'd have to travel to catch something equal to this beauty and decided you'd probably have to visit Alaska, this view puts the price in prospective really, a unique experience within my own county - whos a lucky boy. Me and my guest fished in paradise until dark, you know the style, legs swinging parked on your harris, proper fishing on Derbyshires finest. It gets harder to leave this wonderful river and head for home everytime I visit and I'm still a relative novice in terms of knowing al 7 1/2 miles of pristine river and thats not considering the Lathkill, Derbyshires Jewel in the crown.

Proper Fathers Day

2011-06-20T02:22:00.000-07:00

After my 5 fathers day cards along with a few homemade delights my gang sent me off fishing the Wye for the day. After missing the "One And Only" for a few weeks I was keen to get back to some real fishing, mind you any fishing would be great after the last few weeks and afterall today was all about me, me, me.
After a fathers day full english at Tommy Tuckers of I went singing along to Northern Soul tracks all the way to Congreave for a dose of solitude which I gratefully received while also catching a few rainbows.
Sedges were the mainstay with the odd fish caught on olives,mays,sturdys fancy,double badgers etc. The weather was a little blustery and overcast so the fishing was patchy, mind you the river desperately needs filling up which I suspect makes the trout a little extra cautious through the daytime.

After teatime early evening the river came alive with fish rising everywhere and a fare few were caught both brown and rainbow,the sky cleared leaving close to perfect conditions, no suprising the fish switched onto the spinner which always makes fishing here sublime, second to none.

After getting an amazing run taking me onto my backing for the first time ever, I eventually landed a fine rainbow, to my suprise after a bonefish type run it was less than 3lb, a true testiment to the wild Wye rainbows. Minutes later came the cherry on top with the seasons first grayling which proved camera shy, but I think even with this dodgy pic you get my drift, a truly beautiful specimen to end a perfick Fathers Day.

Earlybirds - Something Out Of Nothing

2011-06-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

After checking the weather lastnight I rang my guest for today to suggest an early start which he happily agreed to for a better chance. On arrival we set up and got stuck in knowing the rain Gods clock was ticking so we jumped sections of river fishing the more productive pools to hopefully swing the odds in my guests favor a little. We were lucky enough for the pereguins to put on a show from the top of the ridge today which is always a real bonus in anyones book, truly fascinating vocal birds to observe. After a quick lesson in bum shuffling, tree leaning and kneeling he began to get some sport. With nothing hatching we aimed at scum lanes and features most likey to attract fish, which worked a treat bringing a few nice wild brownies to my guests happy hands.

The rain eventually started to come leaving us running for the hills, well a hollow tree up the ridge which proved great for a shelter and kelly stand while also providing an excellent viewpoint while having our lunch.

We sheltered for a good while praying for a break in the weather before building the courage to fish our way back upstream and before long, after a tussle and half, my guest was completely made up with this awsome brown below, who wouldn't be, and caught on the dry in the pouring rain by a river novice - luvvly jubbly.

Bring Out The Best

2011-06-05T23:44:00.000-07:00

Meeting up on the Dove for my first days official guiding I was a little nervous, why I don't know as Her Majesty (Dove) has always obliged me over the years, I suppose you learn how to get the best from your rivers,similar to a marraige experiencing beautiful moments to warts and all, from dispare to elation in just a few minutes. Anyway after going through set up and testing the gentlemens experience to date we quickly had him working on his approach to a swim, along with a little tree wrestling for flies. Soon enough my guest had a beautiful wild fish in his hands which was already an improvement on his last outing a year ago. Steadily he began picking a few off as he worked on improving his rivercraft afterall it was duffers so no better time of year to practice the art of dryfly and after some tips and pointers he became pretty efficient.

Those that know me will understand how I avoid dictating how things should be done and always relish and enjoy the company, avoiding blowing their minds with a set in stone, hollier than thou approach but today was different with my guest depending on my knowledge and experience.
The mayfly came strong through the afternoon with large columns dancing around the trees and while providing lunch and ringtons we were joined by another guest who plonked himself down on our Hellmans Mayo.

Back to the fishing and gradually we began hitting some fine fish not only bigger but blessed with stunning looks and butterbelly's to die for. Check out the browns below and you'll understand there was 2 happy chappies walking the dove yesterday.

The specimen below understandably took a while to land and watching someones dreams come true in front of you is always gonna be special. I actually prayed as he battled against what seemed like endless ferocious runs, please God let him land it as I talked him throught he fight.

Check the bend in the rod, playing this biggy from his jacksy, the proper way to fish on small streams. The spinners returned early today, obviously after receiving a tip off about the cool evening ahead, especially considering several warmer nights previous to today. Out again with someone next week so hopefully we can replicate an excellent day's fishing.

I like to think my goal was achieved yesterday and the wonderful thankyou email I opened before crawling to my pit confirmed a new angler had been born, a friendship had been made and a special day imprinted in our memories. I suppose in reality I had a assistance from the chap below who definitely helped by bringing out the best.

May-ke It Happen

2011-06-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share a few deadly mayfly patterns that work for me, I'm sure we all have our own go to patterns during Duffers Fortnight and these are mine. This one below is based around an emerging mayfly but holds up well with elk wing and badger hackle well ginked.

This pattern is also taken readily this time of year,the tail is bear and the only answer I got when asking what kind of bear at Walkers was a dead one, but the creamy colour was bang on the money for the tail inside my head. Summer Duck wing and dark olive hackle with dub of your choice but you need to think yellow in my opinion. The basis of this pattern was shown to me a few years ago by a novice who out fished me beyond belief.

Darley Dale

2011-06-02T05:26:00.000-07:00

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.

That's My Boy

2011-05-23T03:15:00.000-07:00

After being blown off Carsington yesterday I decided to return early evening for a couple of hours, especially as the wind gave some respite, briefly I might add after just returning from walking the dogs. After checking the age limit (5) I decided little Alfie Trugg would get his first fishing experience, after all he'd enjoy the boat ride alone and I would have something from the expense off the day.
On arrival the wind had dropped and we both had an amazing evening together using traditional methods (booby on floating line)to catch a few off the top. Funny because when Alfie landed his first fish he was completely full of beans but the smile dropped when i explained about his first trout picture for mummy and plonked it on the bench next to him(check the body language). He wouldn't hold that fish for nothing however i used his distain to my advantage by explaining how I was gonna lye it next to Mrs Trugg in bed tonight, to his horror.
After a peaceful nights sleep on reflection I completely loved the whole experience at Carsington and so did he boy, especially how Alfie proved promising to be a chip off the old block.

Willersley Castle

2011-05-18T23:02:00.000-07:00

Lastnight I popped up to Willersley Castle for a few hours after work arriving at 5pm. There were only a couple of rods out ahead of me so I slowly began my stroll inspecting the river wich is still low, clear and still pretty cold to be honest. There were plenty of fly life including sherry spinner,sedges and a sprinkle of mayfly which were being hit by some big hungry trout if you took the time too spot them.

All fish pictured were taken on drake patterns but I did swap to VW sedge to take a few more and too my suprise sherry spinners were ignored, maybe there switching onto the bigger meal deals lastnight. Overall it was everything I'd hoped for with plenty of big browns but the one noticable dissapointment was as the evening took hold things slowly died down, usually I'd expect rising fish until dark but I found myself leaving before 9pm with little movement on the surface and a hungry belly.

I would say daytime through to early evening would have produced best on the dryfly, but down to dropping temperature and the water needing to rise a couple of degrees the witching hour isn't quite available yet but we are definitely in the season of the drake and with a little help from the Gods utopia is close at hand.

One thing I will mention to provide food for thought, I sat for 30 mins watching a large pool which appeared void of rising fish. Even to my suprise I had counted and located 9 rising fish in this dead pool just by observation. Its just no good staring into a pool for 2 mins and moving on, patience really is a virtue so try parking your but for a good length of time to really see whats on offer. It may seem to be banged on about but thats because so few anglers actually practice observation.
To finish on a funny note I never caught one of those rising fish cus I'm a crap git.

Battle Of The Bulge

2011-05-12T01:17:00.000-07:00

I made my way to fish the Wye after work yesterday on my last visit for a while as I've only a Peacock olive membership and I had some serious pampering to carry out before informing the wife of that, so mayfly membership might of been a bridge too far. There was the odd Mayfly putting in an appearance lastnight like the well behaved beauty in the picture below.

The sedge was always gonna be the way to go lastnight with only the odd spinner here and there on the menu. The fish were obliging as always and I managed a few fine fish around sheepwash area before moving into a quiet town centre in search of the big lads.

After catching some fine rainbows I decided to target the biggest fish I could see with absolutely no success at all, in fact they did everything but laugh out loud really. I did manage a 6lb rainbow and the kind old man who volunteered to take a couple of pics sold me a dud, there were no pictures when I checked the camera - bummer.

Before to long my big sedge was walloped by the biggest splash imaginable and my line zipped downstream like grease lightening. Jesus! I knew this was a biggy and hoped to God my Old Majestick could withstand the beating it was getting. After what seemed an eternity I sensed I was slowly coming into this battle and after humpteen runs all over the place my set up had been totally tested beyond belief so my prolonged knightmare switched to concerns of the hook hold, will it ping out all of a sudden, especially with all heavy head shaking and jumping taking place. After the ultimate fight, Old Majestick guided the giant below into my specimen landing net which all of a sudden appeared very small, in fact I struggled to keep the fish in the net it was just so huge. I did weight the fish for personel record which I'll keep secret for now, unless you see me on the riverbank. Yet again another kindly old man clambered over a wall to succesfully take a few pictures this time. I looked down in disbelief not unlike the first loving inspection at my childrens birth, full of pride while cradling it safely in my arms.

The picture below tells a story in itself where I looked like I'd done a few rounds with Mike Tyson and believe me it wasn't far off the equivelant. Looking down on the little cane I caught this fish on, also adds some weight to the battle that had taken place.

I took all the time in the world ensuring this fish was going back in fine condition, after the fight it had given me, out of respect, I'd have stood in that river all night to wave him off safely, in fact I filled both wellies but who gives a tihs when your holding the biggest fish your ever likely to catch. After a few minutes recovering, it kicked away for another day and the Battle Of The Bulge had been won. After sitting on a wall absorbing the experience, talking to a few bystanders, I decided to call it a day and drove home while laughing to myself as I kept thinking about that old lady watching my epic battle shouting "Oh my God" as it surfaced near my net - I know what she meant as my heart came out of my mouth (50 times) and at last I caught a fish that still looks big in my hands.

The Real Thing (Lathkill)

2011-05-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

I arrived at the Lathkill (middle beat) around lunchtime and after lastnights rainfall the river was absolutely alive. I began the day by inspecting the old fishing hut I'd been hearing about(above)and obviously I wasn't dissapointed. I set up Old Majestick while absorbing the atmosphere of the lathkills own little fishing temple.

I knelt down by the river next to the hut for a few casts with my latest elk sedge varient landing 3 eager fish in 3 casts. Today was always going to special from the off with fish rising to olives,hawthorns,midges and sedges a plenty. Stunned at my amazing start, it was clear a little restraint would be needed today has the Lathkill had chosen Sunday May 8th 2011 to bare her soul to me. I walked slowly to the bottom of the beat with a few minutes absorbing things at each bench.

I fished my way back up picking of a few rising fish before arriving back at the hut for lunch. While sitting eating lunch my lunch I browsed through the returns book and was absolutely gobsmacked how little this venue has been fished. It wasn't difficult to convince myself as I put my feet up and watched the rising fish downstream of the hut that this was angling heaven.

The Lathkill browns are indeed the most beautiful I've seen, second to none with red spots to die for, have a good look at the brown pics. The fish were all hard on the feed taking sherry spinners until dark. I hooked into 3 larger fish and lost them all but it didn't matter one iota,nothing could spoil this splendid day. Nearing the hut I sat and waited for nightfall being entertained by the Lathkill Acro-bats until the resident barn owl blew the final whistle on my most amazing days fishing.

This morning I can't stop thinking about the Lathkill experience and wonder if theres a finer place on the planet. You have paradise all to yourself however, having said that I only intend to visit a handful of times a year to play my part in keeping things this way. As you probably know I've fished a few rivers around the UK and most rivers/streams around Derbyshire and believe me the Lathkill is the real thing. Arrived back at hut and filled catch return with light from my mobile phone, apologies for scribbling.

The Huscarl

2011-05-06T08:58:00.000-07:00

Avoiding working with the River Erewash Foundation during nesting season I found a little spare time, a rare thing nowadays, so I thought about sharing a pattern I've had huge success with on the Wye catching trout and grayling. Like most flies in both traditional and modern styles, anglers have created similar patterns using the same techniques and materials, so be sure this pattern has been created from years of playing around on mostly Derbyshire rivers and experimenting with the millions of flies gone before me. This pattern is among my favorite flies and they really work for me and thats the important thing, self belief.

The Huscarl

I also do a orange Huscarl which has been effective with wild rainbows and size 18's proved best, remember rainbows love a bit of orange. I decided on The Huscarl for a name while sitting pretty in its royal colours it serves me very well indeed. To save anybody googling, the Huscarl I refer to were the finest elite bodygaurds to stand aside our last English King - Harold Godwinson.

You could copy this pattern or hopefully create your own take on The Huscarl and get those juices really flowing. Thank me later

Size 18 dryfly hook
Tail - summerduck or mallard
Body - yellow/orange thread
Dubbing - natural mink down - lightly dubbed
Trigger point - red wool at tail base
Wing - CDC
Sight indicator - purple floss

Might share another Deadly Derbyshire soon.

Truggs On Top Of The World

2011-05-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

Well the big day had arrived, my first visit on the Lathkill and after trying to show some restraint waiting until May to book in I couldn't get there quick enough. I was shown around the 2 beats by Jan the man as I'm fishing the middle beat next week (get in there)so we killed 2 birds. Unfortunatley travelling light I'd arrived at the bottom of the section with no camera which came to light on my second cast resulting in my first beautiful Lathkill brown. Stealth is definitely the key with a heavy placed foot or a little too much Pinochio resulting in fish scarpering everywhere.
Anyway after some intense angling with low water and bright sunshine I'd managed 4 browns for lunch and I was most pleased.

I drove into Youlgreave for an excellent chip cob and a pint at the George and after parking my backside and chatting with some friendly locals I eventually arrived at the riverside again for round 2. I'd always known the latter part of the day would probably produce more chances with hungry trout feeling a little more confident so I decided after organizing a fantastic street party (Royal Wedding) for a few days, I'd have a well deserved nap. I woke up 90 mins later ready to go and after a picture of the fishermans hut it was back down to business.

As expected the trout were more obliging by now and happy to show themselves, in fact they were everywhere as the evening drew in. And the striking difference from the wye was the clear abundance of browns compared to the odd rainbow, and beautiful browns is an understatement, they really are breathtaking.

I remember a few meetings over the years where anglers proclaim the Lathkill to be the bestest and most beautiful river they ever fished and now I couldn't agree more. I remember the well respected Royvs off the forums claiming there was no finer place to fish and me saying "God i was expecting Alaska" although they were both equally as unlikely a venue I would ever get to fish. Just for once Trugg admits he was wrong and miracles do happen, here I was legs swinging off the bank of the Lathkill catching amazing wild browns chuntering to myself something about a dream fulfilled, obviously with a smile on my face.

I landed an excellent acrobatic rainbow with a red tip on its dorsal fin, I seem to remember others experiencing this, maybe its a Lathkill thing and I'll try to find out.

Patience is the key, waiting for the culmination of things coming together to offer the finest fishing imaginable. The Lathkill requires all the neccasary skills and success without them, well I'd imagine you would struggle. Old Majestick(my bamboo)truly fulfilled her potential yesterday with many wonderful fish taking various sedge patterns, nothing smaller than size 14 which speaks volumes. You don't always need to become pre-occupied with tiny flies on difficult occasions as some anglers will claim, just work on the rivercraft and wait for the river to speak too you, but remember like all good Ladies some times they simply don't wish to speak.

Trugg on the Lathkill was always gonna be special day but to think this amazing opportunity was added onto my Peacock membership as a free bonus takes some believing, in fact I'm still waiting for the catch.

Words of advice to my brothers of the wangle to avoid losing something special - flyfishing should never come down to money,fame,science or power, its all about the passion (or the land if your W.Slaney).

On reaching the top of the beat like many a famous angler before me, I walked back along the road in triumph overlooking the most fantastic venue that is the Lathkill - who's a lucky boy!

Wye - Wednesday 20th

2011-04-22T01:24:00.000-07:00

Today I met with Commo for a days fishing and a good crack as always and on meeting up we decided to fish the Lakeside section. Well another glorious day for fishing but we are fast becoming desperate for rain and the fish appearing very cagey indeed. Unfortunately for us the river was being coloured from upstream and after informing Jan we decided to try and raise a few anyway afterall its a stunning isolated location to fish. We had a little success but fish appeared pre occupied but the best moment was Macaroni(Tony)going back for round 2 with a trout he missed earlier and he finished the job this time with an hard earned trout - excellent angling.

Before moving downstream to fish down from the pumping station I managed too snap my Sage in the electric window. To be honest it didn't bother me really although Tony's face was a picture when passing me his spare rod " are you upset" he said "no I'm always snapping rods" I replied.
Still the fishing was challenging although we managed a few smaller rainbows, but I'm happy not catching anything here, this is one of my favorite sections on the island creeping around, hiding from the Viet Cong while hoping for one of the biggies under the bank your standing on, proper jungle fishing in summer but ok at the moment. Any way I managed the one below around there with 2 others, all hard work but eventually falling to my tangerine dream (orange duster), rainbows can't resist the flourescent orange sometimes.

We popped into town for the couple of hours, well after a pint and even here there was little rising. I did tempt 3 rainbows with my VW sedge but again they were hard work. The big bonus was a free ghillie to land our fish DWT (Dave)off the FFF joined in the fun and we had a good chinwag for some time, while he netted a few fish including the beautiful brown shown in the pic below. We both walked back to the cars and bid our farewells, me a few paces behind walking through Scots Garden, something like a scene from Of Mice And Men. As always we had plenty of laughs which is the most important factor - please don't forget it any of you.

Hot Stuff

2011-04-11T06:47:00.000-07:00

Well on the radio driving to Bakewell this Sunday lunch, Britain was hotter than the Algarve and Rome which ain't a bad start in anyones book and arriving at Sheepwash I stepped out into the glorious sunshine and tackled up. I explored a new tricky section going up to Riverside, in fact it was death defying holding onto the wall, trees or anything else to prevent me taking an early bath. Anyway I was rewarded for my efforts clambering along the wall with a few rainbows and its worth the effort to observe the rising trout below you, completely unaware. After catching a few above and below Sheepwash Bridge I decided to try stalking the wild browns in the channel near the Firestation and failed miserably to entice a brown although I was completely succesful at covering my hands in nettle stings.
Throughout the day I managed plenty of fish with some rising and others needing some rivercraft to reveal themselves,luckily amongst the humpteen fish caught were 6 beautiful browns.

The grayling were spawning all over with some huge specimens loitering here and there putting on a show for the keen eyed anglers. My succesful flies were my vw sedge,tupps,duster varients and elk caddis to bring em up in the speedy stuff. Around tea time I got amongst a small hatch of LDO's creating a short burst of blistering fishing, just to plonk a cherry on top of another gorgeous day at the home of flyfishing.

The Plant That Time Forgot

2011-04-07T10:16:00.000-07:00

I tend to avoid blogging my river restoration attempts with the River Erewash Foundation but felt it neccasary to express my dissapointment at a common occurence along our riverbanks all over the UK.

The picture below shows Japenese Knotweed taking over a field along our river bank in Stapleford/Sandiacre area. Try to imagine the dried out bamboo like stems similar to fire sweeping across the field and your not that far from the truth. I reported a small area over a year ago but boy has it spread after last summer,to the point I thought reporting its growth again to the EA might be worth another crack.

Unfortunately the EA asked if its a flood risk (no suprises)and I replied " no, its the damage to habitat/fauna and the corrosion of riverbank that concerns me, along with the risk of spreading rapidly along our fields.
I was told yet again its not on their remit, yet again,leaving me wondering what actually is on the EA remit after feeling let down previously - many times. The EA then recommended contacting the landowner as its their responsibility to remove invasive species on their land. This particular field is claimed by nobody and after plenty of research and a few discussions with river specialists I came to the conclusion I was *issin in the wind.
Rivers everywhere are under attack from knotweed but as the plant rapidly grows out of control, so does the cost of removal, to the amount where nobody wants to know. This leaves the problem untouchable as the resources and costs involving stem injection and specialist removal from site become astronomical sending everybody running scared,totally unable to mount a challenge in our current financial climate.

Obviously dealing with this problem has been put on permanant hold and I will record the damage created in the desperate hope of somebody being shamed into doing something about this problem, preferably at its earlier more managable stages. This plant needs to be eradicated proffesionally as DIY attempts could increase the spread creating major problems all along your river system, creating a japenese jungle that destroys everything. Unfortunately I now fear every visit to the area will be comparible to a running kick in the nuts while having my hands tied behind my back - ouch!.

On the last pic notice the lumps of riverbank crumbling away with nothing binding the earth together, these stems drift downstream and start doing their damage in another location rapidly taking over miles of habitat. When scrolling back up to the top picture notice the bank before and after scenario captured at the edge of the plants spread.
Problems don't dissapear if you pretend their not happening , they just get worse.

Anyway just to finish on a bright note, the resident watervole nearby seems to enjoy wondering amongst the stems, safe under its umbrella I suspect.

Hide And Seek

2011-04-02T13:26:00.001-07:00

Muvvers Day this Sunday meant a mad dash Saturday lunchtime was my only window of opportunity to cast a line this week. Arriving in the glorious spring sunshine, although slightly spoilt by the wind I pulled into the pumping station and began setting up double quicktime, eager to kick off my 2011 Wye Season. Jan pulled in for a chat but before too long I was slowly making my way upstream flicking a line at the odd likely spot, casting to rise which weren't readily coming. Firstly I caught a large grayling which went straight back without leaving my lovely new and very large specimen landing net. I slowly crept around the bends inspecting what the river had to offer and true to form I spotted plenty of huge grayling that I'd spent the winter trying to locate, ah well maybe next winter the knowledge/location might come into play.

Casting was very tricky with the strong wind but the good news was it was weakening as the afternoon passed. I began hitting a few rising rainbow trout with CDC dusters and spotted a very slow trickle of olives, well enough to encourage a few fishy locations. I managed 3 trout text book style from the back moving upstream catching from each rise which made my day already but I had to be on the ball when putting line out ready too pull out of casts thrown wayward by the gusts.

I eventually made my way to the park where dressed in full camo I gently slid down a steep bank to the waters edge to cast up into a few bigguns I'd spotted. In my first few casts I bounced a couple off of huge rainbows but out of my dissapointment came my shining glory. Warren Slaney began a game of hide and seek,riding straight by looking for the invisible Trugg shouting down the phone to Jan who'd visited me 5mins earlier, if I'd fooled old eagle eyed Slaney, surely I stood a good chance with the fish. After a brief chat and Warrens congratulations on me winning todays game of hide and seek, I headed back to the car for tea and sandwiches, but not before Warren pointing out the twitchell running between the houses from the park all the way to the car at the pumping station.

After filling my odge i parked above town to fish Scotts Garden moving back to town for the last couple of hours. I came across a group of large trout smutting on the far bank which proved tuff to tempt but yet again I bounced of the one hook up I got, mind you i caught a few smaller trout as I moved downstream so happy days. Arriving in town I had a few casts and before long had the beauty shown above jumping, splashing and running all over the place the fiesty bogger. Finally I connected with the best of the day, a wonderful Wye brown, well fed and pristine and I'd be hard pushed to catch a finer looking trout all year - perfection.

To my suprise I decided at 6.15pm after landing that brown I'd had my fill and made my way back to the car. While stopping to take the top pic of Scots Garden I felt a little sadness at leaving this beautiful river but I'd been rewarded well for my efforts today, plus my beautiful family were all waiting on my return.

Invisible

2011-03-31T09:18:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share this seasons 3m extending camo handled specimen landing net for safe handling of fish during catch and release on the Derbyshire Wye and Lathkill this season. Note the large pan net big enough for anything these rivers might throw at me, including reach and stealth with camo handle to prevent any glare. Another bonus is the large spiked handled with triple uses as a walking stick, a stand in reeds or soft ground making it an easy grab, or to run through any unfriendly anglers.

Notice the apprentice Trugg modelling the net, raring to go, in fact straight after the picture he had landed his 2 year old sister who screamed the garden down.

Foremark

2011-03-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

Sunday 27th March was the REF Foremark Bank Social and as usual it was an epic day in buzzer heaven with the rainbows patrolling the margins the bank fishing is supreme,as good as it gets with a bonus of not needing a boat as a real bonus.

My first couple of hours was spent helping out inexperienced members to ensure all have a good enjoyable days fishing before throwing a line myself inbetween the Squire(Nice Chap) off the Fly Forums and our own Alan Booth who'd started hitting the fish already. Joining in the fun we had a purple patch with a few hard fighting rainbows snatching flies before displaying the notorious fighting spirit of the Foremark rainbows.

Later in the afternoon after things had died a little I passed a little time before the last 2 hours in Flamingo bay. This was a good call, producing another 8 fish to 4lb+ which I can only describe as blistering fishing, with the added bonus of taking my buzzers. Once mastering the art of buzzer fishing theres nothing quite like that Flyline slipping away before tightening into the fish - bingo!

April is a difficult month on the rivers so I do enjoy reservoir fishing, well until May when the rivers warm up, mind you, I've a Peacock membership this year and those wild rainbows sometimes play ball during April, appreciating the cold water a little more than our Derbyshire browns. Anyway get yourself to Foremark for a sensational session of bank fishing, obviously at very little expense.

The Expert Fly Line

2011-03-18T23:50:00.000-07:00

Today I tried my new Expert WF 4# flyline purchased from Richard Ward, Derbyshires own dry fly guru and below are my own findings using the line and writing honestly on my blog might prove helpful. I suppose I should start by saying the packaging and information booklet inside showing the needle knot and leader make up very handy and fully agree there are huge benefits when dry fly fishing. I use a lighter leader set up than recommended but this is down to personnel preference as the booklet states, I start with 12lb, 6lb and 3.6 tippet for ultimate presentation but for a beginner spending plenty of time swinging in the trees retrieving flies, often a stronger set up, in line with the booklet would be useful to avoid many set ups. The packaging is excellent, booklet great and line marked well, very easily attached to reel from supplied spool

INTO THE BOX
The first few things to jump out at you are the muddy matt brown colour which is obviuosly stealthy, then the lovely slick feel which is top quality and absolutely no memory whatsoever. Obviously the expert may prove hard to see at times but were watching the dryfly remember although I suspect you could attach a hi-vis leader/braided loop for nymph fishing with no problems, especially being a WF line, therefore the line could be used for winter nymph fishing aswell, ensuring good allround value.

GOING THE DISTANCE
I'll start by saying I've fished DT (double taper) lines for a good few years so how was the revert back going to feel, I did have my doubts let me tell you. I'm pleased to say my first few casts were as delicate as ever, effortless casting, but to be honest you expect that from most new lines,but they can all lose that new feel very quickly after getting rubbed in cow pat etc. Anyway my first test was fishing at distance across the river, and with a full line zipping out easily across a large weirpool you'll never have any problems in this department. Not being the greatest caster I sometimes make a few elephant landings but the expert proved itself in delicately landing the fly at some distance, so the easy bit was a complete success with no complaints and considering thats not what the line was specifically made for, maybe a bonus.

THE BOX OF TRICKS
I chose a long line of trees on the opposite bank just short of the surface and while ever stepping closer, aimed my fly to slip under the trees and drift down close to the bank under the canopy. I was very impressed as I managed some tricky casts, landing where I visualised before the cast and edging closer to the trees snail paced performing turbo and side casts very well to keep landing under the branches. The fact I hadn't lost a single fly to the Tree Gods spoke volumes, I was really pushing/testing myself without the air turning blue once, by now I'm slowly becoming a fan.
After some impressive roll casts of various distances the only thing to try was fishing in close proximity, after all the expert will have to stand proud here to suit the majority of my fishing so a real life or death requirement for any flyline of mine.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
Starting with 3m of flyline off the end of my rod I made repeated casts while shortening a few inches everytime. Enter the realm of the expert, the line was amazing at short casting all the way to 1m with the fly unfurling nicely more or less at my feet. I tried small and big flies with the same result so the expert had gloriously past the Trugg (FFF Name) test with flying colours, well muddy brown to be precise. I cannot fault the expert in any way shape or form really and if you love catching browns on dryfly then this line will go some way to helping you become the expert you aspire to be.

KEEPING IT REAL
In fairness the real test comes when being scrunched up, perched on the edge of a riverbank in summer, covered in fauna while short casting to a wild brown. This scene wasn't performed today but the line does arielise well and punch out short distances to perfection, therefore I can only see the expert handling things without any problems with no shortfalls. As always the shelf life will only come into play in the future, how long will it last and keep performing well, who knows we'll have to wait and see. Now some might say the expert line is expensive but it performs admirably against similar priced lines and it does exactly what it says on the tin.
I'm not saying go and buy an expert now and you'll catch all the fish in the river, but I believe your chances will have very definitely increased, especially at close quarters dry fly fishing.
Todays try out was performed on my 9ft Sage which I do enjoy using on average size rivers but I look forward with high expectations when using the expert on my Old Majestick (7ft bamboo), my sharpe shooting rod, I'm sure they'll pair up very nicely to weedle out those wiley trout and grayling this coming season.

All comments on this line are based on my own experience and expectations of a flyline and obviously as honest as ever. You can view the line by googling Dry Fly Expert.

2011-03-12T13:19:00.000-08:00

Simples

2011-03-06T22:50:00.000-08:00

Today I spent a few hours on a new section of Erewash just made available to me and obviously my aim was to famaliarise myself but I did take my rod in hope. Well it was pretty cold but the sun broke through at lunch and not a single bite, not even a nock. I came across a rip rap section with a steep rock bank with overhanging trees that looked very fishy but like a bull in a china shop I ignored a few golden rules before casting into the river. Well I got such a thump 10ft downstream of me and the Erewash barbel that had eluded me swam calmly towards me right under my nose to avoid the boulder strewn bottom. Yes! its a barbel I shouted, nearly wetting myself with excitement but things quickly wet downhill as my rod tip tangled the overhanging branches, first golden rule broken, look around for snags in the event of catching/landing a fish. I quickly tried to wiggle the rod free with a barbel pulling like a train, luckily it pinged loose from the branches but the barbel decided to carry on going. Golden rule no2 broken, plan how to land the fish which balancing 12ft above the river with bush either side i was well and truly in the cack. My only option was to slide down the crazy paved bank, covered in wet leaves and blackthorn to add some difficulty but if i wanted the fish I couldn't hesitate and I did have my chesties on, thank God, mind you my hands are killing today with thorns stuck in my hands. Once hitting the riverbed I shuffled upstream staying in touch until I turned the fish and eventually played a beautiful guestimated 5lb+ Erewash barbel. Needless to say my camera was in my bag up the bank, son of a biatch but none the less, my sense of achievement was immense, mind you it soon faded as I clambered upstream for 100yards to climb back up the bank, where I took a well earned rest before leaving for another swim - job done.

I also managed 2 fine chub, to think this is free fishing takes some getting your head round really, especially the quality of fish and the fantastic fight given by all. I think grayling season finishes at Christmas from now on and then hammer the Erewash until trout season begins.

Might get 1 more bash on the wash before the final curtain is drawn, and just for those fly only anglers who imagine fly fishing is as difficult as angling gets, dream on. Today was every bit as enjoyable as trout fishing, slightly more skillful and much more challenging. Trotting for barbel is a hell of a challenge for anyone and tons of fun.

Trotting

2011-01-31T08:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I walked a 4 mile stretch of the Erewash armed with just my trotting gear, maggots and my hip flask full of Laphroaig. I was on a quest to locate a pod of grayling that were reported being caught last week. Although this was a very tall order, I couldn't resist the challenge but you can stop licking your lips right now as I didn't find or catch any ladies to speak of, although I suspect a rather large lady dog walker who stopped for a chat took quite a shine to me.

I found myself totally enthralled with trotting as its been a long time since my last day out maggot drowning, but not knowing what I might catch added some weight to the excitement, and after a few tangles and set ups, I began to get into the swing. After some time I was so pleased to hit a shoal of very obliging roach, especially as silver fish in huge numbers have become rarer in recent times. I caught one after another until i lost count at 3o+ and what a brilliant couple of hours fishing I'd had, and although not on the fly, every bit as enjoyable.

I also thought I'd share this rather nice chub with you around 3lb I suppose and it went off rather well a good few times which is unusual in my experience, I usually feel them cave in after the second good run, always towards a snag I might add, but this one decided to have half a dozen attempts. I thoroughly enjoyed myself so I guess a change is as good as a rest but I will definitely be trotting again soon.

Willersley Castle

2011-01-23T10:05:00.000-08:00

Today me and Roger Bryant tried our hand at the Castle and after the customary peep over the bridge we were both surprised what fine condition the Derwent was in with a good level running clear. No surprises there were some rods about but considering even I hadn't been fishing this month, most anglers were chomping at the bit with their 1st chance for a while. The fishing was tough at first with very little action, mind you after passing a couple of trotters on their way home who'd caught nothing, we knew it wasn't going to be prolific by any means.

Perseverance payed off in the end as we began to catch a few, thank God! many rods blanked today, even the maggot drowners (ah ah) but not Abbot and Costello - no way. We kept plodding on inbetween brews and even got intimate while cuddling together, locking arms during some dodgy wading across the river, definitely no kissing as Roger didn't fancy it (I did ask though).

Driving home with the smell of grayling on your hands = a good day in my book and considering the effort needed and the difficulty to catch today, we both fared pretty well. No doubt we'll canoodle some more in summer when I suspect the angling might be a touch easier as well.

Only The Lonely

2010-12-19T09:54:00.000-08:00

The scenery was impressive when pulling into Cauldwell Mill this morning, especially after a light dusting of snow yesterday. The Wye was spot on for grayling fishing and today was probably my last chance on the Wye until April with no fishing after December until trout season. I decided to walk all the way to the A6 checking every nook and cranny licking my lips at the thought of rising trout everywhere come spring. after a blank last time out I'm pleased to say I caught a few small ladies along the way, only fishing the likely hideouts for this time of year but inspecting every stretch in readiness for the coming season.

After taking a lunch break things began to warm up a little, well the fishing did anyway as i began finding plenty of those big beautiful Wye grayling. The nymph that proved effective was my own pattern which I haven't named yet but after great success today I'll think on the name. I tried bringing my bottom 2 flies together today to speed up the sink a little and bingo! I was away and couldn't go wrong, having the time of my life was an understatement.

It has to be said that now I'm finding my feet on the Wye the grayling fishing no longer plays second fiddle to the Dove, its every bit as good in my opinion, just look below if you need proof. To my amazement the Wye was my river alone today, considering this form that's hard to believe, I never passed a soul all day never mind another rod - proper fishing. I should mention locating them wasn't easy by any stretch so be sure to keep moving fast and furious.

Needless to say the next 3 months are gonna seem like years but eventually I'll be back on the Wye for those big wild rainbows and browns.

Snow Joke! Your Majesty

2010-12-06T08:56:00.000-08:00

This weekend I joined Alex Swann who was kind enough to offer me a trip down memory lane with both of us fishing from Dovedale to Ilam Rock in search for those huge ladies lurking about. Although entering the car park was a bit scary with sheet ice running right next to the river, I was pleased to find us the only folk mad enough to be there. The snow was deep and the temperature holding -8 didn't bother either of us, the most vital ingredient was already assured, today promised to be very quiet. This venue is spectacular when snow covered and at worst sharing such a wonderful location with genuine hardcore walkers is always a pleasure. Her Majesty was running clear and full and while working my way upstream above the stones I took some time looking around the improvements carried out by LADFFA which has created huge benefits to the stretch already.

Halfway upstream i got a little over zealous when hooking a tree and tish! my rod snapped. Well not being able to face an early bath we began digging around our pockets looking to adapt, improvise and overcome. The only sticky thing we had was Alex's foam indicators so we decided to cut the edge of the sheet and snugly filled the gap while pushing the sections together. Then I used some 6lb tippet to bind it all together and to be honest it became the strongest part of the rod, lasting the rest of the day with no problems. Below shows the craftsmanship that can be achieved on the riverbank and we're considering going into business selling rod repair kits on ebay lol.

We tried really hard to produce a fish but it just wasn't going to happen for either of us and after exploring all the likely pools we decided on a job and knock, quickly making our way back to the car park with a few half hearted flicks for good measure.

You can't win them all and after the extreme weather of late I believe the Ladies could be shying away much earlier this winter, mind you I'll still try like a barsteward to catch them, its just in my blood and make up, even when I know I'll probably fail. I really enjoyed my day with plenty of laughs and best of all I got my customary visit from a Dovedale robin, landing on a branch just a few feet away. I've shard many a winters day with these fat little beauties bouncing along behind me, jumping from tree to tree for miles as I move along. With neither of us catching, it was easier to suffer my first blank of 2010 and at least it wasn't just me that's crap, ah ah!

Royal Stamp Of Approval

2010-11-21T10:47:00.000-08:00

Today me and Arthur Wellersley off the forums spent the day bugging at Church Mayfield (Ashbourne) on Her Majesty The Royal Dove. The recent rains had raised the Dove to a good level and Her Majesty was in fine condition, so no excuses from 2 ever so slightly above average anglers. We both fished teams of heavy nymphs which proved effective right from the off really, bringing plenty of good size fish to hand and not a trout in sight all day.

This venue never ceases to amaze me with its top draw fishing, in particular the lovely ladies that hang around waiting to make a fuss of you. Before too long we'd lost count and all good sized fish in pristine condition like the one below, fishing fit for a King, or two. My top bugging tip for success with the ladies for newbies is as follows, please remember many a true word said in jest.

1/ When tying your nymph use plenty of lead/weight

2/ Be sure not to use any material that wants to float

3/ Hard smooth fly coated with varnish, maybe ribbed with rubber/skin

4/ Next day once dry, throw fly in the bin because it won't be nearly heavy enough

5/ Start again using twice as much lead

Arthur spotted a Salmon struggling to make the weir before slipping bag down in a large arc so there definitely in Ashbourne well above Norbury. This Lady below was the best of the day but Arthur was following my instruction when he caught it (not) and oh my God! what a magnificent specimen it was. This male fish (Full Dorsal) was truly showboating for us, postured like a lion, patiently posing for a few trophy shots. As you can tell by the picture Art was seriously considering giving this beauty a big smacker. If we share many more days like this, you might see us holding hands on the riverbank soon - nicky nacky noo.

REF On The Wye

2010-11-18T09:15:00.000-08:00

Warren Slaney - Head River Keeper on the Derbyshire Wye (Peacock Water) generously offered the River Erewash Foundation a days grayling fishing to raise funds for their project. Arriving at the Peacock early morning Jan (River Keeper) gave members an introduction to the Wye covering rules and techniques. After Jans Prep talk members ran for their cars like the start of a Gumball Rally, they simply couldn't wait to get stuck into Derbyshires finest.

I guided 3 newbies to river fishing giving special attention to the REF's youngest member Jack who is 14 years old. The youngster learned fast and before to long perfected his roll cast in a tricky place and got stuck into his first Lady. The smile on his face convinced me this memory was deeply engraved in this young man's mind forever, I suspect he was well and truly hooked.

He delicately held this grayling for fear of hurting it, but a quick flex of its muscle sooned tightened his grip a little, grayling are near impossible to keep hold of. I got immense pleasure at this young lads achievement, and loved the way he gazed onto this wonderous thing.

Looking down on this grayling Jack shouted "God its beautiful" as I opened the dorsal for him to see all its glory.

Jack tried to squeeze every second out of his first brush with a Wye lady, slowly inching down the bank to gently place her back in the drink. After a well deserved pat on the back Jack soon set about catching the next one - my job was done.

All members reported a fantastic, thoroughly enjoyable day, on top of which we raised enough money to keep the REF going for another couple of years.

Thanks again to Warren and Jan for a memorable day from all at the river Erewash Foundation.

Derbyshire Wye

2010-10-26T20:53:00.002-07:00

Today I fished with Commo and after arriving at the Peacock at 8.30am on a frosty morning in fact Commo had reached -7 coming through Hartington which is nippy for this time of year. After our customary cup of tea we both fished our way through the lower sections with a crisp meadow below our feet. Before too long the sun broke through and to my amazement the fish began rising and although I caught a few on nymphs i was soon doing my utmost to pick out the grayling with my dries, something of a bonus I wasn't expecting. We stumbled upon a little pod of fish in this pool below showing Commo sneaking up to draw them out from the safety of the dangling branches from a snapped tree. An intense moment of fishing and my favorite part of the day where both armed with 10ft rods we fished under the canopy(tricksy) casting to unsuspecting fish rising in the dappled sunlight, a real moment of time standing still where fishing doesn't get much better.

After deciding to spend the first couple of hours fishing the meadows we eventually arrived back at the car after 3pm, you know what it's like when the fishing's good. I experimented with a few awkward bugger's by fishing a spider under my dry fly New Zealand style which can prove deadly around Derbyshire this time of year, resulting in 3 casts in exchange for 3 fish before a Kelly Ringtons and a drive upstream.

We bumped into JT and Marxach of the forum who'd also had a great day and we fished our way downstream of the station where we bumped into Ennio another forumite who we joined company with for the remainder of the day before having another brew and a chinwag back at the car before driving home completely satisfied by catching plenty of fish in excellent company, another most enjoyable day on the Wye.

Wye Cream Always Rises To The Top

2010-10-10T17:02:00.000-07:00

When stumbling upon this sign early morning I had to smile to myself, its great to know they actually mean it and I should have known right there I was in for a good day. It was my intention of locating likely spots for grayling in advance for next couple of months while also trying some new flies I'd put together. I got stuck into a nice grayling (below) on my second cast, making for a fantastic start to the day. Before long the day warmed up, so I hung my coat over a branch and indulged myself with some amazing fishing and still only my first chosen section, as expected really which is probably why I made the b-line for this area. After a couple of hours exploring I decided to move sections and returned to my car for a cuppa and a sandwich.

After moving a few miles I was fortunate enough to locate a pod of ladies all coming to the dryfly, Sturdy's Fancy, Olives and the bigger fish taking my Bradshaws Fan-C, my interpretation of the original pattern which proved effective yesterday. The autumn sunshine beat down as the Wye fished its socks off and its hard to imagine any angler fishing a better river anywhere, not 1oz short of sensational and completely magical.

There is no doubt this river is full of fantastic fish and large grayling are a plenty and inevitably a few Rainbows were caught and released double time, but the grayling definitely won the day.

Sleeves rolled up I managed to pick of some fine grayling from most pools I chose to fish and while playing a fine grayling which took my peeping caddis, I had a visit from the Dryfly Guru Richard Ward and his best mate Henry. Finding myself well hooked on the bottom with a willow preventing me moving downstream in an attempt to free the hook RW shouted "try upstream" at which point he took my rod and wondered off upstream. After a good distance he stopped, turned around flicked the hook free, pretty easily i might add, before walking back plonking the rod back in my hand "there you go" and there lies my lesson for today, at a point when I was going for a straight line snap, RW's experience got me going again, without losing my fly.

Walking back to my car in town I bumped into the likely lads Glen and Woody and after a brief chat I finished a memorable days fishing so satisfied I even resisted a few flicks in town. They say cream always rises to the top and the grayling yesterday showed no signs of staying down below, mind you this river really is the cream and I'm still pinching myself the day after.

VW Sedge

2010-09-14T10:48:00.000-07:00

Why a VW Sedge you ask yourself? well relax because its not German, the material you see below is a small piece of Vet Wrap (VW) that I have used successfully for Mayfly and Daddy bodies this summer, and now this huge red sedge shown below, as they usually appear during the back end of the season. Vet Wrap is simply a self sticking horse bandage obtained from any saddlery and at around £2.99 for a roll that would out live most anglers. After cutting a small square I folded it over and pressed it flat before colouring the piece with a pantone pen. I was impressed with the material, looking close to a real life sedge wing, which just holds in the surface film without treating. I used a matching red dubbing with a large red game hackle trimmed underneath, I also tied a few green ones with horns for a more realistic look.

Now this fly had lived in my box for sometime and earlier in the day Jan (riverkeeper) had mentioned at the weekend how he'd spotted some huge red sedges around lately, but I still didn't twig. Later in the day while brushing my finger tips across my fly box, not knowing where to turn it all clicked into place, VW Sedge, nows is as good a time as any for a trial run, especially after what Jan had said earlier. On a more difficult evening this VW Sedge produced a fine 5lb8oz wild rainbow trout and straight after revelling in my glory, another fish which unfortunately I bounced off. The job was done and this fly earned a place at the back of my fly box for the odd occasion, and the Vet Wrap has proved itself yet again an excellent material, its uses really are endless and one of the best buys in my tying shed.

Magnificent Seven

2010-09-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

After meeting 9am at the Peacock for morning tea, all 7 likely lads decided to stick together and wonder through Rowsley Meadows for a start. Me and Glen set out to make sure John (Badcaster of forum) who was having his first river experience caught a few fish and enjoyed his experience. After a little advise John was away and this picture below shows his first Wye rainbow and I'm not sure who was the most pleased out of the 3 of us. Just for the record Johns casting was ok, pretty good in fact, maybe he should change his avatar to notbadcaster.

I think everybody caught fish in the meadow, even me and Glen wet a line for a few including a fine lady who'd taken my olive f-fly. There was a nice hatch above the water of what looked like pale watery's but with it being early morning and not being able to pick out the distinct yellow eyes, I considered autumn duns as they appeared somewhere in between olive and yellow but with blue/grey wings - all olives to an amateur like me and we were all catching fish so who cares.

Moving upstream of the fisherman's towards the barn I showed John a little of the wild side of things, he soon caught a few fish, in fact he got more takes than me. After a while John was away on his own living the dream and I'm glad to report he had a few trout and 1 grayling which was excellent first time out. Best fly of the day was Sturdy's Fancy which was brought to my attention a few seasons ago by Dry Fly Guru Richard Ward and on its day, a truly untouchable fly.

After my Chinese takeaway in town the crowds disappeared so I set about fishing for some of the big lads in town and they weren't making life easy let me tel you and had me sitting on the bench puzzling more than once, in fact we couldn't get a take for love nor money. I suddenly remembered Jan (riverkeeper) mentioning he'd been spotting huge red sedges and after scanning my fly box I noticed my new VW sedges which I hadn't tried yet. Well you've guessed it, wallop! and my poor little bamboo (Old Majestick) was really put through her paces as a large rainbow was throwing bow waves everywhere, shooting like a torpedo at break neck speeds. I remember Dave (Squire) laughing while commenting on the bend in my cane and he took this picture for me above. After a tremendous fight I'm glad to report Old Majestick had risen to the challenge in bringing home a lovely 5lb8oz Wye rainbow.

Don't Give Up On Us Baby

2010-09-05T05:48:00.000-07:00

This morning I decided parting with my chesties after 2 yrs just to much pain to bare. A roll over a barbed wire fence on the Manifold and a 20 ton lorry wasn't tearing us apart, we are one. I attempted this attractive repair while singing the words to David Souls Classic. The Captain just shook her head in despair through our conservatory window.

Don't give up on us baby - were still worth one more try

Load of Pollocks

2010-09-05T04:10:00.000-07:00

My gang have just enjoyed a fabulous holiday in Cornwall, with glorious weather throughout well the best of the 6 weeks on offer. Determined to try my hand at swiffin I packed my 8# rod and salty flies and here's how it went. After loading up the car I was bombing down the M42 probably dreaming of sea bass when after hearing a noise my wife shouted "what the hell was that" I checked my rear view mirror just in time to see my chest waders take flight like a giant green wind sock before slowly landing in the middle lane, they were then closely followed by my chest/back pack. My heart stopped as I realised my top box had blown open so I pulled into the hard shoulder quick sharp. Fearful of causing an accident and with little traffic about due to an early hours start I decided to attempt a rescue mission which I'm pleased to say was a success apart from my waders had been walloped by a huge juggernaut. Sad as I was, at least nobody was hurt and I'd had a lucky escape really

Waking at 6am it was time for a little session so I quietly sneaked out and immediately bumped into a scene from Enter the Dragon which to be honest provided me with some excellent entertainment watching loads of students in white suits running into the sea and after diving through a wave and running back to the top of the beach, proceeding to forward roll all the way back to the sea again, those suits looked very heavy with half a ton of sand clinging to them.

I walked on and around the rocks as after receiving a few holes in my beloved waders I needed all the help I could get to put a decent line out. Below shows my chosen location and with Bruce Lee still in the back drop all I needed was a fish. Fat chance of that and after a couple of hours I realised I was flogging a dead horse so back to the family, after beating up 100 Goduru experts up along the way.

I returned another morning for much of the same so decided to attempt an evening session next time out, before giving swiffin up as a bad idea, mind you the location was worth the walk alone.

At 7pm I made my way back to the rocks to fish til dark in hope of some success of a fish and eventually I felt a tug and son after caught this little Pollock below. It wasn't a ferocious fight and certainly didn't pull the rod out of my hand but I was tickled pink that I'd achieved my goal of catching my first sea fish on the fly. I managed another Pollock around the same size which my daughter gently threw back for me (not). It felt good walking back, especially after chatting with a couple of bait lads who'd caught nothing from the beach.

On my final night I decided to have one last bash and regrettably decided to tackle up before setting off. I put too much pressure on my rod while stretching for the the tip and snapped 10 inches of the end - Oh Pollocks! This swiffin was getting expensive with a pair of waders and a rod for starters, maybe God was trying to tel me something but being a stubborn git, I still attempted to fish with a snapped rod, but with a strong wind I quickly retired from swiffin, well for this holiday anyway. I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed my salt water experience and if you find yourself on a UK beach holiday don't hesitate to take your stuff but please pack it away carefully to avoid finding yourself in a game of Frogger first thing in the morning.

Another One Bites The Dust

2010-08-26T23:35:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I took a grayling virgin on a mission to lose his cherry by helping him catch his first Lady, the stuff dreams are made of. Mayfield was my choice as the dry fly has been effective for grayling recently and what better way to catch one, than the dry. On arrival Her Majesty had risen a little but was running nice and clear in fair condition and with an overcast sky our chances were good. After a little set up discussion Dave was away getting a few takes resulting in today's aim for him to catch his first lady, and what a beauty below for his first smell of the thyme on his hands - I love the smell of grayling first thing in the morning. I think he looks pretty pleased so another chap truly hooked.

We visited the top section which always blows hot and cold from year to year and on this day I'm afraid the fish weren't playing ball. We moved upstream passing a few rising fish but they appeared preoccupied with something. I whipped through a few flies before remembering I'd tied a few of my mates LTD sedges so thought now is the perfect time to give em a bash. Glen.P would have been proud as this gorgeous grayling sipped down the fly bringing the finest lady of the day who proved a little camera shy but we both got there in the end, although her tail did pull away in the shot below, making it look a little shorter than it actually was - Cheers Glenbo! (Wye warm up).

Mission complete and another wonderful day in good company with plenty of browns and grayling and time for a few Kelly Ringtons. If you read this Dave I will suport you with your new found addiction please don't hesitate to ask for another fix, rest assured you don't have to suffer in silence, but the moment you sniffed the palm of your hand you became a grayling junkie and definitely bit the dust.

Another One Bites the dust

2010-08-26T23:35:00.000-07:00

Wonderful Wye

2010-08-23T05:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday after babysitting Saturday night while the wife took part in a crazy hen night, I took full advantage of my god deed, taking the opportunity to get to the Peacock for 9am to check in for a morning session before meeting the clan at lunchtime. I wanted to fish the lower section as I'd never fished there before, probably because it used to be stocked, but now I'm happy to report has a no stocking policy, moving in the direction of the majority of Haddon water which is now all totally wild - yippee.

I parked next to the Wye at Cauldwell Mill and was amazed by this lovely little stretch and I strolled by the Wye through Rowsley meadows on a glorious sunny morning with a good few fish rising just to plonk a bit of jam on it. I managed a dozen trout and a couple of grayling before reaching the 1st farm leaving plenty more river on the lower section to explore in the near future. As usual time fly's when enjoying yourself and after a surprised double take at my phone it was 11.30am so I dashed back to the Peacock for a pot of tea while waiting for the possy to arrive.

Gradually everybody arrived and after a god chin wag and having a wonderful handmade fly stand presented to Glen and me by Commo for helping him out a little with his fishing. Let me tel you I was as pleased as punch anybody would take the time to create such a considerate most excellent gift. I've checked for hidden cameras as this would be a fantastic way to gain access to top some top secret fly tying, but then I remembered Commo's flies are better than mine and Glens anyway, so panic over. Thanks soooooooooooo much Commo - Top Man!.

We decided on different locations along the river to spread ourselves thin but after all there's 27 miles (think) of fishing so plenty of river for all of us. I went with Glen who showed me and a young man called Alex around the upper reaches. We explored some awesome sections of river with dreamy fast sections for a cold morning, we all caught as well as spotting some real lunkers including a nice grayling Glen caught plus this one I'm holding below and its not often they lok big in my hands.

We all met in town for tea and had a couple of hours to finish the day of, all catching a few of the big lads which I happily helped land with my big barbel net. Deano hooked into a 5lb brown with a kype to die for and boy did he take him on a carousel ride, going round and round every time he sensed the net coming close. After a few special minutes Deano was out of breath while releasing his lifetimes best, gently caressing the specimen back to perfection, ready for another angler to relish. Deano also landed a healthy 4lb Rainbow to cap his day of nicely- he'll be back.

As night drew in bonehead claimed the last bit of glory but I fuly intend to give him a lesson on handling fish within the restraints of common decency, especialy as the pic below clearly shows pleasure of a sexual nature - Thats what you call Living the dream - Dream on bonehead.

We all bid our farewells before driving home on yet another satisfying day on Derbyshires finest, and there is so much yet for me to see. I intend to take full advantage of the new olive Peacock membership deal mixed in with my DCAC I'll be in heaven next season.

All The Single Ladies

2010-08-12T23:13:00.000-07:00

After finishing the decorating I rushed over to Mayfield with my well earned free pass out and managed to get there around 4pm before the traffic built up. After enduring a thunder storm on the way I wondered if I'd made a boo boo but on arrival the sun was shining. I peered into Her Majesty below and couldn't see anything moving so I set up and threw caution to the wind.
My mate Commo mentioned his missed takes here yesterday and I was pretty much suffering the same fate with the odd trout here and there, all on completely different flies and it proved impossible to find a magic fly as there was no fixed menu. Luckily as I neared the bridge the rain came again but I happily fished from under the bridge until it stopped - Jammy Git.

I managed a few trout which I feel were well earned due to frantically tearing through my fly box all the way up to the weir, and with a few nice trout including this most beautiful coloured brown below how could I complain.

I climbed up the bank at the weir to sit on the wall for a rest while overseeing the battle field and
watched the warrior below pull out a couple of fish on nymphs. During another sunny spell you could see billions of caenis on the bend below the weir buzzing around, maybe the anglers curse hadn't helped. I parked my big but for sometime, in fact the angler below had fished the pool out and was long gone but with just a handful of fish I wasn't doing my bull at a gate impression tonight, I was happy in my surroundings and was enjoying the peace.

The riffle on the bend had all but disappeared narrowing the channel leaving the high gravel bar bone dry, totally transforming this stretch by smoothing the surface removing the chance of a few fish in the fast water below the weir. These new changes have resulted in delicate rising fish that will only fall to delicate well presented small flies and they have a month of Sundays to decide if they fancy your offering.

Suddenly a LDO passed by my nose, then another and so on, Jesus! this quickly became the biggest olive hatch I'd seen and the ladies were lying in wait to ambush the little buggers. I couldn't believe how many put their hands up blowing their cover, sipping these olives like there was no tomorrow. I quickly chose my fly and hooked into this beauty below first cast and I was so appreciative of our encounter.

One after the other these ladies fell to their knees for me, queuing up to meet me and I couldn't believe my luck, it was similar to the green light on the Grand Prix. All hell broke out every cast with large grayling splashing, tugging and pulling to the net.

Needless to say I was in paradise and the fish just kept coming snaffling my frogs fanny'd fly (clue) on almost every cast. I decided to fish my way back down and the hatch switched back to caenis and the takes stopped instantly. Me being an inquisitive sod, I couldn't resist wading back up into the trickle of olives that were still hatching at the top end and to my amazement, wallop! straight back into large grayling, 5 more to be precise. I would have never believed it, I could cast upstream for a beautiful grayling at will and then casting downstream to rising fish with the same fly was like pi**ing in the wind. It dawned on me just how much you need to be in the right place at the right time interms of hatching flies, and as a result I will always be on the move before long in search for a similar experience.

This night was to prove my best grayling fishing to date, resulting in 20 big grayling coming to hand and a fair few missed, all caught on the dry which was especially pleasing. I stayed long enough for the LDO's to fade away at which point the Ladies also lowered their hands for another day. I had to pinch myself walking back to the car, a truly amazing fishing spell had jumped out of the blue, bringing me so much joy, so ecstatic I couldn't help doing my dance version of Beyonce's Single Ladies half way down the field m- Mint.

The Eccles-Bourne Supremacy

2010-08-11T00:19:00.000-07:00

Solid! my way to describe the Ecclesbourne which is a small stream located a few miles from Derby and in my opinion the most testing river I know. The Ecclesbourne takes you through jungle warfare, snags and lost flies, quickly leaving you feeling a million miles from any civilisation. Its fair to say this venue seems to be left well alone by most members but if its a real challenge you want, look no further.

The very moment you peek over the bank to check out a pool below, your battle has been lost without even bothering too wet your line. You must resist the urge, staying well away from the riverbank being sure too walk to the downstream limit before drawing your machete to begin fishing at the railway bridge. Above all required skills needed here stealth is paramount and once in the water, crawling upstream snail paced is totally necessary, well if you wish too catch anything that is.

The Ecclesbourne offers intense fishing which I'd imagine could break most average anglers, but those who consider themselves well equipped and thrive on small stream fishing, should take up the Ecclesbourne challenge and no doubt you will love it. I try to fish the Ecclesbourne every year to test myself now and then, on this day I was victorious, after all with on insect life to speak of I managed 3 gorgeous trout on this solid little river, one in the weir pool and two below. If I was to be honest last night gave me more satisfaction than fishing many other rivers where I've caught 30+.

Like the famous song says "if you can make it here, you'll make it anywhere" and if its a long time since you've tested yourself properly then go try to join the Eccles-Bourne Supremacy.

The Lost World

2010-08-06T00:27:00.000-07:00

Last night I was invited to fish a syndicate water just 40 Min's from home which is held by a handful of secretive anglers. To be honest I'd never heard of this river before, but my mouth always waters at the prospect of a new venue, and not knowing anything about the location just builds the anticipation. I met Dave at the arranged meeting point, who then blind folded me before driving to the secret river, obviously I'm joking but I wouldn't have blamed him one iota knowing about me, my blog and my big gob. We parked the cars, had a quick chat and walked down the meadow to this little stream. The first little section pictured below ran into forest on both sides and Dave explained we'd be fishing upstream into the woodland, but not before I held the most beautiful little wild trout across the palm of my hand.

We entered the forest and once past the first bend it was like fishing the Lost World, without the Dinosaurs thank God, as I'd of been easy meat as the fishing was so intense a T-Rex could have landed my fish and I'd be none the wiser. What a amazing little stream winding and meandering through nowhere, and not a soul to be heard or seen. I began catching lots of trout in most pools and I was in trout heaven. Although a truly wild venue in every sense there were signs of restoration, manipulation and know how everywhere, and obviously this handful of lucky bar stewards really new there stuff, after a while I just had to ask Dave who the hell these anglers are. Know Ive met one of them who is top of the river game so I'm not surprised its the most superb little river I've fished, knowing the knowledge and experience within the group. I was totally fascinated studying carefully all the ideas and attempts, some better than others, but all very definitely improving the habitat for our fishy friends. This venue is truly loved by its members and by God it shows, a true testament to all of them.

I fished endless amount of pools, several around every bend, most producing fish of all sizes and it just doesn't get any better than this. I will forever be in debt to Dave for offering me this amazing experience, especially with his ghillie service thrown in to complete a perfect evening.

In true fisherman style I lost a big one at dusk but hardly felt disappointed I'd enjoyed the place soooo much and we walked along a country lane chatting away until reaching our cars in total darkness. I could do it all again today and hopefully one day I will get the opportunity to wonder around in the Lost World once again.

Castle Fit For Kings

2010-08-02T00:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon after doing a rekkie for wild trout on the Erewash only to find chub, I brushed of the brambles, nursed my nettle stings and made my way to Willersley Castle for a spot of fishing.

I arrived 3pm and there were a few rising with plenty of small sedge swarming around the surface. I managed a few fish on my new pattern VW Sedge that I will blog soon but that's another day. I caught 6 browns from the bridge pool on dries and after receiving a new bright yellow line from Cumbrian(forums) it was a good time to test the truth about bright/dull lines. As I thought, no difference and carried on catching the odd fish moving upstream, another myth busted in my opinion but I'm not looking for an argument just make my own observations and believe nothing till I've tried it, like I've found degreaser/sinkant a total waste of time but many would argue.

I caught a lunker under the canopy and boy did it jump out of the water, frightened me a bit if I'm honest. I panicked at the size and mood of the trout so frantically began stripping line from my reel and i was gonna need it. This fish ran me ragged into fast water but I managed to persuade him to the net, putting a good bend in the rod. Once landed the lunkers teeth snagged my net several times still finding energy to spin, flip and then some, but what a full finned, shovel tailed lump it was, he even looked big in my hands which is saying something.

Revelling in my glory I set up camp over my favorite pool and got the kelly on half full for a Ringtons special. While spotting the odd fish and marking them out mentally my kelly began making a hissing, roaring kind of sound. I looked closely and couldn't work it out, was it because it was only half full, was the wind gusting through the whole in my kettle, but there's no wind. Jesus! my ear infections on its way back, so I poked my ear hole out and gave it a shake while down my ear.

All of a sudden it all became clear when a hot air balloon lifted above the trees opposite me, instantly i began laughing my bits off, what a plonker.

Fully refreshed I entered the pool with all the rising fish mapped out so how could I fail, well I did. I couldn't get a take for all the tea at Ringtons, God knows what they were taking but it wasn't in my box. Dusk began setting in and my touretts returned yet again. I tried desperately to thread flies on but kept failing a bit like my eyes, and when I eventually thought I'd tied one on, off it came when casting. I finished off 10 Min's later after managing to tie another fly on my invisible line, only to lose it in the tree behind me. At this point my touretts became unbearable so I quit while I was ahead, talk about from one extreme to another, a total roller coaster of a session, but that's fishing for you, I was beaten to death by those fish in that last pool, they probably wet themselves laughing, if that's possible.

Welsh Dee-lights

2010-07-29T02:07:00.000-07:00

After threatening to kidnap Commo off the forums yesterday we both drove over to Llangollen(Trevor) and picking up the Country Park signs we bought our £10 day tickets of a friendly lady in the shop at the Country Park. Me and Commo nearly collapsed when she mumbled something about fisherman and asked " is there a competition coming up" especially after our 2 hour drive to get there. Then she explained how 2 other fisherman obtained tickets earlier and are taking a 3 day break although they might not fish today anyway. Obviously after a giggle and a huge sigh of relief we set about fishing some of the miles of river Dee available from Maelor Angling Association.

We started of near the Viaduct and wondered downstream to the country Park but along the opposite bank and began catching fish instantly on dries. We caught countless beautiful little browns who snatched at everything, although high sticking in the swing produced most takes with red tag and bradshaws fancy proving best flies for me. The pic below shows Commo high sticking across the riffle to good effect with plenty of trout that were very obliging.

Lost in time we suddenly realised it was early evening so after a couple of Ringtons brews (Micky 2 cups) we headed back to the car in search of some nosh in preparation for the last couple of hours evening session. Driving towards Llangollen for a few miles we came to the Sun pub on the right pictured below. I've been told the fishing can be good through the entrance opposite the Sun so we popped in to check the menu and kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Browsing the reasonably priced menu Commo went for Gammon steak with trimmings and I chose the Ruby Murray (keeps the chesties warm at night).

The food was pretty good and we even got some locals offering us their advice on fishing
below the pub "match the colour of the rocks and you can't go wrong" one chap shouted.

On approaching the water Commo said "does your fly match the grey rock colour" I laughed after replying loud and clear "yes" then I showed him my red hackled Red tag.

We both caught plenty more fish through this section and Commo landed the best Lady of the day but we'd only managed 6 between us all day, which was unusual considering we easily caught 50+ trout. No lunker to show for the day but a truly great day none the less and all for a tenner.

While fishing this area its easy to forget all civilisation exists as the pics below capture the lonely angler (Commo) in the vast wilderness with breathtaking scenery. Both fished out and knackered we crawled up the hill back to the Sun car park where a few hippies were strumming a guitar having a sing song. i soon rained on their parade when I stripped to my cacks in the car park, well I had to put dry clothes on and anyway it finished Commo's day off in true Trugg style.

We both chatted away until reaching Stoke where we bid our farewells
until next time of course. An excellent days fishing on the Welsh Dee in good company so until next time...........................

Trugg in Wonderland

2010-07-20T01:34:00.000-07:00

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.

A Few Suprises

2010-07-07T12:18:00.000-07:00

Finding time and enthusiasm to blog has been difficult latelt but I've been fishing the Erewash several times in search of my 1st Erewash barbel and when finally hooking a good size Billy I quickly got smashed to pieces by this animal. I've since had to re-think and tackle up before considering another attempt along with some much needed respite. Those anglers with barbel experience can appreciate that catching one in a small stream full of snags is close to mission impossible, in fact my skills were found lacking somewhat, in my failure I sat for an hour as darkness fell all around me, totally devastated.
Needing to refresh my batteries a local lad had told me about some brown trout in the Erewash so I took a welcome break and aimed my sights on my 1st Erewash brownie with my fly rod. Arriving at the secret location I plonked my backside down and observed, to my amazement the young lad was right, sure enough there was a brownie smooching about and God knows I've caught enough to know what I was looking at, in fact I spotted 3 browns that day. After throwing everything at this Wiley bugger, I resorted to my white Larries Pride (bread fly) which did the business instantly, hallelujah! I owe so much to this pattern its untrue, especially this time of year when it always comes into its own, producing time and time again.
Let me tell you that's a biggie crossed off my Erewash list and although the picture shows a slender long trout, in fact a bit skinny really, this trout is right up there on my accomplishment list and he was most welcome after proving to me inconclusively that we have brown trout in our river after seeing with my own eyes.

Lastnight for a change I went after some of the Derwent barbel with my friend Dave. This is free fishing with my DRAC membership (bonus) as they own a sensational stretch of prime barbel water in the Borrowash area. I stuck with it all day until 9.45 the witching hour and I got the pull of my life. This was definately a good barbel which in no time had took me downstream and tangled up my second rod just to complicate things. Dave came to assist me with the net, helping with my other rod and on watching the fish surface he shouted "bloody hell, its a big un mate" and how right he was.
After a tug of war we landed my personnel best 12lb 3oz barbel and just before dark which only added the atmosphere on a wonderful summers evening - get in there!

Silly Old Moo

2010-06-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

A day off work and time on my hands so a drive around Derbyshire starting with the Dove where the mayfly were thin on the ground with little rising so I ventured further a field to the Manifold(below). On arrival there were a trickle of Mayfly with a few splashy takes but nothing to write home about here either. I tackled up and fished for a few hours and although as always I thoroughly enjoyed my time here, I only had 3 stockies (below)for my efforts, a little disappointing really but that's fishing folks. I decided with time to spare I'd drive over to the Derwent for the triple whammy and fish the evening at Willersley.

Willersley Castle

Following that DCAC tradition of peering over that bridge upstream there was definitely progress with plenty of mayfly, well compared to the Dove and Manifold anyway and with a few rises I felt more optimistic. I carried my extra bag with my kelly stuff as I'd decided I was doing more observing tonight, therefore plenty of brews will be enjoyed so the 2 bottles of water were heavy but sitting on the riverbank can be thirsty work.

I picked of a few trout on the way upstream like this handsome devil (below) which unlike the brute before him who'd pulled me into the fast water and snapped me off, came to my hand with a little risky bullying. The fish seemed to be holding in the powerful fast shallow water at the tail end of the pools which was a real test for anyone to land but nobody said it was easy.

I walked up to Masson Mill to search for anything rising and plonked my brew bag on the bank and thought I'd fish the bend before a few cups of tea. I didn't have any success here so after a while decided on several cups of tea was in order. I turned around to witness a gang of cows giving my brew bag a good treading then nosing it around before another stomping.

I clambered out of the river shouting obscenities eventually getting them to scarper as I got close and my bag was crushed and covered in cow snot. I checked inside hoping my kelly still resembled the shape it was before getting mugged and to my surprise it was perfick. To my disappointment the sons of bitches had exploded my 2 pints of milk everywhere which ruined my chances of a brew, talk about Cravendale being so good the cows wanted it back. Eventually I managed to console myself after shouting a few more obscenities and got on with the task at hand catching fish but they followed me all night, I'm sure I heard the odd giggle as they carried on goading me.

My biggest surprise of the night was this chub taken on mayfly and he gave a good account of himself and had me completely fooled until he surfaced.

I eventually noticed a lively pool late on with mayfly spinners getting walloped everywhere, this was it, my mayfly season had begun in this intense little area for no no doubt a culmination of reasons that I won't try to explain. I was catching every other cast and all decent fish, of all sizes. It was one of those sessions that leave you exhausted, once you wake up from the duffers dream that is. I'm my Ltd experience I have noticed different rivers do better annually than others and they seem to take it in turns and I predict the mayfly on the Derwent have not been this good for 4 years but I suppose being in the right place at the right time had something to do with it, needless to say I struck while the iron was hot, finishing with this fine fish below as night fell, and to save what little dignity left in me, I will only say I caught plenty.

Its been raining all night so lets hope it doesn't have a negative effect on the mayfly season and I wish you all an equal experience to mine last night.

Darley Duffers

2010-06-03T01:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I made my way to Darley Dale to fish the Derwent as its usually excellent around this time of year. Some recent rain had put a little water back in but still a little low but running clear and looking appealing. to start the day off when parking I met a chap who'd not fly fished on rivers before but explained he'd lots of still water experience but was lacking that bit of confidence to approach the rivers. I offered to help a little if I could and off we went in search of some rising fish which was obviously instantly, this lovely river was full of fish taking mayfly which made for a perfect day for a river virgin. I gave a quick demo of approach, method and considerations before catching this lovely fish below, old bighead strikes again.

As to be expected there where a few timing issues resulting in missed takes, over striking, bouncing off and plain old missed by miles but before long, Bingo!. Below is a picture of the chaps first wild river fish and no doubt one he won't forget. I'll never forget the joy and pleasure this beautiful trout gave him, another slave to the river was created right then and there.

Below shows him full of confidence fishing from the middle of the Derwent and he soon began to raise his tally before half time with a Ringtons Tea break with the Kelly.

By early evening, spinners were a plenty and the fish were taking no prisoners so we filled our boots in duffers paradise. White and yellow drakes caught plenty and by evening they were queuing up to join the James May fan club like the one below with one hanging out his mouth.

We stopped for evening tea with Mexican chicken wraps for supper, courtesy of my companion, before fishing into the night and my Buddy's timing was fast becoming spot on catching 5 fish from one pool while I secretly watched his technique from downstream. Finally I was really pleased with my last fish shown below, a swollen little brown with a belly full on mayfly. Needless to say more than enough fish were caught by both of us on such a classic memorable day with its sunshine, mayfly, trout, Ringtons and best of all, good company. We arrived back at our cars where my partner thanked me for a superb day spent together and no doubt over the next few days he'll realise just how good and before long he will have to admit his new found addiction.

Hang on! nearly forgot I spotted a Derby Railway angler fly fishing from a 12ft bank the pillock, he did have a long handled net but come on! I know the DRAC membership is cheap but that's no reason to act like a chav pillock with no regard for his quarry. People like him give the sport a bad name bashing and bouncing fish off the bank before throwing them 12ft back into the river to die. Please have a whip round and buy this Pratt some waders along with a few lessons on catch and release. This would be better option than me wrapping his landing net around his neck before bouncing him around the bank and throwing him 12ft into the river.

Willersley

2010-05-27T08:20:00.001-07:00

Went at 5pm after work to find the fish rising well in some of the deeper tree lined stretches, due to the shallow water no doubt. I landed 7 fish all taken on Mayfly, the best a fantastic 3lb wild cock fish, no camera, gutted, suicidal and bloody typical. This fish fought like sugar Ray Leonard running rings around me, first heading for cover with his brute strength and then trying to move into the very fast water downstream,. At one point my line was snagged on my bag pack with the fish sniffing my backside, before twanging off for another round, God only knows how I landed this fish, I swear I felt like I was under attack. We all know about the lunkers lurking at the Castle and I've probably caught my fair share, but this fish was top of the bill for me at Willersley and definitely my most memorable along this stretch.

There were a mixed bag of insects around including a few mayfly and just as I took time to realise how intense my pleasure was (buzzing) seeing these huge mouths wallop my mayfly, along came the rain to put out the flames. In next to no time all but the odd rise on the far bank had stopped. I struck up a conversation with an old timer who remembered fishing the Peacock water for £12 claiming that was expensive at the time so he had to reduce his fishing to once a fortnight. He explained how he'd moved to Cromford in his retirement and had lost his fishing buddy aged 80, who'd left him some vintage tackle he was proudly using last night.

Just when you think you know it all, along comes an old chap to humble you with stories from the glory days gone by, clearly hes forgotten more than I know and we both chatted away under a tree for an hour while the rained did its best. I wasn't going to blog without pictures but decided it was a record for seasons in the future, especially improtant in the run up to Duffers.

Manifold (Round 2)

2010-05-19T23:19:00.000-07:00

Manifold

2010-05-15T23:25:00.000-07:00

Well finding a Saturday to myself comes rare nowadays so what better idea than to kick off my river fishing season exploring some more of the Manifold, after all it's my intended base camp this season. I'd heard some recent restoration work had been carried out and I usually have a nosey at DCAC's habitat improvements on all their rivers, looking for a few ideas for the River Erewash Foundation. Arriving at the river I immediately noticed it was gin clear and running a little low, so no doubt stealth would play its part today - ahhhhh grasshopper!

I snailed my way upstream hoping to spot the odd rise here and there, resulting in a few wonderful specimens like the one below, absolute perfection in my opinion. These fish won't pull your arm off but they demand respect from the palm of your hand, totally mesmorising and truly wild fish but pretty difficult to catch if I'm honest. The picture above is a wider open section and anything longer than a 7ft rod would leave you struggling in many parts. Today I found myself using every cast in the book from some hard to imagine positions, even offering slow motion casts like a golf swing, making sure my rod wouldn't catch the trees both above and around me.

There were a few olives coming off in small patches but the river was absolutely bouncing with these cranefly shown below. Everywhere you placed your hands, on the bank, along a wall and even under the bridges, they were taking off by the dozen. As I understand there have always been a trickle of early season cranes followed by a larger influx of them later in the summer months, but I've not experienced any where near this amount early season. I am happy to stand corrected, and even happier for an explanation of why so many this year, hope the Mayfly hatch is as good.

I took the liberty of a photographing some recent works carried out on the Manifold showing the huge effort being made by DCAC, Trent Rivers Trust etc all for our benefit. Narrowing the channel and reclaiming the bank has already proved very effective elsewhere on the Manifold, providing habitat for all these little beauties like I caught today for a start. No doubt we will all reap the rewards soon enough. If anyone fancies reading up on river habitats/restoration the Wild Trout Trust do a Wild Trout Survival Guide advertised on their website, very informative and worth putting every penny to a worthwhile cause.

The pic below shows my monster of the day, with his full belly on show, growing fast for my future enjoyment hopefully. I did connect with 2 larger specimens today but decided to go for the long distance catch and release method, but they'll be other days. Be assured there are always a few surprises lurking when fishing the Manifold, if you make the effort that is.

Finally making my way back to the car I bumped into Andy Heath from Trent Rivers Trust who has earned himself a fabulous name within the angling fraternity for his efforts around the Derbyshire/Staffordshire rivers. Part responsible for the Peak Passport Scheme, offering wild fishing to visiting and local anglers up for the challenge. Anyway he made a good impression on me and he seemed thrilled I'd caught fish on a virtually unknown section so we sat on the bank looked at my pictures while chatting away. We both noticed a fish rising below us and I made my way to make some tricky casting under a bank. Up he came to snatch my take on a Greenwells Glory and although I felt the fish, it came off instantly. I was disappointed not to lay that wild brown across Andy's palm but who wants an happy ending all the time, that's just not fishing. My only regret of the day was not having a few hours to waffle away but hopefully we'll meet again soon.

All Creatures Great and Small

2010-05-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

Today having the afternoon off I decided to reckie a small trib of the Erewash called the Golden Brook. I followed a lovely little stream, well where I could get access, mind you I did a little fence hopping and garden creeping as well. Assisted by 1 or 2 locals I found some lovely spots with some small truly wild browns (90% sure) darting for cover, all very small and disappearing quicker than a speeding bullet. I fancy my chances of a picture but with neither my camera or a net to sweep the clumps of weed they used for cover, I had little chance. To be continued.............

After getting my juices flowing I decided to have a crack at the Erewash for a few hours at a location where I've been noticing rising fish in a totally unfished location shown below. With no access across the bridge (shown below) and the river running next to factories on one side, with an empty field on the other, only dog walkers catch a glimpse here and there. Today being overcast and a little cold there was little insect life around so there wasn't any movement on the water but what the hell I was here now.

Wading is dodgy through this stretch with industrial waste, metal fences, motorbikes, shopping trolley's, breeze blocks etc so slowly placing your feet was the order of the day. I did manage a few takes on a small olive but couldn't connect, probably due to my inadequacies but I suppose at least I gave the fish a laugh. I noticed the odd olive float by and scooped the one below to have a butchers, this was probably the reason for the odd rise in the distance but I wasn't going to benefit any how and went for a walk further upstream. No fish to show for my efforts but not for the want of trying I can tell you.

Arriving at a more rural section there was a few small fish rising around the riffle shown below, things were deadly quiet apart from a Heron who'd kept just in front of me for some distance, moving like a tenner blowing in the wind everytime I got close. I may have been in the wilderness, quickly forgetting I was fishing an urban river with towns on either side, today was a real challenge for a change and preventing a blank was gonna be tuff.

After sneaking about and frantically casting at some small rises for some time, I became totally frustrated but still determined to catch something. I tried many tiny flies to induce a solid take but floating on the fringe of the riffle was a problems for the flies I had chosen and I'd began talking to myself out loud (mental). Sod it! on with a small Klinkhammer ginked up to the max. I began getting some interest and eventually hooked into this little beauty below which was harder to catch than anything I can remember, laughable it may seem but I was totally overjoyed at not blanking. This minnow was one of my greatest achievements to date and truly appreciated no matter how small he was, today I had been tested and walking home I realised I'd had an excellent warm up for my switch back to some much easier river fishing.

Ogston Res

2010-04-28T22:50:00.000-07:00

Today I spent the afternoon at Ogston which is a DCAC stillwater I haven't tried before but its a place many members speak fondly of. First of all on arrival this venue is absolutely beautiful and well worth a trip with the family even without the fishing, an abundance of wildlife in a deep picturesque valley surrounded by pine forest and fields.

I parked on the North Bank car park and had lunch looking out over the water, while I gathered my bearings on fishing spots, car parks and check in stations. A quick look at the water showed the wind coming straight at me had smashed the muddy banks a little, colouring the water this side which would probably make things difficult so throughout the day i fished most other banks.

I managed 6 rainbows and this fine perch below for a bonus all caught on buzzers my preferred method for the day, and what a lovely day it was, hopefully I'll get another crack soon before switching to the rivers.

Foremark Magic!

2010-04-26T04:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday some of the REF members had a day at Foremark and as usual it proved to be a good day full of laughs. We started the day catching on nymphs/lures until lunch then switched to buzzers which proved deadly for the rest of the day. Early season buzzer fishing at Foremark is near unbeatable and with the quality of fish coming through yesterday its difficult to see past at the moment. My brother started catching every cast using the biggest ugly buzzers I've ever seen, he'd received enough takes for me to give em a go. To my amazement I began catching fish and have to admit you learn something every time out, these giant ugly buzzers caught were my buzzers failed.

These pictures below show our kid playing a fish of the backing and what a beauty it was with a lovely spade tail and fully finned to near perfection, no need to question the quality of fish here.
I have to say although I take crap pics this one shows why beautiful Foremark is second to none in reservoir fishing from the bank, especially early season.

I got lucky with the biggest of the day which took me out on my backing and struggled with me for 10 mins before finally giving in and coming to the net. Ady caught a lovely perch worthy of any blog and the best of the day in my opinion. For those that couldn't attend yesterday what a bad choice you made in missing possibly the best still water fishing this year, absolute magic with a total of 30 - get in there my son!

James May

2010-03-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

I've been slowly preparing my dries for trout season and got around to a few mayflies tonight and I thought I'd share the mayfly pattern, especially as it landed some beauties for me last season, including some monster wild browns pictured on my blog. The only change this year is a different body material called vetwrap which is a roll of horse bandage I bought from a saddlery although there are many different makes and the colours are difficult to obtain so read on.
This idea was recently shown to me by Wendy Gibson on a fly tying demo, she also used a brown colour for the Daddy (detached body) which also looked the business. Wendy informs me should anyone wish to obtain ready to go bodies or require the material or make any other flytying enquiries, please don't hesitate to contact her, she won't bite fliesbywendyg@hotmail.co.uk.
Anyway, Vetwrap seemed to do the trick nicely for me, just cut a small piece off and lay pheasant tails inside before rolling it up tighter at one end for the taper. The beauty is this stuff is self sticking without adhesive, like Tommy Cooper said "just like that".

This is a very easy and quick fly to dress which inevitably will be devastating sooner or later all over Derbyshire. I've decided to name it the James May because the hackle has similar colours to James May's hair and their both scruffy looking. Notice I leave the hackle long as sometimes flies can be taken more readily when left in their natural state on the underside. In my experience its worth experimenting while actually fishing with the fly, start trimming underneath to slowly sink further into the film until you get a response. I practice this with all my hackled flies rather than taking the usual professional advice of trimming the hackle underneath before you even start fishing, that way you'd never know would you, unless your Doctor Doolittle.

Buzzing! at Willington

2010-03-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

Me and my bro decided to fish at DCAC Willington stillwater this afternoon and arrived at 1pm to spot a couple of rods already out but considering the size of the trout lake 4 rods are a drop in the ocean. We both started on lures fished with an intermediate line which instantly produced action for both of us with lovely rainbows that just wouldn't be bullied, leaping, darting and tugging for all their worth, giving a fabulous account of themselves.

Willington is a joy to fish with acres of space to backcast and a well maintained venue, completely private under lock and key as usual, with the added bonus of driving your car around the outside of the lake, especially handy when the heavens open and you need to run for cover.

Willington is a very peaceful getaway with plenty of wildlife to catch your eye now and then and without the odd glimpse of the power station to remind you where you are, (shown above),you could be miles from anywhere.

During the afternoon we got smothered in buzzers, so much so we just had to give them a go, my God! we wouldn't regret it. These rainbows were well and truly on the buzzer giving me my first buzzer session this year. The ferocious pulls had to be seen to be believed and watching that line slip away on buzzers is always superb. We both had plenty more fish on buzzers completing a wonderful days fishing at a superb stillwater. The rainbow below shows the quality and stamp of fish being caught today - fandabbydozy!

Fabulous Foremark

2010-03-15T12:18:00.000-07:00

Its that time of year when bank fishing at Foremark comes into its own, producing some of the finest stillwater fishing available in the early season. My fingers became sore with whizzing lines zipping through my fingers so many times I lost count, and these feisty little buggers give you plenty of jip snatching at your blobs, boobies and lures. Some chap explained for some reason red has worked well for me today, good advice that also worked for me. During a bright spell I couldn't resist a crack at buzzers but with no success, but no doubt they will come into their own soon enough, as always at Foremark.

Good clean bank fishing all the way round at Foremark and although its a beautiful setting, take care not to fill your reel with sand and not to wear the skin off your fingers while both stripping and hanging on to a few savage takes. Make a conscious effort to avoid sandy fly lines as they can Mueller your eyes on your expensive rods, in my case I use a cheap 9ft so don't give a toss.

After a while I made my way around to Flamingo Bay to catch a few more with my brother showing a good rod bend below. We finished on 21 each, both playing our last fish as the siren blew, not a bad afternoons fishing, good enough for the girls I go with. After spending 95% of my time on the river this makes an excellent change now and then, especially while the rivers are still warming up a little. I'll be out again Wednesday and can't wait to get my hands sore again.

On the Money at Mayfield

2010-03-03T22:46:00.000-08:00

More lurvly ladies taken at Mayfield yesterday on what can only be described as a lovely winters day. Her Majesty was running clear and in fine condition, and although the ladies didn't throw themselves at me today, I got too meet 4 well built Derbyshire lassies to be exact. Obviously I was check nymphing on my 10ft rod using 2 heavy Leatherbacks size 10 which proved best yet again catching 3 but I did manage 1 from the weir on a 16 nymph.

With winter coming to an end I feel the grayling fishing has been exceptional for some reason, producing a good number of large ladies, maybe just another strange cycle, similar to the Mayfly hatches where every few years they return in force with amazing hatches compared to dribs and drabs, who knows? I enjoyed a long chat with another member which proved very pleasant indeed, obviously an accomplished angler with time for his brothers of the wangle, hope to meet him again soon.

Extreme Fishing at Willersley

2010-02-24T22:00:00.000-08:00

Managed to wangle a day at the Castle today and looking across the snow covered ground I

wondered about my sanity, before remembering I'd just had my £5 Mega Breakfast from the Tor Cafe next to the traffic lights just up the top of the road above Arkwright's Mill, including tea and toast this would prepare you for Everest believe me, a fine way to begin a winters day grayling fishing.

I managed a nice little lady 1st cast at the bridge and thought instantly, everything else is a bonus now. I took a walk trying to pick off a few fish in likely spots which produced some success but all below half a lb, where had the biggies gone today. The pic below gives an idea of conditions and although it was bitterly cold the Derwent was in fine fettle.

I noticed 2 real fly boys walk by before realising it was Bernie Maher and John Tyzack, both top of the game anglers, especially John the XR3i Turbo injection 2 million times river champ. They both walked upstream towards the weir, obviously hoping for the lunkers below the weir section as there's always grayling in numbers there. I eventually fished my way to Masson Mill where I found a couple more ladies in the deep section by adding an extra long tippet to bumble my leatherback along the riverbed in the deep channel against the wall, I've found this usually brings me a few fish, below was today's result with my leatherback still in its gob, not massive but beautiful all the same.

Feeling a bit chilly I decided to walk upto the weir to have a butchers at John and Bernie while moving some blood around my legs at the same time. I got chatting with Mr Tyzack who's face was a picture when he noticed my extra long tippet and droppers with nothing on and my shark hook leatherback which he struggled to lift. I watched Bernie fishing from the Mill side before he suddenly dashed through the river upto is armpits in freezing water, mad as a hatter. We had a brief chat where John offered some free advice, which proved helpful as it brought me a few larger ladies from the Weir - result.

The pic above shows me looking downstream past Masson Mill from the middle of the weir pool which today was completely wadable, a rarity for most DCAC anglers, apart from Bernie I suppose. Below are a couple of my better fish of the day which I have to say was fandabbydozy.

Good Morning Her Majesty

2010-02-21T01:16:00.000-08:00

Spent the morning grayling fishing on Her Majesty on Thursday, apologies for the delay but I'm pleased to report all her treasure is still in place, if you know where to look that is. It was extremely cold in the river and I needed to break away from fishing now and then to keep my legs working. I should really avoid wading above the knee in extreme temps, at my weight arthritis could really kick me in the butt in my older years, worse case scenario finish my beloved passion prematurely. On this day it was worth all the effort searching around the cold river, especially when I found a pocket of beautiful ladies, laying in wait to pleasure me.

I had a few sizable grayling like in the pic above, mixed in with a few just a pleasing smaller ones like the fish shown below. I used a check nymph method with 2 of my extremely heavy Leatherback Nymphs which have proved deadly while bugging this winter. To be honest I've found 2 check nymphs more effective than 3 around many Derbyshire rivers, well the shallow ones at least, I hate them bloody snags when fishing 3 and the depth is much harder to control.

I gave up just after lunch after a memorable mornings fishing and I dare say I probably would have lasted longer than Robson Green as this was real extreme fishing. I'm of the opinion that the quality of lady bashing this season seems to be supreme, if not as regular as usual it has produced many beauties like the one below, my favorite of the day.

Quiet day at Milldale

2010-02-07T12:26:00.000-08:00

Dynamite Derwent

2009-12-13T09:53:00.000-08:00

Me and Del off the fly forum went grayling hunting on the Derwent today and after the heavy rains of late I didn't know what to expect really. On arrival the river was high and running like a steam train but looking on the bright side there wasn't much colour in the water. We began walking upstream hoping to find a pool that might be fishable but to be honest I haven't fished this stretch so high previously, but we're here so what the hell.

We quickly came across a few bait anglers who hadn't had much success, and after landing a nice grayling more or less instantly, one chap came over and said "I wouldn't have believed that if I hadn't seen it" I can't get a touch on bait. I have to admit I revelled in my glory a little, but explained its just beginners luck, but the funny thing was every time I spotted him watching me, I hooked into another fish.

The day proved perfect with plenty of grayling for both of us although at times we became frustrated, not being able to position ourselves favourably to fish a few likely spots, the flow was so immense. Its fair to say we gave the bait boys a good hiding which is guaranteed to place a smile on my face. I have to arrange the River Erewash Foundation Bash for tomorrow evening so sorry about the short post but just enjoy these pics below for now, a brilliant day in excellent company.

Willersley Castle

2009-10-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

Today I started with dry fly around the bridge catching a 2 small grayling and on reaching the faster water set up my check nymphs on my 10ft rod then fished through the likely areas upstream to Masson Mill. The grayling were pretty keen today with all ladies fighting very hard, dragging through the fast water making my life very hard, losing a few nice fish as a result.
I steadily caught ladies going upstream with my leatherbacks winning the day easily and after a while I fished 2 of them size 10's which proved effective and stopped getting snagged in the shallow water so much. The Derwent still needs water as she's very low, mind you I managed to wade up next to the mill for a new experience which bought me a couple more small but perfick grayling. After a massive tangle I switched back to dry and worked back downstream with my elk caddis, working along the edges of the fast strips which also worked well and finished me back at the bridge with 12 grayling the best shown below.

Dee-lightful Day

2009-10-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I treated myself to a day's grayling fishing on the Dee with Arthur Wellersley who was on holiday in the area and he kindly invited me for a day's fishing, after some badgering. After getting my directions sorted I took an early morning drive to meet at 9am in Llandderfel, and parked next to the most glorious bridge with some lovely water running through it - pictured below. I instantly knew this was gonna be a good day, even without fishing, just taking the time to pan the view was spectacular, full of autumn gold and reds, a truly beautiful venue to spend the day fishing.

Arthur arrived soon after so we got tackled up and got cracking with both duo and check nymphs purely for exploration purposes really to see how the ladies fancied it today. We both quickly learned they weren't going to throw themselves at our feet, which added to the day as we both chopped and changed to work out some form of success. Eventually it was obvious heavy nymphing wasn't the answer today, in fact the fast water produced very little but as things warmed up, we began spotting fish taking off the top. I began catching fish in the tail ends of the pools using my Bradshaw's Fancy with a Partridge and Orange which gave Arthur a giggle, probably my fowl mouthed working class accent getting all traditional on his ass. Joking aside the method soon caught plenty of fish mostly on my Bradshaw's including this well fed beauty below who I homed in on under some trees on the far bank but after tugging her way to the fast water forcing me to hold my breath for a while, I gratefully received my rewards for some tricky casting, and to be honest I could have gone home totally satisfied right then.

We decided to sit and have some lunch while observing a lovely smooth stretch of river and noticed a nice fish rising along a food lane out in the middle of the river. We sat for a while discussing our approaches to the rising lunker that persisted in tempting and teasing us throughout lunch. I gave Arthur the honours who decided on a black f-fly type pattern and with me drooling, he eventually got up to make his cast while I was like a cat on hot bricks stood behind him. In true textbook style on the 3rd cast this wonderful grayling came crashing through the surface taking the fly with it - Bingo!. It doesn't get any better really as Arthur had sat and observed the fish before making his decision on approach and carrying it out resulting in a belting grayling. Below is Arthur playing it around the smooth water before eventually bringing it to his net, needless to say with a smile after his perfect 10 minute masterclass, mind you I should claim a little piece of that fish for my moral support.

We fished a little further downstream where I caught a couple in some huge swells on a bend, dry fly fishing on a glorious sunny autumn day on the Dee is something I won't forget and will no doubt experience again in the near future. Things became quiet for a while but before leaving Arther demonstrated his "eat a sandwich approach" again, bringing another nice lady into his hand. We decided to have a walk back and try a couple of hours a few miles upstream and although it proved a lovely stretch to wade and looked very fishy they weren't playing ball, mind you Arthur had some sport with tiddlers in the shallows but the deeper holding water offered nowt, which was confirmed by an angler who'd had nothing all day. We sat chatting on the bank for a while taking a well earned rest before making our way back to the cars and bidding our farewells. Reflecting on the days fishing during the long drive home, today was a most memorable one and totally worth the effort, here's a couple of pictures below that I wont forget in a hurry and thank you Mr Wellersley for inviting me to spend the most Dee-lightful days fishing with you.

Look Inside

2009-10-23T01:59:00.000-07:00

Today the Erewash was electrofished by the EA who kindly invited me along as part of the River Erewash Foundation to observe the process. Basically they choose a 100m section and wade upstream with staff on either shoulder netting all the stunned fish which are then placed into large barrels with oxygen supplied, at the end of the zone. This process is repeated 3 times up the same stretch to ensure all fish are caught before collecting any data. Below shows the net holding the fish at the top of the stretch ready to be placed into the barrels for inspection.

Once the net was emptied they speedily set about recording the measurements as well as taking a scale for testing on every fish they caught, keeping the stress of their captured fish to a bare minimum. Needless to say they all played there parts in the recording process before gently replacing the fish back in the Erewash to swim along their merry way. I found the whole experience fascinating and I was filled with envy struggling to believe this is their job, a dream one for me and they actually get paid for it. In reality their positions are far from glamorous and probably hard work at times, along with the years of studying of course, but who can blame a passionate angler for fantasizing about handling hundreds of beautiful fish everyday for a living.

The usual suspects all put in an appearance such as Chub, Barbel, Roach, Dace, Perch, Pike, Gudgeon etc but no trout or grayling but to be fair we weren't in the right stretch for them. Below is a picture of the measuring board with a nice sized chub laid out along with a Barbel and Roach shown below. Overall this was an excellent experience for me and shows yet again the EA's willingness to support and involve a local volunteers group such as the REF. There are no doubts that as the River Erewash Foundation goes from strength to strength, our partnership with the Environment Agency will grow stronger and we are grateful for what they have done to date.

Dovedale Duo

2009-10-15T01:22:00.000-07:00

I took 2 river virgins out for their first fly flyfishing experience yesterday, they both had some stillwater experience but neither had ventured into the flow of a river. I decided they should learn some dry fly fishing 1st, and depending how they coped we could attempt small nymphs on the duo later in the day. Her Majesty was running low and looking very clear so the first lesson was gonna be stealth. Crossing the bridge from the car park we noticed some small rises and there was some LDO's coming off in numbers and being easy to spot I tried Jim and Tim with a few matching patterns, getting little success before the stones.

Reaching the nursery pool the usual suspects were rising enough for me to show off a little casting under the trees. I connected with a nice fish before pulling out of it although I think it was a trout. We quickly moved on and soon started connecting with a few fish and Jim wrestled with a nice grayling but played it a little hard for a fish of that size but you have too develop a feel for the fish in a river, as well as finding the boundaries of playing a fish. I decided to have alittle play myself but kept hitting little brownies, no surprises there as Dovedale isn't famous for holding huge numbers of ladies, just great big ones. Once both had caught and they they showed enough river craft to warrant a visit on their own in the future we starting considering lunch. We spotted a few needle flies, in fact they were all over our faces, so I suggested Tim trying my matching fly before tea break as i could see grayling rising upstream of him. I did suggest I would kiss Tim's butt if he doesn't get an offer which brought about a laugh before being quickly followed by a lovely grayling to both of their surprise, Tim's pictured below playing the fish, no doubt he was now well and truly hooked. Both were spurred on by the large lady and encouraged to fish a little further improving quickly while catching a few trout before we all sat on a log for lunch.

Deciding they had the basic idea of dry fly fishing I suggested fishing the duo for the afternoon, so we all set up before setting off upstream again. I decided to fish a little more myself and caught 2 grayling and 2 trout on the duo, all taken on the nymph as usual, confirming that the duo would be effective for both of them. Obviously both began loosing a few more flies but they picked up the idea and caught a few fish between them. Unfortunately I put Jim on a 2lb+ grayling which was happy to oblige us but too much for a newbie to handle and after all Rome wasn't built in a day.

I suspect to say both chaps were pleased would be an understatement especially as they did well first time out, gaining experience of trout and grayling while fishing 2 methods, in fact I'd bet money Tim's still smelling the ladies on his fingers today, reminiscing his fantastic trip to the Dove, after all, we anglers know you can't beat the smell of grayling on your hands first thing in the morning, something you never forget. In my experience of fly fishing when you make a friend its one for life, and a special bond for the long haul, I expect I'll be fishing with these 2 again before too long.

Loads of Ladies (Mayfield)

2009-10-12T12:14:00.001-07:00

Massive olive hatch with loads of rising fish both ladies and trout feeding off the surface, her Majesty is running low and could do with a good dowsing. I had plenty of grayling 20+ like shown in the pic below - nuff said.

Manif "Old Majestick"

2009-10-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

Well where do I start with such a fantastic day to finish the trout season on, blue skies above and the damn wind dropped. Well I can tell you that I experimented on different sections of the Manifold today in preparation for next year, the fish were rising all over to mainly sedge and a few olives and I caught plenty of trout and even some manifold ladies put on a show for me.

Now I have declined from giving my full post for the 1st time since I began blogging, this is my attempt to protect a small piece of heaven from poachers as you never know where they get their information from and have been out in force lately so I do hope you can respect my decision without giving me too much grief.

Today I got the shock of my fishing career when after catching plenty of fish, small, medium and a couple of lunkers, I got a savage pull from an old Derbyshire gladiator. Instantly I knew this wasn't within the usual realms of small stream fishing, well not mine anyway. In all honesty I nearly cacked my pants at the first run this trout made, shooting off upstream like a torpedo.

I began to strip line off my reel instantly knowing there was no holding this brute, not with my "Old Majestick" bamboo rod and 2lb line. If I was too win this battle today I knew I'd need to draw on all my skill, experience and then some. I gently turned the fish around and gingerly played the beast all over the river, then all of a sudden it took off again tugging down on my rod almost straightening the angle once again. Instinct began to kick in, and on every surge both up and downstream I ran a few steps towards the fish, trying to keep that angle in the rod.

I contended with huge boulders and tree's resting within the surface as he did his utmost to snag me anywhere he could, he'd obviously been around the block a few times but then so have I.

Obviously I began talking to myself like you do in total concentration, similar to praying, almost trying to talk the beast into the net. My arms began to ache and I steadily applied a little more pressure on the rod and tippet turning him around after every run only to be pulled downstream again by what felt like a large German Shepard on the other end. Eventually I knew as he tired that I had a solid hook up and he was mine - ah ah ah!

Jesus Christ! I had a job scooping this 22 inch long, with a 14 inch girth specimen into my pan net, boy the sense of fulfillment as the 20 min epic battle came to an end. I carefully lay the beefcake on the bank next to Old Majestick and quickly as possible fumbled for my camera.

I unhooked him and took a few shots, lowering him slowly back to the river for a much earned rest. I whispered my sweet nothings in his ear for a while before he slipped away ready to fulfill the next mans dream. The picture below shows his huge shoulders, a bit like George foreman.

The whole experience was surreal, as I staggered out of the river like I'd been in the ring for a few rounds. I plonked my big butt down and stared quietly at the river, suffering some unusual kind of shock or maybe savouring the moment while also thinking, how can that giant live in such a small stream. My attempt to describe today's experience was like arriving somewhere very special, and out of respect for the trout I cut the line, deciding I'd taken enough from this precious little stream for one day and walked slowly back to my car revelling in my satisfaction.

Today I shared an experience with many excellent Derbyshire anglers that have gone before me, such as Cotton and some still alive such as Richard Ward - Get in there my son!

Toton on the Dry

2009-10-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

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.

One Step at a Time

2009-09-28T11:49:00.000-07:00

We arrived at 10am and began to congregate in the car park next to the river at the Royal Avenue entrance to the Erewash. After a couple of phone calls to guide the stragglers into the car park, we all began getting ready for the job at hand. The forecast was good and the river low and clear, so perfect conditions to search the river bed for undesirable aliens that need removing.

The River Erewash Foundation soon got stuck into work on its 3rd section of river we've called the Long Eaton stretch. Although most usual suspects couldn't make it, we still had a good turn out and soon got cracking around the railway bridges where most debris had settled. We soon made an impact and began moving upstream chasing a few specimen pike and chub along the way.

Pip Russell below kept a Sharp eye on the debris piles being left by us and was definitely on her best behaviour as she'd have sooner been ratting for sure. After admiring some of the graffiti and the effort it must of took, we moved away from the huge industrial train bridges, lasting signs of days gone bye, and waded into the more slow quiet tree lined stretches away from mankind.

Nobody actually took a dip today although there were a few stumbles along some of the man made sections, especially with the large boulders scattered along the bank side, not ideal for wading but like Del boy always says "he who dares wins, Rodney" well he did yesterday. Some inquisitive locals came for a chat, dog walkers, cyclists and a few youngsters who were following us around with some interest.

These wild roses along the riverbank were truly stunning, especially as we got closer and I'm sure you'll agree worthy of a photo in all there glory. I can honestly say I don't think I've ever seen anything as beautiful growing along a riverbank albeit alien or not. We began to slow down and decided we'd done enough so we headed back to the cars for refreshments while setting up the fishing tackle for a couple of hours trotting.

This pic below was the finishing point for the REF working party today and I hope you too see the potential in this little river, with habitat improvements and a few dedicated organisations and partnerships, and most of all, guardians buy the dozen, in the shape of the River Erewash Foundation.

We all began fishing and caught loads of species in numbers such as dace, chub, roach, perch, gudgeon and millions of fat minnows, no wonder we have kingfishers darting about everywhere.

Sadly we didn't encounter any trout or small grayling that we stocked last year but there's plenty of time for one or two special appearances yet - watch this space. We have REF data sheets now to get records of anglers catches along the river and should you not wish to be a member, the REF would appreciate any anglers being prepared to record there catches on the Erewash. Contact me through blog for data sheets and you can post if you wish to remain anonymous for whatever reason or google rivererewashfoundation.

Manifold - Ludburn to Longnor

2009-09-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

Today I went to explore more of the Manifold starting at Ludburn where Derby County Angling Club have donated a section to the Peak Passport Scheme. I walked downstream staying well clear from the bank as with a river this size you could lose this battle before it starts if you begin hanging your nose over the bank on the way downstream before fishing back up - resist the temptation.

I chose my starting point and sneaked into the river shown below with a good stretch of juvenile habitat lined up one side to reclaim the bank, I cast next to the brash and got walloped instantly.

This restoration work had definitely done the business providing a safe environment for young trout as this pool was alive with them, providing me with 6 perfect little trout like the one below with an elk hair in his mouth, amazingly beautiful little things.

I quickly became engrossed with the river and once in top gear, I began connecting with most takes resulting in lots of browns and they were getting bigger. I had all my success on elk hair and Larrys Pride but I should mention once your under the canopy you cant help but loose 1 or 2 flies to the tree gods.

The sport was nothing short of fantastic dry fly action and I intend to congratulate Andy from Trent Rivers Trust and Ron Trevis from DCAC for their successful work to date, and the future of the Manifold looks very promising if this passport section is anything to go by and this stretch will be excellent value day ticket water, for our fly fishing visitors to go wild - Ninja Style.
This big stockie came crashing out from under some roots and with the hard battle he gave me he could be forgiven for his stockie status, and after all 1 in 20 ain't bad.

This picture below shows another section running under the canopy and the atmosphere was so intense, creeping along holding your breath, watching the surface like a hawk, waiting for the next rise in the distance to home in on. If you like challenging wild fishing with a 6-7 ft rod and want to get away from everything, this is paradise - you may as well be fishing on the moon and with quality of fish like this one below - you couldn't be disappointed.

Just to finish the day off nicely I noticed otter tracks as i walked back downstream and I was being stalked me thinks.

Top Notch Mayfield

2009-09-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

An early start again and what a beautiful morning it was, blue sky all the way to Ashbourne and although the Dove looked low from the bridge there were 1 or 2 rises upstream. Starting at the weir I could see a shoal of Grayling and decided on a small olive which on my 3rd cast got supped by this gorgeous lady pictured below. To be honest I could have gone home happy right then but I hoped the day had a little more in store for me.

I slowly waded down to the bridge catching a few ladies and 2 brownies, just to keep me interested and after a resting at the bridge for a drink, many rises began upstream maybe after the disturbance/food I'd caused coming downstream. These were splashing/crashing rises and definitely trout so i switched to my Elk hair and instantly had success with lots of trout all the way back up to the weir. Fantastic dry fly action and the sun on my back, very hard to believe autumn is almost upon us and 2 weeks until the end of another trout season.

On reflection Church Mayfield has been my best venue this year, always producing the goods both silver and brown and I've thoroughly enjoyed every visit throughout the season. I feel the quality of grayling here could bring me a few surprises this winter so watch this space.

Double Whammy (Manifold&Dove)

2009-09-14T01:21:00.000-07:00

I parked overlooking the Manifold valley yesterday morning early enough to watch the sunrise and the mist begin evaporate. I pulled into 1 of the allocated DCAC parking places between Brund and Hulme End, which is situated just inside the farmers field.
My adventure began as I walked down into the mist, in search of the river Manifold. I haven't fished here for a few years and needless to say my last visit proved disappointing, but after being reliably informed things are beginning to improve, I decided to have a morning here before meeting friends on the Dove at lunchtime.

Wow! the picture above shows how beautiful this little river is first thing in the morning, truly stunning in my opinion, especially with the mist still holding as the warmth of the sun came through. Dryfly only i began fishing the 1st pool with my Larry's Pride which was engulfed by a brownie around a lb and after a tremendous fight the fish came off. I stood for a moment in disbelief while grieving at the loss of what could have been the perfect start and concluded if fish like that live here - happy days.

You could excuse yourself for believing that your the only man on the planet while fishing here and it helps with the stealthy approach needed to sneak up on these fish without causing a stir. Most of the river can be fished in thigh waders and with a little careful maneuvering I only climbed out a couple of times to re-enter further upstream. After missing a few lightening takes I decided to try a small Elk Hair to induce a more confident take therefore catching these speedy little boggers. My theory worked to some extent along with resting my rod tip 1 inch off the water in concentration, just to keep as connected to the fly as possible to speed up the strike to a maximum and set the hook. I immediately increased my success rate and manged 8 brownies with 6 small wildies and the 2 shockers above and below.

The Manifold experience was unbelievably exciting, providing a difficult challenge for any experienced angler along with tense and exhausting, however the rewards are uplifting and fulfilling so needless to say I'll be back again soon, especially with many other stretches of the Manifold I've never fished before - I can't wait.

Wolfscotedale

I met with 2 friends full of vigor after a brilliant morning and spent no time getting stuck in on Her Majesty(Dove) who wasn't giving anything away today. The river was at ordinary summer levels and clear but the cold wind blowing down the valley proved the kiss of death today. I began to realise my energy levels were low after a marathon fishing day and realising things were gonna be difficult this afternoon rapidly increased the feeling.

I managed a few trout on my LP with the best shown below with its huge tail and excellent condition fought like a Trojan. We worked our way back to the cars and thankfully the fast water produced the odd fish but it wasn't the most productive afternoon but enjoyed by all 3 of us.

Super Barrio

2009-09-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

I decided to try a Mike Barrio fly line a few weeks ago as I've heard good reports from many anglers and read a few positives on the forum over the years. I stuck to my usual line choice for fishing many rivers around Derbyshire 4# DT and having used many lines previously, I already had my measuring stick to compare my new Mike Barrio line that I purchased for £19 including delivery :eek: - very reasonable indeed. The line came within a couple of days, well packaged with a personal hand written message inside from Mike wishing me the best with the line :eek: very rare nowadays and very much appreciated. The olive line is a camo type green and I quickly run it off the spool provided onto my reel ready to go, on first impressions the line felt very slick and supple.
I have used the line a few times now and feel ready to give a simple anglers opinion after playing a few dozen fish ;). First of all there was no memory whatsoever and the line shot through the eyes and off into the horizon, not brilliant at first as I rarely need distance fishing my preferred small river and streams. I quickly got the feel and began to tame the beast, casting as well as I ever have, confident enough to attempt my usual suicide casts with some success. Speaking in terms of presentation, distance, accuracy, memory and feel, the Barrio line could live with all the lines I'd tried previously, makes such as Cortland,Shakespeare,Partridge etc and even my most recent favoured line the Scientific Anglers Mastery XPS at around £50. I can honestly say the Mike Barrio is an excellent line at a phenomenal price and would recommend any angler to save themselves a few quid and give one a try - I can't fault it. Durability is the only unanswered question now, how long will it last, only time will tell, but for now its a truly superb line and worthy of sharing with all brothers of the wangle.

Information at http://www.fishingthefly.co.uk/

Amma Gonna Win :):):)

Dreary Dovedale To Giving It Large At Mayfield

2009-09-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

Dovedale

I set out early morning from Dovedale car park to be sure of virgin water instead of rods popping out of the bushes later on in the day and better still I had the place to myself. Her Majesty was still coloured a little from this weeks heavy rain and slightly up on the normal summer level with no insect life or signs of trout to speak of. I had one offer from a good fish nearing the stones but I couldn't escape a negative feeling that this stretch wasn't going to produce the goods today so I decided to up sticks and try Church Mayfield instead. Arriving back at the car I couldn't find my car keys so after emptying my pockets 25 times I ended up back at the stepping stones cursing and swearing. To my relief I eventually spotted the large pink key ring on the captains car keys lying on the riverbed, thank God for that, my missus would have killed me.

The Car park bloke approached with his hand out and I worked out with 50 visits a year that makes £100 on top of the membership fee - worth considering when joining LADFFA as they have no parking.

In Dovedales defence fishing wise, it was very early and things could have picked up later on, but it just didn't feel right if you know what I mean and I suppose friends will tell me it was on fire later in the evening - who knows.

Church Mayfield

On arrival I spotted rising fish along the food lanes under the banks and even with the colour holding, the fish weren't taking any prisoners with tons of surface action. I spent a short while trying a few flies and ideas until I decided to give it large with the size 12's. Its funny how we anglers assume going small will unlock the key to the door when sometimes larging it proves the way to heaven, often resulting in smashing takes on the supersize dry you've offered them.

I will not try to explain why or waffle on about matching the hatch as too many anglers frustrate and hinder themselves searching for a match while trying to solve the invisible puzzle for today. In my experience anything in your flybox is worth a try, especially with no obvious signs of flylife and I have many previous experiences under my belt of matching not catching.

Dry fly action to die for and just me lapping it up like the game junkie I am and although I say so myself, the trout were pretty large today mostly wild fish with only 3 stockies out of 25 browns.

The pictures below justified my quick exit from Dovedale as matching what Mayfield had to offer today would have always been a bridge to far for Dovedale, except for maybe Mayfly season but still doubtful. The best flies were size 12 F-fly and LTD sedge both in hares hair.

Just for the icing on the cake the Ladies put in an appearance just to widen my smile even more. As always they where wriggling like eels for the camera, but I did manage a couple of shots worth showing you.

I know from old that September could throw a few golden days at you and today was a perfect example of brilliant dry fly sport still available as autumn begins to flicker and the nights feel cooler - Go get em boys.

Willersley Castle

2009-08-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

I arrived at 10.30am to find the Derwent low and very clear and my initial response was this could prove difficult yet again today. I fished every inch of the bridge pool with no results, not even a glimpse of a fish around the bridge anywhere, this is a first for me so with my head hung lowly, I plodded upstream where at last I spotted a few rises to cast at. I fancied a Daddy but after a couple of close inspections the trout sank back to the riverbed, totally unimpressed. I decided to downsize a little to my Daddio which instantly did the trick resulting in a few fish including this fine wild brown below.

The day was tough and the only good news was I had a chat with Paul Sissons who had little success on the nymph today, so with my dry fly only challenge, it seems I wasn't at a disadvantage today, because if Mr Sissons says there not taking nymphs then rest assured they're most definitely not. Sticking with the dries I managed a few more on a small duster before the rain started coming heavily enough to get me making my way back downstream to the car.

I'd caught 7 fish and arrived home in time for tea, sweet as a nut, but the fishing is most certainly

sinking into a lull and only dogged persistence getting results lately.

Rainy Days and Mondays

2009-08-26T23:57:00.000-07:00

The post below was for Monday 27th August but as my bloody computer decided playing funny boggers I have just got my PC back from the shop, hence the late post.

After leaving 1 car at Milldale me and our John arrived at Dovedale around lunch and although the river was running clear the weather was rainy and dull. We started fishing after the pumping station and made our way upstream having to take shelter under a few trees along the way, during the heaviest showers. Nearing the stepping stones we realised the fishing could prove difficult today and both sheltered under a tree with our huge £2.50 ice creams from the van next to the stones. Walking passed the nursery pool I had managed 5 little fish all in fast water so I wasn't wasting time on the clued up stockies here, although I managed this fine fish while hiding behind the boulder at the top of the Nursery pool.

With no fish rising we persisted in trying to draw them out with sedge and daddy patterns which worked to a degree, catching a few trout as we carried on upstream. Reaching Lovers Leap I decided to stay on LADFFA's bank and wade through today, just to fish the stretch from a different angle. I had to nip out for a few yards where the deep pool has carved itself into the rock but crossed back over and continued wading upstream all the way to the crossing.

My dogged attitude and hard work produced 1 fish through all of this section but what a beauty it was (below). Notice my huge Elk Sedge that this tiny tearaway got stuck into.

The rain stopped thank God and we were passed by several rods coming back, in fact considering it was a bloody miserable rainy Monday there was 8 rods fishing that we come across anyway, shocking really. I did learn to share as a child, no honestly I did, but my realisation of deciding things have become a little crowded lately where re affirmed.

We did eventually hit a pocket of reasonable sized fish knebbing along the boardwalks section lying within the fast water parts of this middle section. Although the boards can be a tricky stretch to fish with its dodgy wading, snags and trees, it proved well worth it on this day, bringing some fine fish into my hand, although I'm unsure what my brother was doing with his.

We carried on catching 1 here and there until we arrived at Milldale as the night drew in and the familiar bat dance began. I had managed 15 fish which by no means suggests difficult fishing but believe me when I say the best part of the year has now passed. The pic below shows the end of the day as all who fish here will recognise the gate below as the sun sinks behind the top of the gorge.

September/October will prove near impossible to produce, during the final stages of my dry fly only season but I have rapidly reduced the amount of flies used lately and after experimenting all season I am coming close to choosing 10 flies needed to have a fantastic season.

Derbyshire Wye

2009-08-20T00:11:00.000-07:00

After picking up my ticket from the Peacock I drove into town turned right into the square and payed for an hour at the car park. Today's mission was to find a decent fisherman's breakfast and after a full 1/2 hour walk around Bakewell I eventually ended up more or less back at the car, then I spotted a Postman and after explaining what I was looking for he pointed to a sign right opposite the car park where I first started" Wye Waters Cafe mate up that alleyway". Well I'm pleased top report he was bang on as the breakfast was awesome at the Wye Waters Cafe, even 2 pots of tea with a tea strainer. I had to laugh as last time me and a few friends fell over the sign as we got out of the car and ended up with an awful breakfast - not any more lads were well and truly sorted although it was a little pricey at £7.25 it was quality and after all we are in Bakewell.

I decided to park at the pumping station car park today and make my way down towards the fisherman's car park and back first. I managed a few fish after whipping through my fly box and choosing a small Olive for the slower runs and a small EHS for the fast water. I spotted another rod a few bends ahead that I was following but as I'd been catching I decided to carry on with the plan and move slowly behind him. I caught plenty of Rainbows and a few grayling which I expected due to the small flies I was using.

I worked my way back to town slowly through the day and decided to try a few casts with a white Larries Pride (ah ah ah). While talking to a women and her young son about fishing, she asked" can you use real bait" at which point I explained about the standing joke my mates have about a red dot appearing if the thought should even cross your mind. I then noticed her husband/son walking up slowly behind her shoulder as i went on to explain " the river keepers are probably peeping at us the the hedgerow right now with binoculars, all of a sudden my eyes fixed on this young man wearing joggers, t-shirt and trainers, not unlike a sports centre employee. Well what a shock as I burst out laughing " I told you" the guy next to her was Jan the river keeper in civvies the sneaky git. always a pleasure to meet such a nice young man and I can understand Mr Slaney (head keeper) holding him in high regard. After a chat Jan said his goodbyes and I moved upstream through town but not before picking up a few rainbows along the way.

I moved upstream through Scotts Garden where some large trees had been felled (pic below) exposing a good little pool to the elements and it was now void of fish. To be honest I met another angler and we agreed the upper section hadn't produced today and we'd had 1 each for our efforts.

I made my way back through town managing to catch some large rainbows and eventually ended up back at the car. Another day well spent on the Wye and no browns for my efforts but who cares I'd had plenty of excellent action and needless to say I'll be back soon. My highlight of the day is pictured below and although the opposite to a 8lb brown like caught on my last visit, every bit as beautiful.