01 Nov 2007

Willersley Castle

I arrived at lunchtime and was really pleased to see grayling topping from the gate, but with low water levels and autumn leaves everywhere, I knew this could prove a frustrating day. I slowly cast my way out into the river and was quickly into a fish, a lovely brown trout which I released into the water s.a.p and told myself "well its a start". I changed from a silver Klink to a Hares ear Klink and Bingo! I was into this nice grayling shown below. I managed a couple more grayling over the next couple of hours before deciding it was time for a "tea break".

I noticed another angler had made his way upstream from Cromford Waters for a rendezvous under the bridge. We both had a nice chat about our success on the day. It turned out he'd fished for that club on that stretch for 31years, a true veteran of the Derwent if I'd ever met one, and he was happily offering all he had learned in years gone by. Obviously I was all ears and quickly turned myself into a sponge for a while, I must say it was a thoroughly enjoyable meeting and a quick exchange of info before round 2 began. I couldn't resist a snap of him playing a grayling below the bridge in the faster water before we parted out of sight.

Well I managed a couple more on a grey duster before I finished the day with this itsy bitsy teeny weeny. Does size really matter, I'm not sure, but I would have swapped this tiddler for a 3lb grayling if I was forced to.