Dovedale

Today I braved the Dovedale car park, even with the good forecast for today I decided to fish the lower sections of the car park. I quickly moved upstream without success and mingled with the crowds that were worse than I expected, armed with lilos, double air beds and chav's galore. I did try a few casts before the stepping stones but there were to many rocks landing around me and the dog bathing drove me nuts. Anything below the nursery pool on a Sunday is a waste of time and even if you catch its hard to escape, unless you fish the evening session which is obviously a little less noisy. Once past the stepping stones the Chavs struggle and thin out a little, so its mostly genuine walkers passing who definitely show some respect for others and the special place they are visiting, in fact many show interest in flyfishing and stop for a chat.

Once down to the fishing I quickly began catching some of the immaculate wild fish that have been showing of late, and only one stockie all day yet again. Most fish were taken in faster water with Larry's pride, Grey Duster and Daddies doing the business as usual. How much longer the surface fishing here is going to be successful I don't know, but boy is it top notch, and fishing elsewhere is proving difficult at the moment for fear of disappointment. The fish pictures below speak for themselves and show yet again the quality of browns being caught here at the moment.

Below Tissington Spires somehow my mobile phone plopped into the Dove, and my sons picture on the screen was peering up at me through the crystal clear water. I snatched it off the bottom lightening speed and began shaking it like a hot coal was sticking to the palm of my hand. The air turned blue as sadly the screen faded and the phone passed over to the other side. I began to kick myself all the way back to the car and after starting the engine I tried the phone again and to my surprise it came on and almost instantly began ringing. Gobsmacked I realised it worked fine and dandy - yippee.

Another excellent day's dry fly fishing on the Dove leaves me wondering, how long can it be before having to fish sub-surface with nymphs to be productive.