Monday 8 June 2015

Monday - Another Afternoon Off

I had to take my wading boots back to Orvis in Bakewell today as the soles had decided the did not want to be joined to the uppers. As usual with Orvis their customer service is 1st class. Within no time and a bit of luck they had my size in stock so a quick exchange was completed and I was on my way.
I had arranged to meet Derek down by the gully this afternoon. The wind had calmed down today and the sun was shining but still a bit of a chill. When I got down he had started in the gulley pool so I went below the deer boom again. I started with my mayfly nymph and eventually landed a brown and a rainbow soon followed. The mayfly were starting to come off and fish were starting to show so off came the nymph and on went a dun. Before long one of the fish I covered rose and snaffled the dun, after it gave me a run around a lovely 3lb'er was landed. A brown followed then I had noticed a rise between me and the bank, I was no more than 9' from the bank and every time a dun came down the fish took it. This was getting irritating so I covered him with my dun but he had a look and that was all until the next real one came down. I changed to an merger but again nothing, a yellow sally came down and that was taken too. I added laughter tippet to my cast and put the dun back on and the second or third pass up it came and was hooked but this was short-lived as it slipped off, still a success though.
I then went down to Bar brook and now the mayfly were coming off thick and fast and the fish were rising everywhere. I landed more rainbows and a couple of browns. I had noticed a rise in midstream and covered it and then an almighty mouth engulfed the fly. It took off like a train and in all my years of fly fishing it was only the second time a fish had stripped all my fly line off and went well into the backing. The fish leapt numerous times just like a seatrout and shook its head like mad. eventually on the third or fourth attempt I managed to net it, a cracking rainbow around 6lb again, I was shaking like leaf after this! The afternoon was turning into a real success. a couple more browns were landed then I noticed a rise on the far side so again this was covered and the fish came up lazily and sucked in the dun. This proved to be another good rainbow and again was landed. At this point not much was showing and I was getting cold so decided to call it a day (or afternoon). I had landed around 12 fish but only 4 were browns. Another good afternoon and the new boots were christened!

Sunday - Fishing with Adam Today

Today Adam wanted a day so we went down to the willow pool but the wind was not quite as strong as yesterday but the pool was still quite breezy! I went down to below the deer boom, a few fish were showing out of the lee of the wind but nothing definite so I kept on the mayfly nymph. I landed a couple of cracking rainbows around 3lb together with a few browns. Adam came down so I let him in were I had been. He had on the mayfly nymph and after a couple of half hearted tugs a lovely rainbow came to the net. He persisted with the nymph and then took another few fish, he was getting it right!



I went down to Bar Brook and still with the nymph on took a couple more rainbows, including a real monster around 6lbs! The sun was shining and the wind down here was just a mild breeze, this was helping the mayfly to take flight quickly after hatching.



Whilst I was watching Adam I was watching mayfly hatching constantly. The timespan from starting to hatch to fully hatched dun was 10-15 seconds. I was searching the edges to try and get a photo of a nymph coming to the surface and hatching but all I could see was the nymph after the hatching process had started. Then more by luck than anything else I spotted a nymph in the margin wriggling to the surface so took some shots. These are the best of a bad bunch but the whole process as I said took 10-15 seconds max. I know it may sound a bit sad to non fishers but it was fascinating to watch!








We called it a day around 1800 as the temperature was dropping and the hatch had ceased. Adam finished with 5 fish and me with 6 rainbows and 4 browns. A good father and son day!

Saturday - Fishing For Heroes

On Saturday I hosted the winner of the Fishing For Heroes auction for day on the Derwent. John had driven up on Friday evening so that we could have a reasonable start time. I met up with him at 1030 in Baslow and we went down to the lunch hut at Beeley. We had a coffee and I outlined the plan for the day. The weather was on the cool side with a dire wind gusting quite strong at times. We started at the pool above the hut and I pointed John in the direction and pointed out the feed lines etc. I went down to the pool below and we both had a mayfly nymph on as the mayfly were hatching now but a bit later in the day. Nymph action below the surface should be the order. I noticed John landing a couple of fish an I also got a couple of browns and rainbows.


We had a break at 1330 for lunch which included one of Derbyshire's finest pork pies from Castlegate butchers in Stoney Middleton, very recommendable. The wind was gusting stronger now so I decided that we needed to try and find a bit of shelter so we went down to the bottom end where hopefully the trees would provide a barrier. I put John into the concrete pool and I went to the very bottom limit. 


Mayfly were starting to show a bit more and by 1600 the trickle had developed. I had changed to a dry mayfly and managed to cover some rising fish which proceeded to show more than an interest in them. I finished the day with 8 browns and 4 rainbows. John was fishing a dry mayfly now and I noticed him taking a few fish. John finished the day with 10 fish, a good day all round!

Friday 5 June 2015

Don's Mayfly Nymph Does It!

I took the afternoon off today as it was a lovely morning and reasonably warm. I went down to the lunch hut again around 1330 to meet Derek. Nobody was in the pool above the hut so as it was not the hatching time yet I started with a mayfly nymph. The one that was featured in  June's Trout and Salmon article about fishing on the Derbyshire Wye with Don Stazicker. I have known and fished with Don a long time and what he doesn't know about fly fishing isn't worth knowing! Anyway I had tied up a few of the nymphs, they don't look much out of the water but once they are wet well I recommend you to try them. I started at the bottom of the pool, some mayfly were coming off but still not the clouds we usually see on the Derwent, fish were rising here and there and so I started just upstream nymphing blindly. On my second cast a solid take resulted in a lovely fat brown which was quickly released, then within another couple of casts a second followed. I could not believe it! I fished up the pool and took a couple of rainbows but when I came out at 1400 I had landed 10 trout all to the same nymph. Derek had arrived so we decided to go down to Max's bench pool where I got in at the bottom. I covered a rise with the nymph and was immediately taken by another brown. This was turning out to be a red letter day! A few more fish were now rising to mayflies which were taking their time to fly off so I put on a dry mayfly, a 1-up-1-down which has done well for me in the past. I covered a couple of risers before a rainbow took and turned out to be a lovely wild one. I continued up the pool and ended up taking another 5 fish. The main hatch of mayfly started around 1600 and lasted about an hour before the temperature dropped, too much to carry on as I had had a really good day landing 12 browns and 6 rainbows.

Tuesday 2 June 2015

Saturday 30th May

The day dawned a bit wet but I decided to go down to the bottom end after lunch so I arrived at the hut around 1330. The sun was trying it's best to come out and there was a distinct rise in temperature compared to the previous week. As nobody was down here I had a few flicks in the pool by the hut but only picked up some very small browns but encouraging that the fish are breeding well. I was keen to get down to the bottom but stopped off first in Max's bench pool. Unfortunately there was nothing rising so I took off my grey olive parachute and put on dark olive fsn. There were loads of yellow may duns coming off but even though they were taking an eternity to take off not one fish rose for them. I have yet to see one taken by a fish but I know some fisherman swear by them but not me! There was also the odd mayfly scooting about and I noticed several empty shucks floating by. I picked up another small brown as I worked my way up the pool and then near the run in at the top a fish was rising so on went the a grey duster type fly tied in the normal way, this is unusual for nearly 100% of the time I fish parachute style flies. Anyway as I approached it was still rising but could not make out to what specifically so I cast over it and up it came but in my eagerness I fluffed it however this did not put him off and he continued to rise. I cast again but nothing and on the second attempt the cast was short by a foot but up came a rainbow this time and gave me a real run around before being netted.


I now went down to the bottom an island had developed quite nicely over previous seasons with willow taking root. This area is a bit sheltered and more fish were showing here to a variety of flies including the odd mayfly. I caught a yellow fly which turned out to be a yellow sally, also some spinners were flitting about too. I worked my way up slowly picking up browns to a grey olive parachute and a large adams with a beige body (my nana fly!).




The final brown was a real stunner with a tail like a spade which was landed around 1630. I climbed out of the river around 1700 as the temperature was dropping and fish had ceased to rise. I finished up with 12 browns and the large rainbow. I met up with Derek at the hut who had also had a good day in the pools near the hut and cattle drink.