1st Outing of the 2011 Trout Season

Derek invited me to share a rod on the Cressbrook and Litton stretch of the Wye. We went down to the lunch hut on the A6 where Don was also out. After a good natter we made our way downstream. It was a beautiful afternoon with the river crystal clear and a slight chill in the air. Derek gave me the first chuck and more or less said "put your fly there" and on about the third cast a wild rainbow came to hand.

It came to a good old fox squirrel nymph. There were no hatching flies about to speak of. Derek then had a cast and also took a fish from the same pool. Don losing a good fish also.





We worked our way down stream and Don spotted a good fish which showed itself. It was my turn again to try for it and I had put 1 of Don's comparaduns on. I worked my way up and my heart was thumping as this was the first fish I was covering this season which had shown itself. I got the fly into the vicinity and up the trout came and I struck as if I was trying to hook a shark and ping the whole cast went. Too keen and certainly out of practice! I slunck out of the river to make up a new cast and left Derek and Don to carry on in the pool, both of them taking fish. I put on another comparadun and again worked my way up the next pool taking a 12" brown.

We went down to 2 pools and Derek took a really good rainbow, I then went in and also took a small wild rainbow too on the comparadun. We worked our way back to the hut but by now the temperature had dropped and so we called it a day. A really good afternoon was had by all and especially by me for the 1st outing of the 2011 season.

A.K.Best's Fly Box

Just received this book through the post. I have known about AK for a while after reading most of John Gierach's books, which are also cracking reads, good for holidays when there is no fishing or during the winter months. On 1st inspection it looks brilliant! There are lots of photographs of his flies, perfectly tied together with photographs of the individual insects so you can compare the two. I was going to put some pix in but rapidly had second thoughts as I would probably contravene every copyright law known to man! He seems to tie a lot of flies with quills which look amazing, definitely going to try them as I am sure we all have them on capes which have long feathers which are not used. I have used quills before for the rusty spinners but those unused feathers have been staring me in the face for years wondering what to use them for! A lot of the insect photographs look like those insects on our rivers here in the UK too. Maybe some publisher could come up with a UK equivalent? A series maybe, "Oliver Edwards Flybox", "Stuart Crofts Flybox" etc. etc.

On another subject, went over to feed the none existent ducks yesterday, the Derwent is looking in fine form ready for the season. Lots of fish about as you can see them in the crystal clear water. I did notice that there is a heck of a lot of new silt in the runs by Baslow Old Bridge. This was brought down in the last lot of floods we had a few weeks back. I wonder how the rest of the river has been affected? In previous years after big floods its amazing how the bed of the river changes, where once there was your favourite run or pool sometimes these can disappear.

Anyway only a few weeks to go now before opening and I received my new ticket for Chatsworth the other day also so its all coming together!

Hopefully my next post will have some actual fishing report so watch this space.

Nearly There!

This trout close season has definitely been a long one not helped by the dire lack of any real grayling fishing sessions! I don't know about you but I am itching to get going again. Some guys will already be wetting a line but on Chatsworth the season doesn't start until 1st April. This past week I have been keeping an eye on the Derwent and it looks in superb condition at present. Over the road where people feed the ducks there are plenty of fish showing and they all look in superb condition. Matthew has been trickle feeding the fish during the close season at various points on the river and I am absolutely convinced that this cuts down the winter casualties and gets them over their spawning.

I thought I would tie up some mayfly duns and emergers ala Phil White who gave a great presentation last week at the Grayling Society meeting showing how he ties his catalogue of different patterns. I still recon his 1 up 1 down dun is the best pattern for the mayfly. I also tied up some mayfly nymphs using some tan grizzly marabou dubbed for a body and thorax it looks the part.

I am on the lookout for some new wading boots with rubber soles as my Simms have given up the ghost after 7 seasons, won't be buying any other Simms gear now even after this time as I have never been totally satisfied with the waders/boots.

This season I am definitely going to cut down on the amount of flies I carry, I have bought a smaller box and only transferred those flies I know I will use, we shall see if I can stick to this new rule of mine! I am also going to use more tiny flies as some of the guys on my followed blogs tie a mean 'micro' fly so I'm thinking that they must be tried here in Derbyshire, will let you know how it goes.

Tight lines to all my blog followers for the coming season, thanks for stopping by.