Early April saw lots of showers and the Derwent came up and stayed there more or less, too high for fishing as I found out on the 4th when I went down to the bottom end. Although the river was up probably around 6-8 inches it was really pulling, so much so that when I got home I retrieved my life vest for future use. On checking the CO2 canister it expired in 2019! So a replacement kit was ordered and fitted.
Back to the fishing, as it was cold there was little fly life about so I put a small black nymph with an indicator. After a few minutes a trout took the indicator! I let the fish decide whether to eat or let go but unfortunately it became foul hooked but I eventually managed to land a lovely brown but obviously it doesn't count. A few minutes later a rainbow again took the indicator and again I let it go without striking and fortunately it let go! I went down to the lower pool and crossing the river was tricky even though the river was only shin high. Up to this point I hadn't seen any rises although a few duns were trickling off. After sitting and watching the various runs nothing showed therefore I called it a day.
Over the next few weeks the river was still up and very stained with peat, nothing like it was just prior to the season starting when it ran gin clear, very frustrating.
It was another 3 weeks until I got out again as I said above the river was too high, by the 25th it had dropped a bit and it was a lovely sunny day but a bit chilly for April with a downstream wind. I therefore decided to go above the works as it would be a bit more sheltered there. I sat by the sycamore to see if there were any fish showing and low and behold there were a few showing on the far side but couldn't see to what. I tied on a size 18 all black klink as a starter and within a couple of casts I hooked up but only for a minute as a long distance release was achieved by what I think was a brown as it stayed deep. Another take soon followed and yet again a long distance deep release, the hook was checked and was ok! A third was hooked and again a long distance release, but this time the hook was broken, was this going to be one of those days? On went another size 18 klink and the fish were still rising in the run on the far side. The current was faster in the centre than in the run which made drag a real pain but eventually I got it right and a trout took, this time it stayed on and a lovely brown was landed, phew, a real beauty!
All the commotion put the other fish down so I started moving upstream even though no fish were showing, I even changed to a small black nymph which I managed to hook another brown but this came adrift too! Nothing else showed however the fish further down started rising again so I retreated downstream to do business. On went the same black klink and I continued to cover the risers, eventually it came right and another brown took and was successfully landed, the double (size wise) as the one above but still wearing its winter coat. I continued but the temperature was cruel and I had got chilled so sat on the bench for a while and just watched. I called it day a little later without going back in.
A good lesson I had learnt was the effect of drag even if it looked like none was there, micro drag. Fish which were covered wouldn't take yet a second or third cast when I knew it looked right and the fish took.
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