Tuesday - Mary's Bower

As the wind was dropping now I decided to go down to Mary's Bower in the park having a cast at the willow stump on my way but nothing doing there. The odd fish showing by the bower, then Matthew the river keeper came down, told me Derek, Don and David had been there and fished up to the deer boom all day, brilliant no wonder there wasn't much doing. If there were ever 3 fisherman you would not want to follow up a river it is these guys, all great fisherman and friends. Thought might as well pack in now! After a chat decided to move up swiftly only casting to rising fish, nothing. Put on a sedge pupa by the willow stump and got a lively rainbow.

Made it to the cricket pitch by 2030 then the fish started to put in an appearance, sedge everywhere with the occaisional rusty spinner, changed the nymph to a rusty spinner and picked up a decent brown. Started covering loads of fish but they were not interested in the spinner anymore so on went a size 18 brown sedge and immediatley started to rise fish although they were only on then off! A massive "swarm" of sedge came downstream dragged by the brreeze and I quickly wafted my net through it and caught a few. These were pickled, when I got home, like the one from last week and are now on their way to Stuart Crofts, I think they are silverhorns. Managed 4 more decent browns all to the brown sedge before it was too dark to see.

Overall not a bad evening considering the initial report.

catch a fly, identify it, tie it, fish it, catch fish!!!!

The caddis I trapped on Wednesday, I tied a rough copy of it with an elk wing and a couple with a cdc wing, both with orange/ginger/rusty body.

Went down to the hut at Beeley on Saturday evening and was surprised that the Derwent was up by about 6" and peaty coloured. Started in the pool above the hut with the sedge and picked up a brown and a rather emaciated rainbow. Both fish taken where no fish rising. Suprisingly had to wait till about 2030 for any appreciable rise to start. Noticed a few rusty spinners on the surface so on went the old faithful rusty spinner and immediatley started to rise and hook a few nice browns, a nice grayling and yet another emaciated rainbow, I don't know what's wrong with them but I have not seen this before. The rise lasted for about 45 minutes and then the switch was thrown and the temperature dropped and the fish went to bed. I continued for another 15 minutes but as nothing was rising called it a day at 2130. Its really amazing how the fish know when the temperature drops and they stop rising even though there are frequently spinners and sedge still on the water. How do they know?

Found this massive moth on my car boot when I left any ideas?

Chalk me up another enjoyable evening please.

Above the 1 arch bridge and below the bottom weir

Went below the bottom weir this evening as it had been a warm day so was expecting a bumper hatch, unfortunatley it failed to materialise. No spinners about but plenty of sedge, trapped a large-ish one at the close (5-7mm body) and on closer inspection, at home, it had an orange body. Have pickled it in some unknown brew my son brought back from abroad which smells pretty powerful. Must get it in the post to Stuart Crofts. Used my seine net which attaches to my landing net (a handy little gadget!) to try and find out if there was anything else but absolutley ziltch! Started off working my up into the fast water with one of my "nana's" fly and got a grayling and a brown, then nothing. Changed to a Larry's pride and picked up another couple of browns and a rainbow. Spoke to Malcolm the keeper who said that there had been a heavy hatch of black ants further upstream by the cricket pitch and the fish were going mad. Sounds familiar, wrong place wrong time! Fish were still rising here and there, looked like they were taking something about to hatch going by the rises, head and tailing, so switched to a sedge pupa fished in the top couple of inches and picked up another rainbow and a couple more browns. Fininshed around 2130 as the temperature had dropped a bit and the fish stopped rising, so wended my way home after another enjoyable evening. The difference in the park a couple of hours can make, I probably saw a max of 10 people walking through the park all evening, very peaceful!

Willow Pool

Run in at the top of Willow Pool



View up to the top of Willow Pool

As Sunday was a sunny day and there was no more rain in the night, checked the river at 1800 and it looked fishable although it was up by about 6" and still carrying a bit of colour. Went down to the willow pool again as its just round the corner. Got there about 2000 and already there were plenty of fish rising. Tried my half-half fly, tied on a size 12 klinkhammer hook, the bottom half a nymph and the top half a hatching dun. Raised a fish on the first cast, woo hoo! Raised and hooked a brown soon after then shortly again another brown, maybe I have got something here!

Carried on with the same fly and raised only the odd one although I was covering fish. Decided to change to a trusty rusty spinner as there were a few on the water together with a few sedge and what looked like pale wateries. Managed another couple of browns. I was in quite deep now and noticed I had gone just a tad too far and my nymph box was now full of water! Even my C&F so-called waterproof box was decidedly un-waterproof, brilliant, everything soaked.

Fish were going mad now but I did not think there were that many rusties on the water to bring up this amount of fish. They must have been taking the 'pale wateries' if thats what they were?

Fish rising everywhere!

Good brown.

Went up to the head of the pool and fished down as far as I could get to without shipping water. Fish were still coming up, managed a rainbow and a grayling to a cdc sedge and finally finished with another brown fishing back up to the fast water at the run in. All-in-all not a bad evening considering I only decided to go at the last minute.

Rain rain rain rain rain

Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain !

Derwent definitely out.
Wye looks ok at Water-cum-jolly.

Fly desk the best bet!

CLA Gamefair

Went to the CLA gamefair at Belvoir (beever) Castle with Roger and Derek, this is the 1st time I have been. Made for the fishermans row 1st to checkout the various stalls. All the usual people were there WTT, S&TA, Lakeland Flytying etc. It was overcast which was ideal for browsing as the tents were not hot. Bought some rusty spinner cdc for those evenings spinners and some golden plover hackles to tie some spiders. Caught up with some old faces too. It was surprising how few people were there. Several times we were the only punters in the various stalls, must be very worrying for the stall-holders. A couple of times gusts of wind sent the displays of expensive Hardy, Sage and Orvis rods clattering across the ground but unfortunatley the proprietors were not up to accepting offers for shop soiled goods!

The WTT had a couple of good displays, one was a piece of round gutter inclined at a gentle angle to represent a stream with riffles and runs, with gravel in the bottom and various pieces of twig fastened to represent woody debris. As a piece of the twig was removed it was really surprising how quickly the gravel was washed away thus depleting the spawning gravel. Likewise when woody debris was placed in the run and gravel introduced at the top, how quickly it built up behind the obstruction. Stuart Crofts was also displaying various nymphs (BWO and stonefly) and shrimps, again very informative as usual, Stuart is always very enthusiastic and eager to share his knowledge.

We left around 1630 but could not get over how quiet the fair had been. There were not traffic hold-ups and the carparks were only half full at the most. The economic downturn has obviously affected everyone. Overall a good visit and recommended if you have not been before and interested in all things country.

Last Light

Went down to the willow pool for last orders at 2030. Not one of the warmest evenings! Was not expecting much but this pool is sheltered and there were a lot of spinners about and small pale sedge, or thats what they looked like. Started off with an olive dun as my rod was still made up from Monday night and immediatley started catching, the first 2 a decent brown and a nice rainbow both as wild as they come. Then connected with something larger which made off with my fly and cast. Hopefully it will be able to get rid of it fairly quickly. Made up a new cast and put on the old faithful rusty spinner as there were a lot on the surface now. Again started to connect with fish and landed several more browns, most of them stock fish. The rise to the spinner was totally different to that of the dun, the fish were either head and tailing to take it or just sipping it down, superb! Fished until could not make out my fly on the surface but struck when I knew it was in the vicinity of the rise, 50/50 hookups. Temperature dropped by 2130 so decided to tickle them with a sedge, only 1 taker but the best fish of the evening running to nearly 2lbs fin perfect and again a wild one, my opinion anyway. Finished up with 8 browns and 1 rainbow, not bad for an hour and 15 mins.

My interpretation of a rusty spinner, this is the one which took the majority of fish.

Another Good Evening (then all evenings fishing are good)

Decided to go over the road for the last hour, below Baslow old bridge. Temperature not as high as expected, river in good order considering all the recent rain. Rusty spinners on the surface again and also duns hatching. Caenis and the occasional sedge,the swifts were also about taking fly. Things were looking good. Started with a CDC sedge and took a few rainbows including a superb 9" wildy. Changed to rusty spinner and continued to take another couple including a nice brown and a grayling. Finished at 2145 picking up another couple (totalling 8 all to rising fish) including another wild rainbow, encouraging! Temperature dropped even further by the time I finished. Roll on tomorrow evening!

Wednesday 15th July

Actually managed to get out last night! Met Derek by the 1 arch bridge at Calton Lees, went upstream to below the bottom weir. The small deer (fallow?) had put in an appearance as we walked up.

Unfortunately only managed 2 shots (not with a gun) as I was using Mrs P's camera and the battery died so no fishy pictures.

Derek fished 1 side with a dry pheasant tail and I fished the other with a klinkhammer, we both connected to fish straight off but neither of us could keep them on initially. Fish were taking the bwo duns/spinners and some small sedge. It wasn't long before we were both connecting to fish, I took predominantly browns with just 1 small wild rainbow and a grayling. I moved up to directly below the weir where there are a few deep pools so just dropped a "larry's pride" (nice one Mick!) which was taken by several good browns. Decided to move further down below Derek where the trout were going berserk for the rusty spinners. I took 2 good browns 3" from the bank again on good old larry's pride, by now it was about 2130 so switched to a rusty spinner and picked up more browns. The rise forms varied from full blown splashes to barely noticeable sips which tended to be the bigger fish. There were so many fish taking the spinners as the surface was covered by lots of spinners that I was spoilt for choice as to which fish to cast to. It has been a long time since I have seen a spinner fall like this, certainly do not remember anything like it last year. Finished around 2230 after a really enjoyable evening as it did not look too promosing at 1900, the temperature dropping from 2200 but still fish rising! Lost count after 15 of the number of fish taken, Derek also finishing with a similar number. On the way back to the car heard the stags calling thier harem together by now some of the larger deer had also appeared. A truly wonderfull picture in the setting of Chatsworth Park topping the evening.

Back From Hols

Got back last night from 2 weeks in Corfu (cor phew far too hot), itching to get back on the river! Got up to date reading all my copies of the usual fishing mags, several times also read John Baileys latest Trout at 10000 Feet which is a decent read. Hoping to get out tomorrow evening providing the current rain does not bring the river up as checked the river before and it looks in good order. Derek informs me that there have been some good evenings with the rusty spinner these last couple of weeks. Still the odd mayfly hatching, this seems to happen each year when odd mayflies hatch all through the season, I have even seen them in late september! Is this a record? Rain coming down heavy now (2200) however fingers crossed for tomorrow.