Sage Come Good

Receive a replacement tip for my Sage SLT on Friday. Yet another example of excellent customer service. Many thanks to Gary Coxon for sorting it out in super quick time. Sage rods may be towards the top end of the spectrum but when customer service is this good the extra expeanse is worth it.

Orvis Come Good

Took my leaking waders back to Orvis in Bakewell last Saturday and the ladies immediately checked their stock to replace them without question. A pair was located in Banchory and a phone call resulted in them being sent to me which I will receive on Thursday. It would have been Tuesday but I was at work when the the carrier tried to deliver. Exceptional customer service and experience, thank you Orvis.

I am now in the market for a replacement pair of wading boots with rubber soles as have to try and stop the spread of disease and any invasive species, No question where I will be going!

Sage rod repair next.....watch this space.......

The Perils of Not Taking a Spare Rod With You

I went fishing on Saturday with my son Adam. The prospects were not looking good as it was very windy and lots of showers so I was not confident. We went down to the works as I expected it would be out of the wind a bit but unfortunatley as it was gusting there was nowhere to get out of it. On the way down I caught my rod in a tree branch and before I knew it I now had a 5 piece rod, brilliant! I had not taken a spare with me so persevered with an 8' 6" instead. Anyway Adam started at the sycamore pool and I started a bit below we were both using fox squirrel nymphs in olive and natural. It wasn't long before I could see Adam into a fish, result! I was soon into a nice brown too. Adam worked his way up the pool but I was stuck as were I got in it was very limiting due to the depth. I could see he was soon into other fish so I was at least glad he was making progress as he doesn't come with me regularly so its good to see him connect. He was working his way up so I moved and followed him up before I had taken a few more. There was only the odd fish rising and nothing regularly so switching to a dry was not worth it until I got to reach the trees were I decided to try a foam beetle. I covered the odd fish and hey-presto up they came a took the beetle. I ended up with 7 fish by lunchtime and Adam ended with 6 so a good few hours to start.

After lunch we went doen to the Willow pool and Adam immediately started hitting the fish, he had changed to a myfly nymph as I had spotted a couple of mayflies and John the bailiff had said earlier that there was a good amount of mayfly nymphs been seen moving about recently. I had also switched to a maylfy nymph and started to pick up the odd brown and rainbow, some up to 3lbs. I could see Adam had hit a few good fish but they came unstuck until he eventually landed a real cracker knocking on 4lb. We continued up the pool and back down into the pool below. Adam was picking up fish here and there, a good mix of browns, rainbows and grayling. By 4pm the weather was decidedly inclement and so we slunck off to the hut for a quick cuppa before the heavens opened. We stayed there until it stopped raining and I could see he was eager to have a last 30 mins. He picked up a few more including this cracker which went to 4-14.





 We ended the day at 5 both getting well into double figures, I was glad that he had had a really good day. Me well I now had a 5 piece rod and to cap it all my new waders had started leaking!

A Dour Afternoon

This is my first outing for a week or two due to hurting my back doing some gardening. After getting a report from Derek about his and Don's session on the Derwent yesterday above the works I made plans to meet Derek around 2 at the same venue. It had started sunny in the morning and after a hasty lunch I got down to the car park about 1.30. It was still sunny and I tackled up with a hawthorn fly as Derek had reported quite a few about yesterday. I decided to go down to the sycamore pool and got in just below. On my 2nd or 3rd cast I watched a brown swim up to my fly and engulf it. I resisted a quick strike and gave it a second or two then struck and he was on! Unfortunately not for long. I persisted with the hawthorn and 2 more fish rose to it and again they came unstuck! I thought it was going to be one of those days. Derek appeared and got in above me and immediately took a few to a large black klink. I spent quite sometime covering fish chopping and changing flies but could not get them to take anything so moved above Derek into the faster water where I broke my duck and took a grayling to a black klink. I then moved back below Derek and by now the temperature was dropping and had clouded over, only the occasional fish rose so I changed to an olive d-rib nymph and took a rainbow. Fish suddenly started rising again so a quick change to a grey olive parachute, then a yellow parachute but nothing, zero, nowt, zilch! Not to be thwarted I decide to break out the micro's and went for  size 32 black parachute and on the second cast a rather large rainbow took and was all over the place before straightening the tiny hook and was gone. That was my cue to call it a day as I was beginning to feel the cold. Just after I got home there was a much needed shower but hardly enough to wet the ground, hopefully more will be on the way as the river is showing its bones now.

As there wasn't much to photograph I thought I would add a couple of shots of the bluebell walk from a week or two back.

Easter Monday Derwent FF

My good friend Roger invited me onto his stretch of the Derwent above Grindleford. We started after a quick lunch and a beer on beat 8. There were a few fish rising in this pool just by the hut so I started there and quckly took a small wild brownie on a LDO. Covering a few more fish raised nothing. I had previously noticed a few greenfly about and so switched to a Stuart Croft greenfly, a pattern he tied at one of the Grayling Society meets during the winter. It looks like a double badger with Chartruese body and pale dun hackle. Needless to say I covered another rise and then took a small rainbow. Roger then joined in the action on the pool and started dropping them off. You get days like this were nothing stays attached and Roger was begging to have one of them!

The pool was slower moving than normal due to the exceptionally low water conditions, I recon that the Derwent must be 8-9 inches below normal summer level. The bottom is all scummy in places, it is desperate for a good flood to flush out the rubbish and freshen everything up.

I moved up to the next pool where again there were a few fish head and tailing to the greenfly I think. So I proceeded to fluff a couple of casts including getting them in suitably positioned trees which then put the fish down. I could still make out the odd flash of a fish taking nymphs, I knew reading Oliver Kites book Nymph Fishing in Practice would gel. Anyway I changed to a dark olive fsn with an olive bead to get it down and on the second trot the leader stopped dead and I struck into a magnificent wild brownie that took off! When I eventually netted it it must have gone close to 2lb. This picture was taken one handed whilst balancing my rod and the fish in the net so apologies for it having a bit of camera shake.



We continued up to the top of beat 10 and I managed a decent out of season grayling and another brown. We finished at 4.30 after a really good afternoon. These beats are excellent and with a bit more water you can see they would be even better, thank you Roger for a lovely afternoon.

Saturday Afternoon

After a nice walk this morning along Bradford Dale and down into Lathkill Dale with a "sarnie" on the bridge below Raper Lodge, I then paid a visit to Bakewell for Mrs P to have her weekly fix. We couldn't resist a quick clotted cream scone and jam in the Lavender tea rooms below Peters fly shop. I of course had to pop in to speak to Peter and look at the wading boots he had as I need to replace my Simms boots as I replaced my Simms waders (B. rubbish!) last season. Going to try the Vision Mako, just waiting for them to come in.
Anyway got down to the hut at Beeley by 0230 pm the sun was in and out as a few clouds drifted about but a definite nip in the air as the northerly downstream wind gusted. I decided that I WASN'T going to put on a FSN so went for my D Rib dark olive nymph. I started in the pool above the hut and there was the odd rise here and there but nothing you could rely on. I quickly took a decent rainbow of about 2lbs followed by an out of season grayling. As I worked my way up the pool I was upstream nymphing and the leader again stopped dead in its tracks and another rainbow was landed again to the same nymph. Upstream nymphing is nearly as good as fishing the dry, but not quite! After finishing this pool went down to the pool above Max's bench, I think I will call this Derek's pool from now on as he is the only other person I have seen fish it. I took another grayling and lost a couple of trout. John the reserve keeper came down and we had a good chat as I haven't seen him since well before Christmas. I came out and fished the head of the pool as its too deep to wade up all the way, again I lost a couple more and landed another rainbow before calling it a day at 5pm as there was not really anything rising constantly, still early in the season. I didn't spot many flies about today only the odd sedge here and there. All-in-all an enjoyable afternoon though.

1st Trip to the Derwent

On Friday after work I decided to have half an hour over the road to test my new 8 weight, not the right tool for fine nymphing and dry fly but just wanted to see how it cast. There was nothing rising so put on my good old fox squirrel nymph and on about the third or fourth cast had a take but the trout gave one massive jump and was gone. A fish rose in the run in to the pool below Baslow old bridge so I hastily put on a dry, again my trusty grey-olive parachute and covered the rise and blow me up came the fish and strike it was on but only for a few seconds as I am sure my rod was too stiff to cushion the take. Hey ho! It was a glorious afternoon/evening and I sat on the bench by the churh just to take in the fact that the long cold winter was finally behind us and spring had sprung! Mathew the keeper came down and we had a good natter for an hour. He told me that he had put some bigger fish in from the tanks in the childrens farmyard at the house as they had got too big. Fish up to 7lbs now they will bend your stick.

Sunday dawned very sunny and warm again so rang Derek to see if he was up for it but he declined due to sore hand from landing all the monsters which Matthew had told me about. He has already had nearly 100 fish so far this season on the Derwent, I am sure if you held out a cup of water he could catch a fish from it. He is really a good angler, one I hope to emulate.

I went down to the willow pool and tackled up a bit lighter with my 9' 5 weight and good old dark olive fox squirrel nymph, I eased into the pool at the tail which has really changed following the floods of the winter, each new season means you have to evaluate the pools again to check the levels as some have shallowed up whilst others have been scoured out. No fish were rising but I had a couple of follows and then bang! I hooked into something. This stayed on and led me a merry dance before I could get it's head up. Then I saw the biggest rainbow I have seen in this river, it must have been between 6 and 8 pounds of pure fisghtinmg machine. After it leading me around the pool I eventually managed to get its head up and readied my net but "flippin' heck!" it wouldn't go in. I had to man handle it and released a cracking 1st fish of the season full finned and in excellent condition, obviously 1 of those monster Matthew had told me about. I continued up the pool and by now there were a few sedge knocking about, probably grannom. A few fish were showing and I had changed to a grannom emerger (ala Louis Noble) and covered a fish close in an up he came and again it was on. A nice wild brown of about a pound and a half well mended from the winter. I came out and fished the head of the pool as its not possible to fish up the whole pool as there is a deep bit right across the middle which stops you so you have to exit at the cattle drink. I fished the top of the pool and took a grayling to the dry sedge, now the temperature was dropping and it was only around 3.30pm so decide to call it a day. Not a bad start to my Derwent season. 

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.