I'm Slipping from doing any blogs!

Tuesday 23rd August
Decided to go down to Bar Brooke again where there was a steady rise of a few fish. I covered them with a sedge as there was loads about but they ignored my offerrings. Hmmm another one of those frustrating evenings? I thought I would try my rusty spinner and immediately got a lovely brown swiftly followed by a blue. Even covering more fish did not really strike lucky so I think those 2 were flookey. I noticed a few tiny yelow/white flies on the surface so dug out my size 22 yellow klink and after a couple of misses took another 2 browns. The nights are definitely drawing in as by 2115 it was too dark to see.
Thursday 25th August
Went down to the 1 Arch bridge again. Fished by the white post and took a blue on a fox squirrel nymph. I then made my way up to the pool below the weir and there were lots of fish showing so on went a sedge as again there were loads about but the same as the other night the fish showed disdain to it. I switched to my rusty again and started to get offers  and some even stayed attached. Mainly browns came to hand with a grayling and a perch all to the rusty spinner, finished with 10 fish for a couple of hours.
Monday 29th August
Arranged to meet Derek down by the works, he had gone upstream so I decided to go down  to the willow pool. It was not a good night, dark clouds with the odd very heavy shower. I managed a brown then the heavens opened so I retreated to the hut for a brew. The sun came out briefly before the rain set in for good but I managed another 3 browns to the size 22 yellow klink. Derek had called it a day when the heavy rain started so didn't manage to catch up with him.
Friday 2nd September
As the Chatworth Country Fair was on this weekend it put the cricket pitch and most of the park out so I decide to pay Bar Brooke another visit as there always seems to be fish showing there. I started with my rusty spinner and took a blue followed by a brown. I finished off with another brown before calling it a evening at 2030 as it was a trek back over the deer boom back to the car before it became too dark to see.

I have noticed a few small olives about during my last 2 outings think these may be Pale Wateries as these do show around this time of the year.
Nights are closing in now and as I write this its 2000 and probably another 20-30 mins is all thats left of daylight. I hate the dark evenings!

3 Fours and a 3

I have not been blogging lately due to fishing and other things. In the last 10 days I have fished 4 times at various locations on the Derwent.
Sunday 14th August - I went down to the willow pool quite early this evening around 6 but somebody was already there so I meandered down to the gully for a quick chuck but although there were plenty of sedge about no fish were moving. After a couple of half hearted takes to a sedge I decided to go down to Bar brook. Here there was a line of fish rising consistently but it was difficult to make out what to. I managed to take a brown on a sedge but nothing else would play. I tried my trusty rusty and fish started to show an interest successfully landing one of those interlopers a blue rainbow. The light was going fast so I went up to the deer boom and took another 2 good wild as they come browns. Really the action only occurred in the last hour so going early was not productive.
Tuesday 16th August - I went down below the bottom weir in the park about 1930. The pool here was alive with fish chasing sedges. I immediately hooked a decent brown, thinking this was going to be easy, how soon your thoughts are dashed as offer after offer was refused. I was totally engrossed in what the fish were doing that I did not realise Malcolm the keeper was on the bank watching me until he spoke, needless to say I have now recovered from the shock! I again went for my rusty spinner and took another blue rainbow and 3 more browns before the temperature dropped and the fish went down. As I walked back along the bank there was a group of 60+ fallow deer (I counted 50 and there were more) on the far bank taking a drink and chilling. I sat on a bench and watched them for a short while, absolutely lovely and not the thing the hordes of visitors will see. As I drove back home through Chatsworth Park a group of 4 large stags followed by about 5 or 6 hinds crossed the road in front of me. That just finished of a very enjoyable evening.
Friday 19th August - Again I went down to Bar brook at 1930 where again a line of fish rising to something very small. A few sedge were about but fish were not interested in my offer. I went small to a black parachute, olive parachute etc etc. but only managed to land 1 small rainbow. I went back up to the deer boom and put on my rusty spinner again and landed 3 browns all beautiful marked with large red spots, brilliant!
Sunday 21st August - I decided to try the willow pool again and luckily there was nobody there. On entering the pool at the tail a large rainbow decided to see how high he could jump, it was like a young sea trout and the wave it left covered the whole pool. Must remember where he came up! It started off slow but within a few minutes I started to notice the smallest of rises to something tiny. After covering with a sedge and a rusty klink I decided to get out the big guns and went for my size 22 yellow parachute with a black thorax. Immediately I started to get interest and after a couple coming unstuck I covered another tiny rise but was surprised to land a rainbow pushing 2lbs. It's amazing how you can never tell by the rise form just how big or small a fish is. This was followed by some more long distance releases before landing a brown. The activity lasted about 30 minutes before the temperature dropped again and the fish more or less disappeared, on my way back down the pool to get out I covered another rise and landed a blue rainbow so not bad for only a short spell of activity tonight. What is interesting is how the nights are drawing in, this time last week I could fish until 9.15pm but tonight it was struggle to see the fly by 8.30pm and there is a distinct chill of autumn in the air.

Sunday evening

The tail of Sycamore Pool

I arranged to meet Derek at the works around 1830. He told me earlier that he has had a good response to fishing small black buzzers so I tackled up with a 22 pheasant tail with a small glass bead. Derek had also put on a small black buzzer. Tim turned up to who went down to the willow pool, more later. I followed Derek up to the sycamore pool where he had started but I got in at the tail, the first time I have started here in all the years I have been fishing at Chatsworth as the wading is a bit dicey. I immediately landed 2 grayling in as many casts however that was it for a while. There was again not that many fish moving and only a few sedge knocking about. This season has been very odd fly hatch wise as evenings when you would expect a really good hatch of olives they just have not materialised. Anyway I continued up to the sycamore taking another grayling at which point it got decidedly tricky so I retraced my steps and wandered up to see how Derek was doing. He had done worse than me only landing a grayling and a brown so I felt quite pleased with myself that again I was up on the maestro himself. Not that we have any kind of competition you understand only that if I ever catch more than Derek then I feel as if I have accomplished something as he is an excellent fisherman. I watched Derek at the head of the pool where there were a few fish moving, I was the spotter as it was getting dark by now. Derek connected with something which came in so far quite easily then it decided that enough was enough and "ping" the lot was gone! He continued for a while and I had a few casts below him but no a thing! So I ended the evening with 3 grayling.
On Monday I caught up with Tim as he works in the same building as me and he fished until 2100 taking a good catch of 'blue' rainbows which have been recently stocked. What was strange was that where he had been fishing there were clouds of BWO about yet where we were there were no clouds of olives but sedge. These appeared towards the end of the evening in their masses but again ignored by the fish.

Last Evening

Went down into the park last evening. Wasn't going to go but as the temperature was still high at 1930 decided to go as we don't get enough of evenings like this. Started about 2000 below the cricket pitch but there wasn't much rising as there was a distinct lack of fly about, very odd. I had on a dry pheasant tail tied on a 2499spbl hook, the first time I've tried this pattern of hook. I covered a small rise as I got into the river and a lovely little wild brownie was mine. There were only a couple of fish rising constantly which I could make out so I covered them and managed to land another brownie but this was definitely a stock fish. I made my way up behind the island and landed a 10" grayling after several came adrift this again on the pheasant tail. Still there were no flies about apart from the odd sedge, I couldn't understand it as it was a lovely balmy evening. I finished up wading up the cricket pitch this time having changed to a sedge but only managed to bring in 1 more lovely wild brownie before I called it a day at 2115 even though there was still plenty of light left but its pointless carrying on if there isn't anything to cast to. Must remember next time to take my camera!

The Gulley!!!!

Went down to the willow pool again on Tuesday night but there was somebody there so decided to fish the gulley (da da daaaah). Now this is not for the faint hearted as its quite difficult to get in and looking at the pool from above it looks dark and deep. It is possible to get through the pool but care must be exercised as there are lots of football sized stones and deep parts to trap the unwary. I had on a sedge and raised a couple of fish which didn't connect properly then someting a bit larger took. It bore down and next thing snapped my 2.6 bayer tippet. Start again! Rises were few and far between but I noticed some rises further up the pool so made my way up vary carefully. No sedge were about but the fish were sipping something so on went my trusty rusty spinner. After a couple of fish covered I took a small wild brownie. This pool always produces good wild browns. I worked up a little further and took a good wildie which must have been 12-14 inches and beautifully marked. I finished off at 2130 at the head of the pool taking a grayling to complete the evening. 4 fish not bad I suppose.

Rusty Spinners show up

Went last evening to the willow pool. A lovely warm and sunny evening, there were clouds and clouds of sedge about but strangely not many fish rising only the odd 1 here and there. I started with a sedge and after a couple of half hearted rises and not connecting I switched to a smaller pattern but still nothing. After about 45 minutes I went up to the head of the pool where I had noticed a few fish rising but still nothing would take the sedge. I switched to a sedge pupa which managed to deceive a brown but must have been a flook as nothing else was forthcoming. The slight breeze dropped about 2045 and then fish started to move and rise consistently so I moved back down to the tail of the pool. Many of the rises were splashy so I changed back to the sedge and took another couple of browns. Considering the number of fish rising by this time and the fact I was covering fish on every cast I didn't think the sedge was the exact fly being taken. There was nothing showing on the surface in the immediate area where I was standing so I edged as close as I could to the foam lane where the fish were and b***er me there they were, RUSTY SPINNERS even though none were about in this area. I understand that BWO's lay their eggs in fast streamy water so I suspect that they were coming down from the head of the pool. I put on my strusty rusty and imediately started getting takes. It was now 2100 and I managed to land 4 more browns by 2115 before the rise petered out as the temperature dropped. The rise was over in 30 minutes but it is satisfying to know that you suss out what they are taking (eventually!!) and get the result.

Derwent Up!

The Derwent is still up and running coloured. Hopefully be back to "fishable" in a day or 2. At least it should clear out lots of the algae and rubbish.

Sedge Time!

This is the first session for a while as been on holiday so was expecting to be a bit rusty. I decided to go above the 1 arch bridge in the park. As I had not been recently I was not sure what to put on so started with a grey olive parachute. The main pool about 100yds below the bottom weir was my aim and there were plenty of fly about. After a couple of casts Matthew the keeper came down so spent some time having a chat. He is not happy with the way its been fishing due to the low water and high water temperature. As far as I am aware its been doing ok or at least Derek has been doing ok. As we were talking there were swarms of sedge about so I knew what I would be restarting with. On went an elk hair caddis and immediately I was into fish. They were rising everywhere I ended up taking about 7 fish on the elk hair sedge. I then noticed a good fish rising on the far side so had to wade across to cover it but as my fly was a bit tatty I decided to tie on one of those LTD sedge thingy's (Mr Pointon furnished me with it at the Fly Fair) anyway need I say more but that also cleaned up with probably another 5 fish before it got too soggy. It was getting darker now so I waded back to where I started and changed to another Derbyshire sedge called Larry's Pride (Mick Martins pattern and another cracking fly too!) needless to say this also took a few more before I had to call it an evening at 2145 as I couldn't comfortably spot the fly. So I ended the evening with about 15-16 fish in a couple of hours and they were still rising to the sedge when I left. What was interesting was that they were all browns between 9-16 inches, some wild, some stock fish but all in 1st class order. It's good to be back and thanks Glen and Mick for letting me in on your sedge patterns.

A Tough Afternoon

I was due to go to the Wye today with Derek but he has got shoulder problems so had to cry off. So following the overnight rain I decided to go down to below the cricket pitch around 2.30.The Derwent has come up 2 or 3 inches but not sufficient to colour it up. The wind was still gusting upstream and fly were definitely absent. I had tackled up with a daddy long legs which Derek gave me. I was looking for rises but they were few and far between. I covered a few half hearted rises and landed a small wild brown soon followed by a second. I went down to the bend by Lady's Bower but apart from some tourist deciding to feed the ducks where I intended to fish nothing stirred. So I beat a hasty retreat to the cricket pitch and on the way took a breather on one of the benches and noticed a fish rise a few times so had to cover it and up it came to the daddy and was landed another wild brownie magnificently marked with red and black spots. I continued up to the cricket pitch pool but even here rises were non existent. I did a bit of prospecting with the daddy and took another brown. I rapidly got to the head of the pool just as it started to rain again so called it a day at 4.30. A tough afternoon.

Shall I Stay or Shall I Go

Well I decided to go down to the Sycamore Pool last evening as the rain over the weekend had not affected the river at all. I got there about 1945 and the downstream breeze was certainly strong and gusting with a definite chill in the air. So much so that I sat there watching the river deciding whether to cast a line or not bother as there was not a thing moving apart from the trees and the grass. Anyway at about 2000 a fish rose and as I had on a small black klink decided to have a go and after a cast or two he came up and had it, a nice brown of about a pound and a half, what a start. That seemed to be the cue for the wind to drop, the fish to start showing and the flies to start hatching. I covered a few more rises but the fish did not come up for my morsel. There were plenty of small caenis type flies, caddis galore and a few olives about. I changed to one of my caddis and had a half hearted rise which I managed to connect to and another brown came to hand. It was now caddis city with fish moving everywhere! Unfortunately I had left my net in the car so couldn't trap any to find out what exactly they were but they did look rather pale. After a few refusals I wondered which fly to put on and noticed a sedge which I had been given by Tom Richardson, the old riverkeeper from the Wye, the other season so on it went. I know its a cliche but first cast and up came another brown which was landed. I then flicked the fly in just to make sure it was still floating and blow me another brown got it. This was also landed, what an evening this was turning out to be. It wasn't long before the spinners started so I quickly changed to my trusty old rusty spinner and started picking up fish after fish, all browns except for a blue rainbow. By 2130 I had had about 8 fish and as the light was fading worked my way back downstream to where I got in after changing to a size 22 small yellow parachute.  I picked up an out of season grayling and 3 more browns, making 12 fish for the 2 hours, a really cracking evening considering the initial outlook. What was interesting was that I didnt see 1 mayfly spinner and as the evening progressed the flies came and went. Small stuff, olives followed by sedge, spinners and caenis. Just before I left there were loads of yellow may duns mating and what appearred to be laying eggs however not a fish rose to any of them. I learnt alot last evening too!