Don's Mayfly Nymph Does It!

I took the afternoon off today as it was a lovely morning and reasonably warm. I went down to the lunch hut again around 1330 to meet Derek. Nobody was in the pool above the hut so as it was not the hatching time yet I started with a mayfly nymph. The one that was featured in  June's Trout and Salmon article about fishing on the Derbyshire Wye with Don Stazicker. I have known and fished with Don a long time and what he doesn't know about fly fishing isn't worth knowing! Anyway I had tied up a few of the nymphs, they don't look much out of the water but once they are wet well I recommend you to try them. I started at the bottom of the pool, some mayfly were coming off but still not the clouds we usually see on the Derwent, fish were rising here and there and so I started just upstream nymphing blindly. On my second cast a solid take resulted in a lovely fat brown which was quickly released, then within another couple of casts a second followed. I could not believe it! I fished up the pool and took a couple of rainbows but when I came out at 1400 I had landed 10 trout all to the same nymph. Derek had arrived so we decided to go down to Max's bench pool where I got in at the bottom. I covered a rise with the nymph and was immediately taken by another brown. This was turning out to be a red letter day! A few more fish were now rising to mayflies which were taking their time to fly off so I put on a dry mayfly, a 1-up-1-down which has done well for me in the past. I covered a couple of risers before a rainbow took and turned out to be a lovely wild one. I continued up the pool and ended up taking another 5 fish. The main hatch of mayfly started around 1600 and lasted about an hour before the temperature dropped, too much to carry on as I had had a really good day landing 12 browns and 6 rainbows.

Saturday 30th May

The day dawned a bit wet but I decided to go down to the bottom end after lunch so I arrived at the hut around 1330. The sun was trying it's best to come out and there was a distinct rise in temperature compared to the previous week. As nobody was down here I had a few flicks in the pool by the hut but only picked up some very small browns but encouraging that the fish are breeding well. I was keen to get down to the bottom but stopped off first in Max's bench pool. Unfortunately there was nothing rising so I took off my grey olive parachute and put on dark olive fsn. There were loads of yellow may duns coming off but even though they were taking an eternity to take off not one fish rose for them. I have yet to see one taken by a fish but I know some fisherman swear by them but not me! There was also the odd mayfly scooting about and I noticed several empty shucks floating by. I picked up another small brown as I worked my way up the pool and then near the run in at the top a fish was rising so on went the a grey duster type fly tied in the normal way, this is unusual for nearly 100% of the time I fish parachute style flies. Anyway as I approached it was still rising but could not make out to what specifically so I cast over it and up it came but in my eagerness I fluffed it however this did not put him off and he continued to rise. I cast again but nothing and on the second attempt the cast was short by a foot but up came a rainbow this time and gave me a real run around before being netted.

I now went down to the bottom an island had developed quite nicely over previous seasons with willow taking root. This area is a bit sheltered and more fish were showing here to a variety of flies including the odd mayfly. I caught a yellow fly which turned out to be a yellow sally, also some spinners were flitting about too. I worked my way up slowly picking up browns to a grey olive parachute and a large adams with a beige body (my nana fly!).

The final brown was a real stunner with a tail like a spade which was landed around 1630. I climbed out of the river around 1700 as the temperature was dropping and fish had ceased to rise. I finished up with 12 browns and the large rainbow. I met up with Derek at the hut who had also had a good day in the pools near the hut and cattle drink.

Bank Holiday Monday

The day dawned lovely and bright but soon clouded over, not quite as cold as yesterday though. Adam fancied a day so we went down to the bottom end after lunch. There were a few olives hatching in the polls above and below the luncheon hut.

 Adam took the lower pool whilst I tried the top pool. Nothing was showing so I had a dark olive fsn on, after a few minutes this picked up a decent out of season grayling followed swiftly by a second from the same spot therefore I decided to move upstream in case there was a shoal there. Nothing else happened so I went down to the pool where Adam was, he had had a couple of browns to a fsn and was now fishing the tail, I notice a few rises under the trees at the head so on went a size 16 grey olive link. This was hit on the first cast but the fish decided not to continue to take hold! The next cast also produced a take and an exquisite wild rainbow of about 14" was landed, it was perfect with the tell tale white edges to the fins and covered all over in spots. I was trying to get a shot handing my camera to Adam but the fish flipped and was gone. After a few more casts and with the fish still rising I landed a lovely brown. Adam was miffed so he had a flick in the run and after a couple of half hearted takes he landed a lovely grayling around 14" too. This little run contained plenty of fish. We retreated for lunch and Adam noticed some fish rising opposite so made a bee line for them and landed a couple more browns.

We decided to go further down as the river is more enclosed by trees so I thought it may provide some shelter from the wind. Adam took the top of Max's bench pool whilst I took the bottom. I noticed Adam land a couple of browns to a dry adams whilst he worked his way down, I didn't touch anything. As we were getting out I noticed my first mayfly of the year! I also noticed another large olive, not much smaller than a mayfly and recon this was an olive upright. We then went down to the very bottom of the stretch, Adam took the last pool and I took the next one up. A few fish were showing and I still had my grey olive klink on and each time I covered the rising fish they came up for it. Two stayed stuck and were landed including this brown who was after a selfie!

 Around 1730 the sun came out and there were loads of midges buzzing about and fish again were rising in the run on the far side. Casting was difficult so a roll cast managed to get the fly across. The fish found the same fly tasty and a couple more browns were landed. Then a few spinners started buzzing about, much larger than bwo so maybe the spinner of ldo or olive uprights, who knows?  I put on my rusty spinner and was pleased with my cast right over a riser and up it came but I was too eager and the fly pinged off! What surprised me was that a fish continued to rise in the same position so was that the same fish or had another snaffled his spot? Anyway that one wasn't interested in my rusty nor was any of the others so on went the grey olive again and again I landed another couple of browns. Adam wandered up and he had also landed 3 or 4 trout too. By now it was around 7 so we called it a day after landing around 12 fish a piece. Happy times!

On my way back I spotted this dandelion and so gave my macro lens a closeup test, all other photos also taken with the same lens too.

Sunday 24th May - a Bit Chilly!

I decided to go down to the willow pool around 3.30, the day had dawned wet but now it was dry but still a downstream wind greeted me. I started with a small FSN in dark olive but nothing was happening with it. The odd fish showed as there were some olives hatching and also some black gnats. I put on a size16 black klink and after a few casts right under the trees on the far side a fish took but in my haste I obviously struck too soon. This is my party trick at the beginning of the season! Another fish rose and  so I covered this and this time I delayed the strike a touch and it stayed on and a lovely brown was landed. The wind was persistent and really rather chilly for May so much so that I had to come out of the river and put my waterproof on to try and break the wind. An olive came past which I trapped and it looked like a LDO so on went a grey olive parachute to match hopefully. There was the odd fish here and there but nothing taking my fly then a fish rose at rod tip length so I dropped my fly on it and up it came and another brown was landed. I was starting to shiver so decided to see if there was anything further upstream by the sycamore pool as the walk would warm me up.

At the sycamore pool there was no movement so I went back to a FSN but I wasn't enjoying just casting and retrieving slowly. Eventually another brown took hold and was landed but now I was too cold so decided to call it a day after a couple of hours

 The Sycamore Pool looking upstream.

1st Outing of the 2015 Season

On Saturday I finally managed to get out for a couple of hours. I went over the road between the bridges in Baslow. The weather had one of those April showers earlier but the sun was out now but still a bit on the sharp side! I started off in the pool below the old bridge and second cast produced an oos grayling to the good old fox squirrel nymph. Pointless using a dry as nothing was showing or hatching. I fished a couple more casts and then my 1st brown a lovely little wildy about 8 inches. I then worked my way downstream and picked up a reasonable rainbow about half way down. The fast water lower down produced another wild brown and then something which is quite rare here a rainbow trout about 6 inches and still with 'parr' marks on it's flank so they must be breading hereabouts, beautiful. The pool above the new bridge produced a couple more rainbows again to the same nymph and then as the temperature started to drop I briskly worked my way back upstream and picked up another rainbow and a couple of grayling so not a bad start to the season for a couple of hours. As I  said earlier nothing hatching apart from the odd olive and never saw a rise!

Easter

Well after a long long winter with no grayling fishing done due to the river being out of sorts when the opportunity to go cam, the trout season finally started on the 1st April. A lot of heavy rain in the run up to the start made the river unfishable, even Derek had not gone out! Today the river is still up by a good foot, hopefully by Monday it will be on form.

On another note Fishing for Heroes which is a charity which helps our military is having an auction and there is a days fishing on Chatsworth available with yours truly. Details here

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/By-kind-invitation-of-the-Chatsworth-Estate-A-days-fishing-/151636725113?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item234e40cd79

I hope everyone who knows me or reads this blog has a great season, speak soon.

Part 2 Sunday Afternoon

Sunday afternoon was even warmer than yesterday so not wanting to waste it I again went down to the works where Derek had already arrived. Today I was determined to try and crack the head and tailing fish. I had forgotten to take my box with all my micro flies in yesterday so made a point of taking it today. I started off with a small black spider in the willow pool and covered a few fish to no avail. The river was extremely low and clear and I could spot several trout under the first tree.they were at it again head and tail rises to something minute. Yesterday there were small black flies and greenfly about so I put on size 26 greenfly and on the first pass a fish took but the hook failed to secure. This happened again on the next rise so a tip given to me is to slightly offset the bend which I did. This had the desired effect and the next rise resulted in a hookup and a brown around 2lb was landed, a real beauty. Even with the disturbance the fish caused fish continued to rise. After covering several others the cast eventually dropped spot on and drifted drag free over another brown which took and was subsequently landed. I decided to switch to the same size black smut. This also eventually managed to hookup a couple more stunning browns when I noticed a good sedge riding the current above me, this was snaffled by a fish so on went a brown sedge and was floated over where the fish showed and first time up he came and had it. This was my best brown of the season as he was pushing 2.5 lbs a gem. Several other fish rose to the sedge but either missed it or I was too eager as I could see the fish coming for the sedge. Another two fish came to the sedge before one of the cows in the field got through the fencing and joined me in the pool, game over! I wandered up to the sycamore to meet up with Derek who had taken a few fish. Fish had slowed and only the odd fish was showing. I persevered with the sedge and took another brown as Derek was landing a cracking rainbow which only just fitted in his net. We called it a day around 5.30 as the temperature started to drop and the fish with it, a good afternoon all round and not many left as the season finishes a week on Tuesday.

A good afternoon but very autumnal

I arranged to meet Derek at the works around 1.45, it was certainly autumnal today. It had started of quite misty but the sun had burnt it off earlier on how ever now it had cloud over. Derek went up to the sycamore and I went down to the willow pool. Fish were head and tailing as there were numerous tiny insects about, nothing definite. I had put a small black beetle on on Derek's recommendation. The first couple of fish covered appeared to take the fly but whether they had taken some thing close or I struck to soon but there was no hookup. It had been quite a few weeks since my last trip so I was probably a bit too keen. Eventually I hooked up with a lovely brown in tip top condition. I decided to swap  to a black gnat as I spotted a few small black flies, this still did not produce the result so again changed to a griffiths gnat which immediately took another brown. I think this was a flook  as nothing else showed any interest. Fish stopped rising and John had come down to make a cuppa so it was time for a quick break.  At the restart fish had started to head and tail again so I decided on a small black buzzer below an indicator, I covered a fish and it was immediately taken and another brown was landed. A second and third soon followed so I stuck with this setup. The temperature was dropping but it had not Put the fish down yet. A couple more browns came to the same setup and soon the activity stopped so I called it a day for 7 browns as I had started to shiver and couldn't stop. When I got back to the car I had  to sit there with the heater going full blast for 10 minutes! Derek had faired slightly better getting 8 fish from the sycamore up so all in all a good afternoon.

Thursday 14th August

I finished work early and wenty down to the one arch bridge. I decided to fish below. Following he recent rains I suspected the river would be carrying some colour so had on a fox squirel nymph. I got into the bottom of pool below the bridge, this is only the 2nd time I have been down here in all the years I have fished on Chatsworth so was unsure of the river bed. I cast down and across into the fast run into the lower pool and soon landed a rainbow this was followed by a brown from the run on the far side. I then made my way into the pool above but the river bed was full of football sized boulders which made wading difficult. I only managed about 15 yrds before chickening out and decided to go above the bridge. Next time I must take my guide, Derek, with me as he knows this river like the back of his hand. I went up to the usual pool and there were several fish showing so on went a caddis as there were plenty around. After a couple of missed takes I then landed a lovely brown followed quickly by a second. My caddis was now a bit worse for wear being tied from cdc so I switched to an elk hair caddis and again was taken by a rainbow around 3lb which took a while to subdue. by now I could see the rain approaching down the valley and thebreeze increased which put the fish down so I switched back to an FSN and took a couple more browns and rainbow finishing around 7 with an 8 fish total. The rain started so I called it a day.

Recent Evenings

First off there has been a lack of photos on my blog recently as my camera has suffered a major malfunction and it currently resides with nikon to get a quote. A local dealer suggested that it probably isn't worth mending as the value is less than a hundred quid! This on a camera that cost over £800 6 years ago. Anyway whine over and back to fishing!

Sunday 20th July

Again I went into Chatsworth Park above the 1 arch bridge. It had been a glorious day and some trippers were still enjoying the evening and still in the river by the weir. I started in my usual pool as there were already fish showing and I had on my grey-olive size 16 klink style fly. There was loads of different fly about from newly hatched duns to sedge, midge and spinners. I managed to trap a couple of sedge and they were amber bodied and grey bodied, the duns were similar to my fly with greyish olive bodies. After a couple of casts I struck into a fish but immediately got broke. This has happened a lot lately, I must be too keen to land them! I have started to use a different mono called Preston innovations which is a coated mono but I think it may be lacking the stretch of normal mono, I may go back to the trusted Bayer Perlon. Anyway after remaking my cast with another same fly as before I struck into a brown which had a long range release, was it going to be one of those evenings? Fortunately these mishaps had not put the fish down and they continued to rise and eventually I landed a cracking rainbow around 3lb. This was followed soon after by an even better one which managed to get below me which I had to chase to the bottom of the pool before attempting to net it several times before getting into my net tail first, this fish was well over 3 lb and probably pushing 4, a lovely specimen. Fish continued to come to the same fly before it became knackered so I changed to a sedge to see if that also worked and it did, this was a sedge tied with those plastic film wings from J Son and they do look convincing. At about 9 the spinners increased in number and the rises were amazing with the fish slurping and poking their noses vertically up, a lovely sight. I finished around 9.45 with a total of 4 rainbows and 6 browns. As I made my way back to the car a herd of roe deer appeared on the opposite bank to take a drink, they had probably been waiting for the crowds to go before thinking it was safe to come down, lovely!

Tuesday 22nd July

This evening I again went down to the willow pool, one of my favourites, I started at the top of the pool this time as a few fish were showing. I had on a brown sedge and after a couple of casts connected with a decent brown. The second missed take resulted in a snagged cast up a tree behind me so back to making up a new cast. A smaller grey sedge was attached as the previous fly was a bit too big on a 14 so a size 16 was used and first cast another lovely brown was landed. There were loads of sedge about as well as spinners and some yellow sallies which the fish seemed to be interested in but I did not have a suitable yellow pattern so will tie some up for next time.I continued to fish as far as I could down the pool covering fish with the sedge but something was wrong as the splashy rises had been replaced by the slow head and tail rise, what were they taking? A closer look in the surface revealed "spinners" so on went the rusty spinner and after losing 2 under the tress were the fish were rising I managed to get a couple of casts spot on and finished with another couple of browns.

Wednesday 23rd July

I had arranged to meet Derek down by the gulley and fish the pool together. This evening was totally different in this pool as there was not much fly about and consequently not much rising. Derek had already started when I got down and was by the deer boom but had not had so much as a touch. I worked up the pool and took a small wild brownie of about 9". Even in the fast water at the top of the pool where there is usually a fish or 2 showing nothing stirred so I went up to the willow pool. Derek soon joined me and he had fared worse not getting anything. I started at the bottom and soon got into a good rainbow which was duly landed on a brown sedge. This was quickly followed by a another brown to the same sedge. There were loads of sedge about skimming the surface and the trout seemed to be targeting them well. Also my other friend a water vole was busy on the opposite bank looking for his evening meal. Each time I fish this pool he is there scurrying about, lovely. I finished the evening after losing more flies to the bushes with 6 fish in total.

Tuesday 29th July

It was rather cloudy this evening and not as warm as it has been. Consequently down at the willow pool (again!!!) there wasn't much moving. I had on a sedge but there were very few about and after 15 minutes without so much as a sniff I switched to my grey olive parachute. A fish rose near the tress on the opposite bank and again I snagged the tree to lose my fly so had to make up another cast again with a similar fly. The fact I had fluffed my previous cast had not put the fish down and it rose sporadically, I covered it several times and eventually he came up and I struck into a good rainbow which led me a merry dance boring deep, at first I thought it was a brown as rainbows are usually more acrobatic! Fish were definitely awol tonight and only the odd one here and there rose needless to say as each one rose I covered them several times before the cast looked good and resulted in a solid take. A couple came adrift but I managed a further couple of browns. As the river was extremely low I decided to try and wade up the whole pool as usually it gets right over the plimsoll line and you have to retreat and get in at the top. Now however as I managed to just skirt past the alder without shipping water and continued to fish the pool right up to the top. By now the odd spinner was about and the fish that were rising were head and tailing so on went my rusty spinner and I took a few more browns to finish the evening with 6 fish. I finished by 9 as the sky looked threatening and the temperature had dropped so I took that as a sign to call it a day.

Tuesday 5th August

Another trip to the willow pool as it was a decent evening, lots of sedge, duns, spinners and caenis greeted me. The fish seemed interested too. I started with a sedge and covered numerous fish all for them to ignore my offering. Hmmm what were they taking, a closer look was needed. I managed to get below some of the fish and used my seine net to see what was in the film and hey presto very small pale duns, caenis! On went a size 22 caenis parachute and second cast a brown took. This was a lovely marked trout and was quickly returned. A second followed which was totally different in it's marking but a lovely trout too. I stayed at the bottom half of the pool and worked my way up slowly and connected with something larger which bored deep and broke me, I hate it when that happens, I just hope the fish gets rid of the barbless hook easily. Another cast was quickly made with the same caenis imitation and soon I was into a rainbow around 2lb which again could have been a wild one as it had the tell-tale white edges to its lower fins. Then something happened and the fish appeared to switch to the spent spinners as my fly was ignored numerous times so I switched to my rusty spinner and yes they were on them and I took another 3 browns to it. The other highlight of the evening was seeing a vibrant blue kingfisher come wizzing down the pool on his way home, stunning! I finished around 9.30 as the light was leaving the sky, the nights are beginning to draw in already, a horrible thought.

Camera Update - Nikon want £233 to fix it! Told them not bother I think I will go back to Canon and see what they have on the market maybe an EOS70D or EOS6D if I'm feeling flush (Ha). So if anyone needs a f****d up D80 body for spares then drop me a line, lol.