Derbyshire fishing blog

derbyshire wye,grayling fishing

2011-10-17T11:28:00.010+01:00

Took advantage of a days grayling fishing on
the lovely river wye around bakewell with
my brother mick yesterday.the weather was
brilliant ,more spring like than autumn with
hatches most of the afternoon.
caught this nice grayling in a hatch of olives
with one of my own tied flys which was the
icing on mi cake.

they were not all of a decent size as this one
pictured below is testament too.

saw the virgin balloon over bakewell
someone had chosen a brill day for it

mick saved his best till last knockings
in the town stretch with this lovely
looking grayling.

anyone intrested in giving the grayling
or trout fishing(in season) a go on the wye
please get in touch as my brother is available
for guiding on this wonderful river.

river wye ,herefordshire

2011-08-08T09:29:00.012+01:00

had a great short break near the river wye
between hereford and ross on wye.
managed a few sessions on the wye
which is a river full of fish and bristling
with wildlife and canoeist(most polite)

lost count of the buzzards flying over the river
and the kingfishers zooming up and down

not fishing related but a few pictures for

me to remember a great trip.

had a great little break with some great weather

the largest barbel went just under nine pounds

with the smallest about a pound.

i will return to this great river soon.

a very weedy derwent,7th july 2011

2011-07-07T23:28:00.005+01:00

was quite gloomy down on the derwent
this afternoon with clouds rolling over
giving the odd sharp shower.

got the first barbel on my new bait
which went 8lb

had to wait a good while for the next
barbel but had so much weed on my
lead that i had to handline it in to clear
the weed off.

this one weighed 9.8lb caught on the
same bait as the previous barbel.
if anyone is thinking of fishing borrowash
there is a load of weed coming down
so be prepared.

another corker.derwent 28th june

2011-06-28T22:52:00.003+01:00

had a evening down on the derwent.caught this
one below after 5 minutes which took me a bit
by surprise it went 8.6lb

nothing for awhile then at 7pm another twitch
soon as i picked up the rod i thought this is a
good fish after a couple of seconds the line went
limp with me snapped off on a snag "doh"
at about 8.30pm another wrap around take
this one went straight over to the far bank
and was a epic fight which lasted several minutes
until the net was under her.

this one took the scales round to 12.2lb

The longest day,river derwent

2011-06-22T09:51:00.010+01:00

Had a great evening's fishing on the
lower derwent after barbel.having
been twice allready with no fish caught
i was hoping it was gonna be third time
lucky and thankfully it was.

got down fishing around 5.30pm,got my
first bite after 6pm turning out to be my first
barbel of the season,pictured below didnt
weigh but estimate around 6lb

happy to get the monkey off mi back.
fished on until after 7pm when my rod
looped over again,this one seemed very fit
making several runs before i got her in the
net,this one weighed 7.11 lb(below)

carried on with little twitches on both
rods until 8.30pm when the downstream
rod was going crazy with what seemed
a very powerful fish,thought at first it was a
carp but after several minutes brought it
into the net another barbel but bigger than
the previous two.weighed in at 12.12 lb (below)
equalling my personal best barbel.

well happy carried on till 9.30pm and yet
another barbel this one went about 5 lb.
four barbel in one short session ,great action
cant wait to go again.strangely i could not
get a touch on halibut pellets but caught all
on a first time bait for me from small sample
pack.i will be ordering some more today!

slow draw on the manifold and dove

2011-06-04T12:59:00.008+01:00

Enjoyed a short break up derbyshire
at hulme end near hartington and
managed a few sessions on the dove
(wolfscote)and manifold.

suffering from tennis elbow so my
casting was and striking were off with
long breaks inbetween to recover.

The mayfly were about but not in great
numbers.it was nice to catch on my own
tied flys the best patterns for me being
detached body mays and double badger.

due to my painful elbow i think my

conversion rate was below ten percent.

"too slow on the draw"

didnt manage any fish of great size,

but it was a great break in peaceful

surroundings.

hope to have a tribal gathering in the

summer camping with about 30 or

so family members so wont be as peaceful

but i hope to escape fishing in wolfscote dale.

Derwent,willersley castle,10th may

2011-05-14T11:22:00.004+01:00

a few hours up at the castle.
met a few anglers down there with mix reports,
some struggling with another doing ok.listened
to advice and opted for the mayfly route with
only a few showing but the odd fish slashing at them.
only managed a couple of fish and lost a few.
did not like the feisty young bullocks seeming to
follow me along the river,soon cleared when i
jumped off the wall near checking box with my
size 13 herman boots apart from one who stood
his ground only to look around for his mates and
soon cleared off has he thought better of tackling
a"sashqatch"
the mayfly are starting to come off and will soon be in
full swing.

lower derwent,8th july

2010-07-09T09:34:00.003+01:00

had the evening down on the derwent with mick,
it was a nice evening just chilling listening to gold
on the radio.loads of chubby like taps all the time we
were fishing.had to wait for a allmighty bite about 10.20pm
at first i thought this was a carp as it took line and made
some powerfull runs,it took me a good ten minutes to
get the fish on top in front so i could get the
net under her.on seeing the size i was gobsmacked
as surely this was a good un.

when i weighed it ,i had to look twice as the avon
scales settled on 12.12lb my new pb.
having some great fishing at the moment ,cant wait
till my school holidays(six weeks) then i can get more
fishing in with maybe some all nighters.

Fathers day, river derwent,20 june 2010

2010-06-20T22:39:00.003+01:00

chub 4lb

barbel 8lb 8oz

my new personal best barbel 11lb 5oz

river derwent ,17,june2010

2010-06-18T19:10:00.005+01:00

mine 9lb 4oz

johns first of season 6lb 10oz

johns 9lb8oz

long hot day but enjoyable all the same.

willersley castle,dewent 13,6,2010

2010-06-13T19:27:00.003+01:00

post to follow

Willersley castle,well it is may

2010-05-27T21:19:00.004+01:00

Had a lovely afternoons fishing at willersley
castle with one or two mayflys fluttering
around and getting slashed at by the trout.
as you can see below the sun was shining
with most of the trout under the canopy
of the huge trees (mainly alder)

started off with a mayfly pattern favourite of
micks but couldnt get the trout intrested.
put on a detached body may (tied by me)with
the body made up with cohesive bandage,started
getting a few takes but only one fish to show for
it.

in the end resorted to my faithfull yellow humpy
which saw me catching some great fish.the one
pictured below had a right set of teeth on it which
tried to bite me finger off as i unhooked it.

brilliant afternoons fishing cant wait for may fly
in full swing.

Carsington insect soup

2010-05-21T09:24:00.004+01:00

had a nice afternoon at carsington yesterday

,took the mrs along (just sunbathing)

the surface of the water was covered in loads

of insects with the fish just cruising along sipping

the soup down at a leisurely pace.

fish were rising all day long even in the flat calm.

it was quite hard to approach the pods of fish

but i did manage a few to dry flies (claret bumble,

bibio )

my best of the day went to 6lb which was quite a

battle on 4lb tippet.

nice day in the weather but hard fishing.

new pb for me

2010-05-13T21:04:00.002+01:00

snook off fishing this afternoon even though it
is my mrs birthday today ,good job i took her
out yesterday to see the new robin hood movie
at the swankie cinema de lux in the new westfield
centre ,derby .followed by a great ruby murray.
got the flowers sorted this morning with card and
balloon ,i even made her breakfast(creep)
it was worth all the effort ,purchased a new season
ticket from the tackle shop for a club which i
first fished in the mid seventies.decided on which lake
to fish ,set up 12 ft rod with 4lb main line,3lb hooklength
size 18 barbless hoping to catch a few tench ,bream ,perch
and roach.
only had perch upto about 4oz till about 6.30pm when my
float shot under ,slipping line off my reel with me just holding
the rod hoping it would turn towards me which it did then
preceeded to swim up and down the margins with me following
it through trees and reeds.i played the brute for over twenty
minutes until john my son in law slipped the net under her.
i could hardly lift it out and did not beleave it when my avon
scales went round to 22.5lb.
gave her plenty of time to recover and off she went steadily back
into the deep water.

in the car park met a chap who said he caught
the same fish a couple of weeks ago and produced
a picture of the mirror carp.
still i was happy with my days fishing and my new
p.b

Flies of derbyshire

2010-04-26T11:09:00.002+01:00

alder fly? (willington,trent)

RIVER EREWASH SOCIAL ,Foremark reservoir

2010-04-26T10:52:00.004+01:00

great days fishing at foremark with mick and
kev making it early before 9.00 with me getting
there after 10.00 and ady coming down after lunch.

ady with a unexpected perch.

mick with a nice rainbow which fought like a tiger

we had a river erewash foundation socialat foremark
yesterday with loads of fishtaken mostly on the
buzzers.we had expected about 8 to turn up but ended
up with only 4 due to the weather forecast being crap.
mick won the day with over 30 fish thebiggest pushing
5lb,my best around 4lb managing 20 odd fish.nearly
all my fish came to buzzers apart from one on a claret
bumble ady managed a nice perch as well on a small buzzer.
great day out

23rd august,on the derwent

2009-08-23T21:54:00.003+01:00

fished lower derwent this afternoon ,started off
quite warm but overcast with a good south
easterly keeping the temps a bit more bearable.
nothing happened for the first hour or two then
wallop into a barbel ,good scrap then netted a nice
looking 8.7LB.went quiet again till about 5 oclock
then into another barbelbut the hook pulled out
just as i was getting the net under her nothing
till 8 oclock into another barbel this one felt a bit
bigger than the first two and nearly took my
uptream line with him as i turned him around ,
just as i got the net under him the net collapsed,
with me trying to put it back up with one hand
whilst hanging on to the rod with the other.finally
managed to get him in the net ,he looked a proper
fat un but went 9.2LBwith me thinking it was
gonna go over the 10 pound.pleased with todays
fishing makes a change from blanking.
john

far from the maddening crowds in wolfscote dale

2009-08-06T10:09:00.006+01:00

what a great day by the beutiful river dove
with the weather to match .john smith ,mick
and myself had a lovely peaceful days fishing
along this cracking unspoilt valley.on reaching
the checking station we noticed that only 8
anglers had fished this stretch in the last week
and with 2 miles of double bank before us we
knew that it was going to be a corker.

we leisurdly made our way downstream catching
in most pools with me catching a lovely grayling
but the best part was that john was catching
as he usually struggles here,all fish taken on
drys with the klinkhammer being the best for
me and john.

the best thing today was the sun which was quite
warm and which had not shone much of late.
spotted a very large buzzard on the top of the scree
mewing which was quite a sight.

on reaching the lower stretch of our fishing we got
split up with mick blitzing off downstream and john
going back upstream i thought i would rest my
plates of meat.on taking off my boots and socks
the cold river on my feet was sublime ,i had forgot
that all this walking and fishing took out of you.
on getting back out the river there was no signs
of either mick or john so i decided to make my way
back upstream catching john up after a few pools.
mick caught us up after half an hour with his usual pace
of cast and run and a bit miffed that we had left him.
he needs to learn that catching fish is not life and death
but relaxing is more important(maybe my age showing)
we all caught loads of fish and had a cracking day.
if any dcac members out there get out and breathe in
the peace and quiet of wolfscote.

lower derwent,cold for july

2009-07-08T23:57:00.002+01:00

lower derwent,back to my roots

2009-07-06T16:40:00.008+01:00

have spent the last couple of weeks coarse
fishing (much to the disgust of mick) mainly
on the lower derwent .derby county angling
club have some fabulous stretches of the
derwent with good secure car parking and
well kept banks.

caught the barbel above 30th june also caught
the chub pictured below on the same evening
lost a double figure carpafter a spirited battle
the hook hold let go with the swimfeeder nearly
hitting me in the mush.

below 3lb chub

thursday 2nd july caught the barbel below went
7lb also lost another river carp well into double
figures plus lost another nice barbel.

managed to get mick too come coarse fishing
on sunday 5thjuly.only had one bite all evening
but it was one of them "three yard knocks"
producing this lovely 9.8lb barbel

mick with the mardy lip on
wishing he was fly fishing "somewhere else"

14th june,willersly castle,surfs up dude

2009-06-14T21:40:00.005+01:00

11th june ,dovedale,muddy water blue's

2009-06-12T11:49:00.006+01:00

arrived at dovedale with high hopes with micks
report the afternoon before only to be greeted
with a muddy coloured dove .a few mayfly still
skittering about but most of them floating on
downstream to do their buisness .the ducks were
having a mayfly feast skewing from bank to bank
in search of the smorgasbord on offer with a few
attracted to my mayfly .

met neil h off the forums who reported catching
a few on nymphs which to say i had been fishing
for a couple of hours with nothing to show for
my hard endeavours impressed me no end.

did spot some well developing blackthorn bushes
which meens the sloe's will be a success this year
after last years poor harvest.
for any fellow forager there is some nice gooseberry's
growing just before the boards.

met victor again who was fishing with a mate
who like myself struggled with the conditions.
hope the dove clears soon giving us one last
dance with the mays.

4th june,dovedale,one more cast

2009-06-05T00:04:00.008+01:00

had a lovely afternoon fishing dovedale with
conditions perfect and mayfly still getting a
battering from the trout.

quite a few laddfa chaps out this afternoon
met a nice guy called victor who was taking
pictures whilst fishing.
his set up could not be any different to my own
with a 6 ft 3# rod ,low breaking strain tippet
and a delicate cdc mayfly whereas mine was
more along the vulcan bomber lines with my
trusty sage 5# ,4lb tippet(pull out of most trees)
and a great big hairwing mayfly.
he offered me a few casts with his setup which
i did manage to hook a nice trout with but was very
wary in case me bliztkreig casting damaged his
delicate rod.

caught all afternoon on the mayfly with the
trout still hard on them.

met up with roger bryant off the forums on the
way back downstream and we fished the nursery
pool for a while with the fish becoming very
fussy with several coming under the fly only to
have a butchers hook then turn tail back down.

roger left after a while leaving me to fish into

the twilight in the homeward stretch towards

the footbridge.noticed a couple of rises so cast

and hooked into my best fish of the day which

was beatifully marked ,below

cracking days fishing.

2nd june,willersley castle,derwent tigers

2009-06-02T23:15:00.009+01:00

fabulous evenings fishing with some great fighting
trout on the derwent at willersley castle.they
were on the mayfly although the hatch was not
as prolific as the dove recently.

lovely weather spoilt a bit by my choice of thigh
waders which i soon went over depth with
leaving my feet wet all night

a good mixture of stock and wild trout some

pushing 1.5 lb all fighting well

this one below was the fish of the night which i

caught under the trees hence the the light on

the picture not very good.

good night will be back soon.

31st may,darley dale

2009-06-01T06:10:00.008+01:00

went to darley dale with mick today and boy
was it hot on arrival my cars thermometer was
showing 25 .
the river was alive with mayfly and midge with
the odd trout hammering into the mays.
did catch on my own tied mayfly which was a
first for me.below the lovely shade of this tree
made a nice picnic site

caught one or two but was not brilliant fishing
until the evening cooled down taking 5 in the
last 20 minutes on balloon caddis and spent
mays.

nice days fishing apart from twisting my
ankle on a rut made by a cows hoof ,maybe
the cows were getting revenge for me eating
corned beef sandwhiches.mick thought it was
funny,not as funny as his late attempt to
hook a fish(see video below)

mayfly fill the air.

mick a bit slow in striking.

26th may,dovedale,mayfly mayhem

2009-05-26T23:27:00.005+01:00

Cracking afternoons fishing on the dove from
the dovedale carpark end.the wind was quite
brisk working my way down to the stones with
loads of people milling about i didnt really fish
till the nursery pool.started spotting the odd
mayfly being smashed into which had me reaching
for the flybox .on with a grizzly wulff straight
into action .

fished most pools on my way up to ilam rock
footbridge where i caught a couple before some
kids started chucking in rocks,ahh dumbf**ks.

made my way back downstream with the odd
shower making me hide under canopy.
the boards area was alive with fish all going
at the mayfly like it was their last supper.

worked my way down towards the nursery pool
stopping on route to speak to another mayfly
mullerer who happened to also be on the wullfs.
he reported catching a few in the short time he
had been there.

on reaching the nursery pool the fish where still
going at the odd mayfly as well as the clouds
of midges now present as the wind had died
down.still caught a load more on the wulff
which was my fly of the day.i had fished upstream
on the dove two days before with the odd mayfly
showing but the fish not being switched on to
them .brilliant days fishing with a couple of dozen
brownies wild and stock fish alike hammering the
mays. i will be back soon.

24th may,wolfscote dale,greedy buggers

2009-05-25T00:38:00.010+01:00

Lovely days fishing on the dove at wolfscote
dale.stopped at hartington for tea and a slice
of cake (aunt sally)on arrival the river was still
a bit brown but the depth was about right.

not many fish showing on the surface considering
the amount of olives ,midges and the odd mayfly.
as we made our way down river we caught steadily
fish after fish my best fly was the balloon caddis
in the streamier sections and the F-fly in the
calmer pools.

caught a variety of fish wild ,stock and some
very small ones which means that wildies are
succeeding but they face many hazards.

pictured below is a heron (ardea cinerea) trying
to catch the young trout they better learn fast
these can live 25 years or more. also spotted a
goosander .
spoke to a fisherman who reported seeing a
mink (albino)which also had a liking for
the trout.
lets hope that enough of these wee trout make
it through to adulthood and manage to keep a
good head of wild trout in this part of the dove.

mick resorted to the nymph but caught quite a
few john on the other hand was struggling on a
blank so i decided to change roles and preceeded
to help him to rise a few trout before catching the
one below.not long after he added another decent
trout in the meadow just before last knockings
taking both on the tan balloon caddis.

all in all a smashing day spent in a beutiful place
cant wait to get back when the mayfly are about.

17th may, foremark,rain didn't stop play

2009-05-18T11:17:00.003+01:00

fished at foremark sunday afternoon as most
of the rivers had gone chocolate due too the
last few days rain.arrived to be greeted with
a good shower so i stayed in the car watching
mick and some other anglers catching fish but
also getting soaked.after half an hour the skies
cleared leaving a blue sky pictured below.

tried taking pictures of these feisty rainbows
but due to flipping about like a labour mp with
a blank cheque none turned out.
although the bend in my rod felt good i can't
wait to get back on the rivers.

i did get into double figures with the fish fit as
fleas fighting even whilst being unhooked.
mick had quite a few as well all on buzzers with
all mine coming to lures(orange)
if thinking of giving foremark a whirl it is full
of fish at the moment and the water level is back
to about normal levels.

14th may,ecclesbourne "jacob was not home"

2009-05-14T23:02:00.006+01:00

fished the drac stretch of the ecclesbourne
today for a few hours even though the weather
forecast was quite bleak.on arrival we noticed
a few insects about mainly meduim olives ,
hawthorn and midge with a few rising fish.

this is quite a difficult little stream to fish
with some steep banks and a lot of overhanging
trees ,bushes

this chap above came up twice for a yellow
paradun before giving me a chance to hook him.
when wading here the bottom soon stirs up
leaving clouds in the stream below and sometimes
above(back eddies)

the most civilised thing about fishing here is
the cabin which makes a comftable pit stop
point.
whilst enjoying a lovely cup of rosy lea john
thought that the little house resembled the one
in lost so from now on we will know this as
JACOB'S CABIN

6th may,horner water,minehead,somerset

2009-05-09T03:32:00.005+01:00

managed a few hours fishing on this lovely
little stream very near to minehead.
got my ticket costing 1 whole pound per day
from the horner tea garden (the cream tea
was delicous)started off near the road but with
the water being very low i made my way
upstream at a brisk pace stopping for the odd
cast at anything rising.this little stream is full
of small trout which seem to rise freely.

i did have to climb a few gates and fences but
after about a hour and a half decided that the
stretch by the horner tea gardens was probably
as good as it was gonna get.

this really is a smashing little stream and i would
love to visit when a bit more rain as risen levels
abit.

caught quite a few little chaps.if you are visiting
this area it might be a good way to spend a
couple of hours.just enjoy the surroundings
and not forgetting the tasty cream tea.

22nd april Milldale,river dove

2009-04-23T09:48:00.005+01:00

Arrived at milldale around about 2.30pm.it
was noticebly cooler in the area around dovedale
with my cars thermometer showing 15 degrees
a whole five degrees lower than derby.
could not see many insects around but noticed
a few fish moving in the open meadow that is
the 59s stretch .carried on all the way down to
ilam rock stopping now again to have a few casts
did catch a lovely grayling which was quite a
surprise as it snaffled my olive klink at fought
like a tiger on my 6.5 foot rod which was bent
double.

as you can see from the pictures we are still only
just getting into spring with a lot more growth
needed to give the fish more cover and the
confidence to feed without caution.

managed a few trout mainly on a renegade which
as a white hackle and a ginger hackle (which i
partially cut away)which i suppose was mistaken
for the odd ldo .
seen some quite large upwings which another
angler commented on which may have been
march browns?

met charlie off the forums(dovemink) just as i
was about to pack in.sorry i had to rush off but
the wife was waiting with the rolling pin as i got
carried away, losing the track of time.
nice afternoons fishing but maybe a bit early
just yet.

5th april foremark reservoir

2009-04-06T08:01:00.013+01:00

Had a days fishing at foremark reservoir today
with my brother mick.didn't get there till about
10.30 am with mick starting earlier and already
catching several fish.started off in flamingo bay
with a few fish and many pulls.worked our way
around to verduns point but with someone fishing
there we tried a few casts catching one fish before
deciding that bramble bay was worth a try.
The fishing in bramble bay was just as good with
loads of pulls.tried buzzers, two olive buzzers with
a larger one on the point with a few fish caught we
decided that the fish wanted to chase something
with a little movement in it.The water is noticably
low at the moment leaving a beach around the
waters edge making all the bank easily accessible.

29th march carsington

2009-03-30T11:04:00.005+01:00

nice day at carsington yesterday with plenty of fish and
quite good weather wise.started off about 10.30 am
fishing from a boat with mick my brother ,slow to begin
with with one or two takes before lunch.
about 1.00 pm the fish switched on and the fishing was
brilliant for the rest of the afternoon.
i managed my best from carsington a pot bellied rainbow
of 5lb8oz (pictured below)

mick beat me on the number of fish with a couple of dozen
his best a nicely coloured rainbow of 4lb 8oz below

good day ,cant wait for my next visit.

26th november dovedale

2008-11-26T17:30:00.005Z

12th october ,willersley castle

2008-10-12T19:32:00.006+01:00

30 th july,derwent/howden reservoirs

2008-07-30T22:37:00.012+01:00

I know it is only a week since my last visit but we planned
on fishing the river derwent below ladybower only to be
told that only a couple of us could fish the river so we
decided to split up with one on the river and two fishing
howden/derwent water.mick took the river with me and
john going up the reservoirs to fish derwent and howden.

on reaching derwent reservoir we were greeted by a stiff
southerly wind which made it very difficult and with hardly
anything rising all day we had to concentrate on the
wet/nymphs

we started off with small grhe nymphs which
produced a few tugs but no fish we worked through the
nymph box with limited success of a couple for me and
john a couple more than that.

my hot patch of the day was after putting on a slime line

with a goldhead nymph on the point and black & brae on

the droppers which produced 3 fish out of 5 casts and a

tug on the other 2 casts all taking the wet fly.

above is john later in the day fishing at howden with the

wind blowing towards us and a limited backcast this beach

didn't give us a fish but was a nice place to enjoy a cuppa.

above was my best fish of the day taken on a beaded ptn

on the slow sinking clear line this went just over a pound

but fought like a tiger on closer inspection of this fishes

mouth i beleave that there is some predation going on

with is long distance relatives being invited to lunch.

another trout with bristling fins and full o beans not

knowing when they are beat .below john takes another

little beauty on a floater with a nymph on the point.

on finishing for the day we did a little sightseeing and

visited the memorial to the 617 sq dambusters which was

part of a recent service and fly-past that had been held to

mark the 65th anniversary of the World War II Dambusters

mission.

This was another very good day in the derwent valleys

and we hope to return soon maybe next time we will get

on the river with mick fishing the upland reservoirs(lol)

24th july, howden/derwent reservoir's

2008-07-25T10:42:00.005+01:00

Had a great day at the two reservoirs above ladybower
today which contain only wild brown trout.
The veiw below is from near the upper derwent river
mouth looking down howden res.

below is a walkers map of
the two reservoirs.

we fished on the right hand bank near to where the
abbey brook runs into derwent res but at the moment
low water as dried this brook up leaving a large beach
which to fish from.If you look closely at the rock and brick
remains scattered on this dried up beach i beleave they
are from former buildings left when the dams were built
around a hundred years ago.
below is one of the brown trout i caught using mainly
dry flys including claret hoppers,kites imperial and
wickhams fancy.

Whilst fishing we were shocked to the core when a

tornado gr4 approached towards us at a height of

about a hundred feet with a deafening noise as it

screamed away from us.

This is truly a majestic setting for a days fishing catching

truly wild fish in the peace of the hills.

Heed this warning though as we returned to the car

parked in the tree line we were attacked by midges in the

hundreds ,i didn't even pack my tackle away just chucked

it in the boot to quickly escape the little blighters.

my advice is to pack in before the midges appear as it

gets cooler in the evening.

great fishing trip.

Darley dale,13th july

2008-07-13T21:58:00.004+01:00

Wolfscote dale,8th july

2008-07-08T23:29:00.005+01:00

Had the afternoon at wolfscote dale which was looking
fine and dandy with good weather a nice bit of water
running through quite clear.

caught all of my fish off the surface with various patterns
working f-flys,grey dusters,balloon caddis and yellow
para duns.This really is a beutiful place you sometimes
get distracted from the purpose of the day just breathing
in and absorbing the place with the odd smell of mint
wafting up from the reeds(growing nicely in my garden
from my last visits cutting)noticed that the blackthorns
have not produced much in the way of fruit this year so
will have to come up with a new recipe, maybe dove
mint gin this christmas.

this was the sort of fish that we caught with myself getting
about 8 or nine and mick well into double figures all in all
a good afternoon with plenty of fresh coffee from the KK
and being in such a peaceful valley .As they say in golf
"a good walk ruined" not on your nelly more like a
spot of fishing enhanced.

River elan,elan valley,3rd july

2008-07-04T18:37:00.009+01:00

Visited the elan valley this afternoon and what a beautiful
place it is.below is pictured the caban coch dam the last
in the chain of dams which provide water for south wales
and birmingham as well.

Had a nice lunch in the visitor centre before having a
couple of hours fishing whilst my wife read her mags
in the car.I purchased my ticket from the shop in the
visitor centre for the princly sum of £6 valid for the
river elan plus the claerwen reservoir .Decided to stick
with the elan river as my 4# might struggle on the ressie.

As you can see the river looked quite trouty and i soon
spotted one or two little trout rising usually behind some
rock or two.

The conditions were quite hard as the wind was gusting
downstream leaving me with no alternative but to
creep along and try a downstream cast without giving
myself away and struggling with the line trying to pay
it out so as not to drag the fly back.caught a few using
this method before spotting a red kite above me vying
from one side of the river to the other ,what a truly special
sight even though around here they are prolific and there is
even a place to visit where they feed wild red kites.

I will return to this area as i found it breath takingly
beautiful even though the fishing was hard the
surroundings more than made up for that.

River irfon,30th june

2008-07-04T18:31:00.007+01:00

Had a very enjoyable few days break near to builth wells.
stayed in a lodge right next to the river irfon just
upstream from the larder pool.On arrival peered into
the river to be greeted with a shoal of fish ranging from
1lb upto 4lb ,on closer inspection realised that these
lumps were in fact chub .pictured below is the larder pool
which i fished a couple of times but only caught a few trout
and a couple of grayling.

As you can see in the picture below the water was very

clear and quite low making a stealthy approach very

difficult.This being a fly fishing only river i would have

targeted the chub but most of the chub sat outside

someones lodge waiting to be fed great clumps of hovis.

I don't think me catching their "pets" would have gone

down to well.

It was a nice change to fish outside of derbyshire with

the emphasis on the surroundings not the quantity of fish

that i caught.

On reflection i would like to spend more time a bit closer

to the elan valley which me and the wife really enjoyed

and shall go back soon

Darley dale,29th june

2008-06-29T19:26:00.003+01:00

Fished at darley dale on the derwent this afternoon with
john and mick.was greeted with the steam train passing
alongside the derwent

Fished the lower stretch with john(drac water) with mick
fishing the derby county stretch.mick made the right choice
with a shed load of fish me and john struggled with the wind
and the fishing was very hard and the odd sharp shower
dampening our spirits.
did manage this trout on a balloon caddis and a grayling on a
f-fly .

we will try this stretch again soon as the fish
were not playing ball but that does'nt mean
that they are not there.

Allestree,derby,24th june

2008-06-24T22:00:00.004+01:00

Had a few hours fishing this afternoon so headed off to
the derwent at allestree.Dcac have changed their lease
and we have to share this stretch with dayticket anglers
sold by the farmer at a very reasonable £5 per day.

I expected to catch a few grayling today but they proved
very difficult and were taking something off the top but
not owt i offered them.
suprised by catching a nice trout on balloon caddis as i
didn't know that they was any down on this stretch.
followed up with another trout then lost a good un.
managed one grayling but they were hard to entice
today.

this stretch as quite a few fish of differing species
and i would give it another whirl.best described as
a mixed fishery most of it is more suited to coarse
fishing but the riffle just below the a38 is more
grayling/trout looking.
if you need any directions on how to get to the fishery
please ask.very secure parking.
remember this is not dovedale or the wye but hey
what do you want for a fiver.

ecclesbourne ,willersly 17th june

2008-06-18T07:28:00.004+01:00

Tried out the ecclesbourne at cowers lane firstly today and
was quite surprised with the amount of coppicing plus
general improvments attempted so far .Met one other
angler who said she had only seen a couple of fish moving.
also spoke to the bailiff for this stretch and he was a mine
of knowledge with plenty of tips as the best times to fish
and what flies he succeeds with.He mentioned that early
season electrofying turned up quite a few decent wild trout
some upto 16 inches long.this water as recently been
stocked to add to the wild populationand make it more
productive for the angler.we didn't catch anything only
seeing a couple of rises so went back to sign out of the
checking station on studying past visits patterns could
be seen between successful and unsuccessful visits so
next time we will better prepared to catch some fish
with the advice offered.

onto willersly castle ,the weather was very changable with
swirling wind one minute followed by calm then sunshine
then rain the next.fishing was not brilliant but we managed
three fish each matched by the number of drinks from the
kelly kettle because the water felt a little cooler today.

all my trout came on the grizzly wulff but the
effectiveness of this fly did not match the visit
two days previous.all in all not a bad day but
hope for a bit of water soon to liven things up.

Willersly castle,15th june

2008-06-15T22:09:00.005+01:00

Fished willersly this afternoon on the derwent at cromford
with my brother mick.Started off very slow indeed with
only one grayling attacking my f- fly near the bridge.
spoke to a few other anglers and no one was doing very
well but went through everything i could think of that
might work eg spiders/nymphs .there was nothing rising
so we thought that nymphs would be the answer but i only
managed one take on a black spider but lost it.
chilled out for a while with some coffee from micks kelly
kettle and studied the water and the odd mayfly which
were producing no takes.

after the break mick made is way upstream with me
staying put.I put on a grizzly wulff and worked it down the
margins after a couple of casts i managed to rise a trout
which was not taking off the top but must have been
irritated enough to have a slash at the big bushy fly.
after 3 or 4 decent trout all on the wulff i caught this one
below which took some landing in the fast flow.
16 inches with a spade tail this was close to a couple of
pounds and the best river trout of the season for myself.

Mick came back down to where i was fishing just in time to
witness me trip up mid stream and end up sitting on the
bottom with water coming over my waders.i swiftly jumped
up and hurriedly got my phone out of my waterlogged
waistcoat to see it was ok with mick laughing is head off
didn't make the pain any easier because i had banged my
kneecap on a rock (bit like funny bone bang).
back to the fishing with my grizzly wulff still being taken
with mick asking for one which i promptly gave him but
he couldn't make it work which made it even better.

It got to about nine with mick trying to drag me out of
the river but the takes never stopped and i ended up
with 9 decent trout and lost twice as many.

Eaton dovedale,12th june (two bob bits,perfect dive)

2008-06-12T22:58:00.005+01:00

Fished at eaton dovedale with my brother mick.
arrived about 2pm with mick feeling unwell (bad guts)
waited for ages for him to get is tackle and waders sorted
out .we started off down river with no signs of fish rising,
met a chap who was catching well on wet flies small spider
type flies.came to a nice looking pool with mick rushing to
get in first he got his feet crossed and did a brilliant dive
from the 3ft high bank into about 2ft of water,couldn't
stop laughing he said it was freezing after quickly passing
me his mobile phone which surprisingly was still ok.

back to the fishing we used f-fly black and tan on the
surface and just under to catch quite a few nothing very big
but mick did catch a chub about 1lb.
enjoyed a pot noodle from the kelly kettle plus a cup of coffee
which was very welcome as mick was still wet and cold.

the fishing was quite good today even though
they was not taking much off the surface and
the mayfly hardly present.

Darley dale, 10th june

2008-06-11T07:14:00.005+01:00

Arrived at darley dale (the DRAC stretch) about 2 pm.
the conditions were bright sunshine about 19 degrees
with a stiff breeze .with the way that the derwent
meanders around this stretch you can allways find
a bit out of the wind.went straight down towards the
riffle halfway down passing another angler on the way.
Fished for about half hour with no signs of fish so made
my way back upstream.Stopped to talk to the other
angler who turned out to be another FFF member
the squire.fished just below him and watched him catch
a couple of trout.I couldn't get a take myself so made my
way upstream oppisite the derbyshire county angling club
stretch.The wind in this straight peice of river was blowing
my line and flies all over the place and after several tangles
decided to walk downstream again .Found a nice bend which
was sheltered from the wind so gave it a go for a few minutes.
met the squire again coming upstream and with not much
happening we got out the kelly kettle and had a brew and
a chinwag.

After the teabreak managed to tempt a few trout with
my yellow humpy fly which seemed to be working also
for the squire.The fish were not rising much but the big
size of these flies seemed to trigger some not yet forgotten
mayfly morsels.

Ended the day back at the lower corner where i had

started ,still nothing rising so stuck with the humpy

and managed one more trout before heading off home.

Derbyshire tour 8th june (manifold,dove and derwent)

2008-06-08T21:06:00.006+01:00

What a day we spent traveling around derbyshire with
not many rewards for our efforts.with me was my
brother mick. we started by heading up to longnor
to check out the river manifold not much water in that
river so went downstream to brund same again then
off to ecton by the mill at westside we watched the water
which was very clear with no signs of fish.
In the motors again off to mayfield on the dove picture
below.

It was really hard going with not many trout showing
only the odd grayling.managed to catch a grayling near
the weir on a danger baby.Had a nice brew then ran up
and down the river like the whirling dervish trying to
suss it out to no avail .We decided to pack in and head off
to willersly castle to try and change our luck.
we fished hard with no takes and nothing hardly moving
had another brew met another fff member "garth" who
was also having a mare.we split up and mick went
upstream leaving me at base camp(cunning plan)
fished for ages with no action then put on a f-fly cast down
my side of the bank only for a trout to come from nowhere
and grab my fly only to spit it out laughing at my strike.
cast at him a few more times and after several swoops
he took it (out of pity me thinks)picture below

Cunning plan about to be set in motion.looked upstream
with no signs of mick i thought i would make my
bid for freedom i hurried down to the bridge only to be
tempted back in again after seeing something rise.
after several casts i came back to my senses and swiftly
packed everything up in the car.
i popped in to the local shop near home for cider and pizzas
only for my phone to ring .
mick"where are you"
me "nearly home"
mick"i reckon you hiding somewhere"
me"no i'am not "LOL
Finally arrived home to watch the match gemany v poland
and the spanish moto gp on sky plus.
nice day but the fishing was S**T.

Wolfscote dale 4th june (duffers fortnight nearly)

2008-06-05T10:30:00.007+01:00

Fished wolfscote dale this afternoon and it
turned out quite a good afternoon with the
fish taking mayfly for part of the day.
this part of the dove is stuffed with fish of
all sizes from 2 inch fingerlings to decent
trout of over a pound not all of them are
stock fish but quite a mixture.

when you fish here it is usefull to have a long
handled net as there is no wading and some
of the banks are quite high.

i fished with mick (brother) and john smith
who also caught quite a few.mick had the most
but john missed alot as well with myself catching
about a dozen.The best fly for myself was the
yellow drake in the afternoon but by the evening
it became harder with most fly's being ignored
john and mick had a good spell on balloon caddis
the best fly for myself after the switch from mayfly
was a yellow para dun.

This really is a marvelous place and is fishing
very well at the moment.The picture of myself
above chilling out is a reminder that it is
sometimes good to take time out and enjoy
the surrounding's.Duffers fortnight as not
arrived but it is very close.

river ecclesbourne,1st june

2008-06-01T20:35:00.003+01:00

Today visited ecclesbourne (drac) at hazlewood. after the
heavy morning rain the brook was coloured up but i still
gave it a go ,loads of mayfly about but with the clarity
down the fish couldn't see them .

managed a couple on pink glister nymphs with tungsten
gold heads very small but nice fish all the
same.

I will be back when the water is running
clear as this venue is one of the closest
to home and is just right for a couple of
hours fishing(very peaceful)

Eaton dovedale,29th may

2008-05-29T19:58:00.006+01:00

Fished at eaton dovedale this afternoon,conditions were
warm no breeze overcast with the water discoloured
from the rain which as been falling for the last week
or so.spotted a few rising fish some grayling taking the
smaller midges and the odd trout chasing the mayfly.
Decided to stick with the mayfly so went through
different patterns till the winner today seemed to be
the yellow drake even thogh the mayfly coming off
were of a creamy colour.

fished four different swims catching in all of them with
the mayfly .After about three hours i made my way back
upto the car park stretch which i allways seem to do
well on .The tally for the day was into double figures
without any grayling just trout so quite a good day all
in all.

Their were a lot of mayflies about but the
rising fish were sporadic due mainly to the
clarity of the water being not crystal which
it as been lately.Once the river is running
clear again with the amount of mayfly about
it will be fill your boots time.

Eaton dovedale,river dove 22nd may

2008-05-22T21:44:00.009+01:00

Fished the drac eaton dovedale stretch of the river dove
today.This was my first visit to this mixed fishery but i
was pleasantly surprised by first by the number of fish
and secondly by the peaceful surroundings ,only spotted
one other angler all afternoon.Started off at the top of
the carpark with a F-fly resulting in a nice grayling.
Moved on around the first bend still with a F-fly on
spotted a rising fish that i cast to and caught first cast
which turned out to be a roach (first roach on the fly)

Carried on downstream till i reached the island and with

some carefull wading managed to fish the other side.

with nothing rising i put on a pink glister nymph which i

ran through the riffle on the far side of the island which

after seven or eight casts produced a thump which i

struck into a decent trout.

Made my way back upstream to be greeted with the odd

mayfly skittering the surface with fish rising up now and

again.Tried several different mayfly with all being ignored

whilst watching the trout chasing and some jumping clear

of the water in pursuit of the main course.

Tried loads of flies but they were all ignored until i found

a yellow humpy in my dry fly box that i put on without

much enthusiasm .I cast to a rising fish with a instant take

which was followed by some frantic sport casting to rising

fish all played carefully as this was the only fly i had of this

type and i didn't want the sport to come to a end.

Made my way back towards the car park stretch as the

sky became more threatening and decided to have a brew

from my recently purchsed kelly kettle.Watched fish still

after the mayfly while i chilled out with a nice cuppa and

a sandwhich.After the break i preceeded to cast to rising

fish catching and missing some.Switched to a F-fly only to

start catching grayling which seemed to be ignoring the

mayfly.

This is a nice peaceful place to spend the day and i shall

be back.

Allestree,derwent ,21st may

2008-05-21T17:52:00.003+01:00

Had a couple of hours off this afternoon so decided to
try somewhere not to far from home .
Fished the derby county angling clubs ,allestree stretch
on the derwent .Was encouraged to see fish rising as i
parked up the car.Watched the water for a few minutes
and as before elsewhere there was a few mayfly coming
off but the fish were not taking them.

started off with a balloon caddis but no takers.did
try a yellow drake mayfly as they were coming down
steadily but still no action .Put on old faithfull a tan
coloured F-fly with takes coming straight away.
After about half a dozen takes i managed to connect
with a grayling pictured below.

carried on for a while catching but missing
more grayling ,no signs of trout at all.
I was taken by surprise when my F-fly was
sucked under i struck into something that
shot up stream taking all the line that i had
out,it pulled the rod tip over and i felt a lump
on the end without any effort at all the fish
just carried on and pinged me off.
barbel ,chub ,decent grayling i will never
know i might give this place another go
when grayling are in season.

Mayfield,river dove 19th may

2008-05-19T21:30:00.003+01:00

Had the afternoon at mayfield today.
On arrival in cloudy conditions with a temp
of around 15 degrees we spotted from the
off that the trout seemed to be taking from
the surface.We watched for a while seeing
one or two mayfly(french partridge i think)
getting gobbled off the top.we tried a few mays
that looked similar but to no avail.I switched
to a tan balloon caddis with instant success a
rather plump little brownie.john smith who
i was fishing with continued with the mayfly
for a while but even though the trout were
taking them he could not get a take .Spoke
to a old chap fishing above the weir who
had three fish on mays but said that it was
a bit hit or miss but his catch included 2
rainbows of about 6oz(intresting)
we tried the top of the beatbut i only tempted
one brownie(picture below)
with lots of grayling mulling around we decided
to return to the bottom end near the bridge.
on our way back down it was hard to get past
the herd of cows and bulls as they were drinking
below the weir. on reaching the bridge we lit up
the kelly kettle and had a nice cuppa plus pot
noodle before getting back in the river.
john put on a balloon caddis and preceeded to
catch 3 and losing another 2 good sized trout
and missing loads of takes.around eight oclock
the temparture started to drop so we got out
and headed off home.

Ecclesbourne,Hazelwood,14th may

2008-05-14T21:59:00.007+01:00

Fished the ecclesbourne this afternoon .
Started on the dcac stretch near cowers lane
the fishing was quite hard in the shallow clear
water .Did see a few fish but they were very
shy and even with a stealthy approach they
soon skitted off upstream.this will be a good
venue when the improvments are finished.

Later i visited the drac stretch just above hazelwood near
duffield.After a bit of a trek across a field i found the start
of the stretch.I began with a danger baby nymph as
their were some nice looking pools but i didnt see nothing
rising.worked my way down this stream with no takes
or signs of fish then after a while in the pool pictured
above my fly line stabbed upstream i struck and
played this hard fighting trout to the net after scrambling
down to the stream side amongst the nettles (sting strong)
Met another angler who was working downstream
whilst i was going upstream he turned out to be the
chaiman (i think)of the club he was very helpful and
supplied me with one of his flies which after 4 or 5 casts
i lost.this is quite a challenging place but quite a good
workout ,i shall be back soon.

Carsington,12th may

2008-05-12T10:42:00.004+01:00

What a scorcher it was today.

The fishing for me was not fab today but

sometimes it goes like that.

caught a few perch on lures as you can

see in the picture the water was very clear

i think giving the choice i would have sooner

done some snorkelling the water is as clear

as many a mediteraen beach.

Had a stinker today getting my line

caught in the electric motor and mullering

my line and rod( hope to get a new tip section)

the line wasn't cheap either being a airflo Di 3.

my boat partner john smith(smoothe he ain't)

captured and dispatched a rainbow whilst i

was eating my snap only to be splatted in blood

with his gollum like fish whacking technique.

managed only a couple of trout with mr smoothe

catching a bagfull.not my day but every dawg

as his day.as diana ross said"i'am still waiting".

Ellastone,dove 8th may

2008-05-08T22:47:00.007+01:00

Had the afternoon at ellastone on the dove today .
Nice weather lovely place but the fish didnt want
to play ball.Went through different flies ,dry/nymphs
managed a few on a danger baby nymph ,very small
fish but wild .

Plenty of grayling about but not so many trout.

Maybe the weather as been too hot for them.

The river looked in good nick but probably needs a bit

more weed growth to give the fish more cover.

The only trees that are not in leaf are the broad

leafs and maybe this will also give more shade

and cover when they finally come into leaf.

Carsington water 5th may

2008-05-06T10:09:00.005+01:00

Had a marvelous day at carsington today arriving around
9 am finding flat calm and misty conditions. Decided to
start around the tower bank area using nymphs
(buzzers and diawl bachs) The fishing was steady with
quite a few half hearted takes(perch me thinks).
Set up the spare rod with a slime line and my favourite
lure at carsington a two tone orange/sunburst yellow
blob (top bling).caught one or two on both methods
steadily throughout the day.

John's fish of the day (lol).
Got a phone call mid afternoon that my granddaughter
and grandson were also at carsington.
Fishing rods down and back to the lodge to spend some
time with them.on showing paige the near four pound
rainbow in the bass bag she totally was not intrested
more so in the bar of choclate.

Went back out after the break to find the wind had got up
a bit so got the bling out on a Di 3 .We had to search quite
a while to locate the fish.When found the sport was frantic
with fish jumping up to three feet clear of the water
shaking their heads to try and throw the hooks
(quite a few succeeded)
good day with over 30 fish to the boat ,best 3.14 lbs
only one brown caught all day.
be back soon.

Hoon hay (hilton,derby)1st may 2008

2008-05-01T23:48:00.007+01:00

Had the afternoon off so decided to go fishing .with the
rivers being mainly in flood went to one of derby county
anglers club small lakes hoon hay near hilton.
the fishing was quite hard but did manage a few mainly
on buzzers but got a few takes on dries too.

caught this fellow on a olive buzzer.not many fish
caught by anglers according to the log book.
should fish better when the weather picks up.

Church mayfeild ,dove 22nd april

2008-04-23T10:17:00.002+01:00

Had a few hours on the dove at mayfeild this afternoon.
when arriving there was a lot of insects and the fish
were topping.
started off with a dark f fly taking a nice grayling
and missing a few.
Tried a nymph and repeated by catching a cracking
out of season grayling but no trout.

went up above the weir to see if anything about.
swiched to a duo large dry with a small shrimp
size 20 tied on new zealand style to the bend of
the dry.
only managed one tiny trout to the nymph but
what a lovely day.
still not convinced that the rivers are in top form
just yet.

Carsington res 16th april

2008-04-16T21:13:00.004+01:00

Frosty start to the day with ice in bottom of the boats.
went over to the far bank to begin with.
we struggled all around milfields/upperfields bank.Caught
3 myself with john smith catching 5 then decided to go
over too tower bank.With buzzers on i caught a
overwintered rainbow over 4lbs staight away then the
takes never stopped for the rest of the day.John smith my
boat partner hooked into a cracking 5lb rainbow which
fought really hard and took a good five minutes to get
into the net.(shown above)

here is some of the fish we caught above.
The best fly for us on the day was without doubt a olive
buzzer taking well over 20 fish for us.we spooned one early
on and it was full of small olive buzzers.

a nice rainbow of about 4lbs.
we carried on until the wind made it really hard with my
battery wearing down on my electric motor.john ended up
with 21 rainbows and myself catching 17 including 4
overwintered between us.
If venturing to carsington keep moving around till you
locate the fish .great day nice venue will be back soon.
john

Afon Mawddach 10th april

2008-04-11T15:38:00.005+01:00

Tried the river mawddach in north wales today.
This is primally a salmon and seatrout river
but i noticed the evening before trout rising
just below the bridge.
trying a mixture of dry and nymphs for a couple
of hours with no takes or signs of fish.
is'nt that the case when you are not fishing
signs of fish but none when you are eager too
catch something.
I fished this water with my derbyshire county
angling club ticket which as 2 season rods.
i would like to try this stretch again because it
looks very promising for trout.
If any members are intrested in fishing this venue
it is on the A470 near to the tyn n groes park
(spelling)with facilities, toilets ,undercover shelter
even a barbecue pit.

Llyn cynwch 7th and 9 th april

2008-04-11T15:31:00.005+01:00

Had a couple of visits to this lake which were quite
enjoyable and caught quite a few fish.
This venue is available on the derby county angling
club season rods.
most of the fish were taken on ghhe nymph plus
a walkers mayfly nymph on a slime line.
did try the gawdy bling flies but the fish just laughed
out loud.
raised a smile from a fellow angler in getting a fish
to chase a mini muddler .
he asked" what fly have you got on"
i replied a muddler .
he laughed and replied"they probably were thinking
what the hell is that".

met a few anglers at the lake they all offered advice

and a few yarns.

some intresting stories of salmon and sea trout fishing

in the summer.

if you find yourself on a trip to this lake say hi

and take time to talk to the old guy who sits in the

car park in is motor.

he told me he only manages to fish a handful of times

a year due to age plus health.he visits most days to

take in the views and have a knap.

nice place all in all.

Carsington reservoir 3rd april

2008-04-05T22:31:00.002+01:00

Fished carsington today.
caught 4 lost a couple on two tone blobs.
it was bloody freezing ,north westerly
nice place but come on mr bluesky
as delia said.
"Lets be havin you"
i will be back

Foremark res 24th march

2008-03-25T08:42:00.002Z

Fished foremark res today and it was a very cold wind

for most of the day.

started off early on with cat whisker boobies catching

1 but losing another 3.

switched to buzzers later on with another nine fish landed

plus losing another 3.i fished with john smith who caught

5 and lost quite a few as well ,he needs to practice them

strikes as he had loads of missed takes.

two flyfishing forum members where fishing either side

of us the squire and gareth but we did not know each other

so did not speak.

did my good deed for the day in giving the indian chap one

of my special indicators (imported from usa)because he

said he kept losing the ones he had brought.

if you are looking to introduce a newcomer to flyfishing

this is the perfect venue stocked to the brim and plenty

of bank space.

we both agreed that it was a great but cold day.

17 th march hoon hay

2008-03-18T09:45:00.001Z

Fished hoon hay lake near hilton,derby.
used mainly buzzers john smith caught
this cracker ,quick picture then safely
returned.sooner be on rivers!

Willersley castle 20th feb 2008

2008-02-20T19:05:00.008Z

cold start this morning arrived around 9 .30 am
nobody here had the whole castle stretch to myself.
today i set out coarse fishing for grayling ,chub and
barbel.

one of many grayling falling too my upstream trotting
method(bit like nymphing)

this chap went straight back maybe see him in season.

fin perfect small chub made my day.
lost count of the grayling caught today,
they are there but are hard too tempt.
roll on spring.

willersley 13th feb 2008

2008-02-13T19:26:00.007Z

Arrived at willersley just after lunchtime.
Checked in and noticed i would be sharing
the river with five other anglers.
Has i made my way up towards the top
of the stretch i stopped and spoke to each
angler asking how they were doing.
consensus was that fishing was slow but
what a glorouis day to be out.

One of the chaps mentioned that he sometimes pike
fishes willersley and as caught pike upto 14 lb.
i started at the weir ,nothing for the first half hour
then from no where six grayling in about 15 minutes.

Carried on for a while with not much action.
just as the sun dipped behind masson mill
sending the temp down at least 10 degrees
the grayling came on again for about 10
minutes with a further 4 coming to hand.
too cold i'am going home.

Lovely day.

River Manifold 10th feb 2008

2008-02-10T17:35:00.000Z

Tried the manifold for the first time this morning.
Arrived at west side mill near ecton with frost still
under foot on in the shaded parts.
The river looked in fine fettle but no signs of fish
went through my nymphs pink bugs ,czech and
hares ear but no intrest but what a fantastic
looking river .I will return when spring tranforms
this river into life .

Willersley castle 6th feb 2008

2008-02-06T17:56:00.000Z

16/11/2007 willersly castle

2007-11-16T16:15:00.000Z

Made a early start at willersly castle around about nine
o'clock.on arriving we had a sneaky look from the bridge
adjacent too the car parking seeing that the river was very
low indeed and clear.
Set up at the weir with a duo of a large stimulator with a
tungsten pink bug on the point.there was not much action
in the first couple of hours or so then john put a fish egg
pattern on and got into the fish straight away.
i switched over to a egg fly and also got instant success
leaving the egg fly on all day catching 15 grayling the
best pictured below.

The water is really getting very cold now even with

neoprene's and two pair's of socks on my toes were

freezing.

It was very nice getting out now and again to have a love'ly

warm drink and get the blood pumping through my toe's

again.

John took advantage of my last guest ticket and made the

most of it catching some nice fish all in all a good day.

14/11/2007 Whatstandwell ,Derwent hotel

2007-11-14T19:06:00.000Z

Fished the day ticket water at the derwent hotel this
afternoon and boy is it getting cold when wading.
The picture above shows john smith upstream nymphing
with a grayling pink bug.

The price of the day tickets as gone up again to a whole
£5 (good value) Above is the upper limits of the beat
adjacent to the weir.Managed a trout on a hare's ear
varient dubbed with the fine silver fur from my mooses's
cat.

I think i will leave this stretch alone till next summer as
not a lot of signs of them silver ladies.

11/11/2007 Ellastone (dove and mill brook)

2007-11-11T18:24:00.000Z

Arrived at ellastone mid-morning on looking at the river
it appeared in good condition .Started off with a large
dry as a indicator with two small weighted nymphs
underneath tied on new zealand style.All the fish that
i caught (all grayling) were on the point nymph being
a pink bug tied on a 18 wet hook with a 2mm tungsten
bead .
I could not beleave how busy this small stretch was
with some sort of social fishing outing going off on
the opposite bank.Spoke to several of the anglers who
reported catching browns,grayling and rainbows
probably in that order.

Later in the afternoon ventured up the tiny mill brook

(above) looking for likely spots to run a nymph through.

I had a few takes and actually managed to hook one

for a few seconds but to no avail as it slipped off never

to be seen again so i walked back down to the main river

to be greeted with a rising chocolate coloured dove.

Tried a few half hearted cast's but soon realised that

the day was done.

31/10/07 Willersly castle

2007-10-31T20:34:00.001Z

Managed a few hours fly fishing at willersly castle
this afternoon.Started off using a pink grayling bug
but not much happening.Noticed a few fish feeding
at the surface.Tied up a leader for dry fly with a F fly
at the point.On the third cast about half way across
a grayling took and gave a good account for is size.
Moved below the bridge where i noticed some BWO
coming off,tied one on and caught the smallest but
most perfect grayling i have seen for ages.On filling
in my return in the box i noticed that them using bait
had a very good day.

21/10/07 carsington water

2007-10-28T20:22:00.000Z

fished our club match on closing day.

Carsington Match Report - 21st October, 2007
This was the last day at Carsington and our final match of the season. We were greeted by Tony who offered tea and mince pies; he then spelled out fishery rules and where not to fish etc. and warned us of icy jetty and slippery boats.We went forth in fog and a flat calm which was very eerie, did not see any fish rise and of course not a boat in sight. Soon after 9.30am the Sun peeped through and one could see people walking along the dam wall and another boat or two! Flies on the day - Rosemary caught a nice fish as the Sun appeared and a tiny ripple started. A floating line orange/yellow Blob on the dropper, Melvyn followed suit and we then caught on Black Nomads, thereafter life became very hard for us, losing one or two and just having odd plucks.The rest caught up using Black & Green Fritz on intermediate lines, and some fast sink and Orange Boobies. Terry had a golden patch about 2.30pm with Gold Headed Olive Fritz on intermediate, having not had a pull all day. It was great to have a good turn out and see some new names in the first 6, plus others having a go for the first time. Congratulations to Paul winning his first Colwick FFC match.

16/10/07 River Derwent (willersly castle)

2007-10-28T20:01:00.000Z

Fished with my brother(owd big ed) at willersly castle. We fished mainly at the weir behind masson millretail outlet.caught loads of grayling plus one or two surprise fish.I got a nice chub over three pounds falling to double yellow maggot.then my bros rod bent into something quite big after a spirited fight a barbel pushing 5lbs came to the net. Caught a nice wildrainbow which was released unharmed.Didnt manage to catch a rainbow on the fly maybe next year.

28/10/07 River Dove

2007-10-28T19:20:00.000Z

Fished on the river dove this afternoon.Chose to use trotting with red maggot as the prefered method.The grayling at first seemed impartial to mydouble maggot offering on a size 14 so i scaled it down to a size 20 with just one wee maggot.The fish started to come on with some nice grayling coming to the net .I only caught 3 browns which were swiftly released back Unharmed. Best grayling went just over a pound pictured above.