Cool

Grim news

Oh no, not again.

 http://bakewellflyfishing.co.uk/2012/02/river-dove-oil-spillage/

Here's hoping the EA guys can catch in time. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-17110601

http://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/news/local/battle_to_save_river_from_oil_pollution_1_4259873

“The more you know, the less you need”

Everyone it seems is talking about it. Some with praise, others condemning. Love it or hate it, its simple, stripped back,  ..just less.

What am I talking about?  That 'fad' to quote Lefty Kray, or perhaps 'one of the oldest established forms of fly fishing known'.

Yes its Tenkara.

And guess what, .......mine arrived today.

Woo hoo, can't wait for the weekend to try it out.

No fishing today!

Well it was a beautiful if very cold day today, but no chance of fishing as the overnight temperature had been 13 or 14 below, leaving much of the river frozen over.  Was great to get out with the dogs and enjoy the scenery though.

 

 

 

 

 

  

Long awaited Grayling Soc day on the Derwent

Yesterday, Sunday 5th, I managed to brave the elements, including 4" snow to drive over to Cromford in Derbyshire for a day Grayling fishing on the R Derwent, with the  local branch of the Grayling Soc.  About 10 of us managed to get through the attrocious conditions, including numerous abandoned cars to meet up at the Greyhound Hotel in Cromford for a coffee and a biscuit before setting out for the fishing.
Park in the carpark at the meadows, Brian said.  Very good, but which was the car park and which was the meadow?

Well we guessed, tackled-up and headed for the river.  In these conditions I opted to czech-nymph with a leader-to-hand rig on my 10' Streamflex.  The sun came out and made it all so pretty, but with the air temperature not more than 2 degrees above, and the water temp likewise, it was good job I had 2 layers of thermals on.

This fishing was challenging especially on the fly, the chaps trotting bait had much more luck especially as they knew where the deep holes are.  I eventually managed 3 'ladies' in the 10-12" range, 2 on a pink shrimp and 1 on a czech shrimp.

Later in the afternoon walking back upstream, trying to jump-start the circulation in my feet, I decided on a few last casts on a likely looking bend, with a deep area, below the railway bridge.  Lo and behold something fairly meaty headed off with one of my flies and kept fairly deep.  After a few minutes fighting I managed to bring it to the surface and netted a 17" brown trout! Well I was surprised, shouldn't he have been under a rock or bank somewhere comatose? After a quick snap I slipped him back to swim very strongly away.  Interestingly he had quite a chunk of his dorsal fin missing, and one of the other anglers reckoned he caught the same fish earlier on!

By now the sun was going down and it was time to repair to the Greyhound for a hot plate of stew and a pot of tea to warm up.  Lovely.

A smashing day, well worth the travelling.

January Musings

I have been out a couple of times to fly fish for pike again this year without success. So for a change of scene last Saturday I took myself off to Toft Newton reservoir near Market Rasen north of Lincoln.  The Manager, Jason had organised a coarse fishing day, where all methods were allowed (with barbless hooks).  Obviously all trout caught had to be handled very carefully and returned quickly.  I arrived in temperatures of -4 degrees centigrade (25F), but with bright low sun and a cloudless blue sky.  The reservoir was a kind of weird place to fish, in fact not very inviting at all, and I think the weather helped to alleviate the effect of the concrete surround - the reservoir is in fact a 40 acre concrete bowl set in the Lincolnshire flatlands.


I tried fishing with some perch flies that I had tied up (weighted with bead eyes & with red marabou tails) on an intermediate line and long leader, using my #7/8 9' rod.  This did initially attract trout 3 fish in half-a-dozen casts, all distance released, but more particularly it highlighted my appalling casting ability or lack of skill, something which I really need to address.

Most anglers were set up with maggots and a float, and were catching numerous trout, in fact one chap had caught and released over 120 fish by the time I left at 3.45pm, without moving from the spot!  I'm sure he must have caught the same fish more than once.  A few perch and a pike or 2 were caught by the boat anglers, but shore angling only seemed to produce unfortunate trout.

My tally for the day was a meager 6 trout but I wasn't fishing for them was I!  A very pleasant day due to the beautiful though chilly weather.

I'm now looking forward to my next outing, a birthday treat, of spot grayling fishing on the R Derwent in Derbyshire next Sunday, can't wait.

The Complete Angler by James Prosek

Please take some time to watch, enjoy, and absorb the atmosphere in, this wonderful film.



It's almost as relaxing as a day on the river in June!