Boys' Night out on the Town (Water)

One of the few places where you can show yourself to the fish and still have success is the Town Water in Bakewell on the Haddon Estate's day ticket water stretch of the Derbyshire Wye. Enthusiasts, for obvious reasons, fish the Town Water at night. The crowds have dispersed. No more bread is being thrown in for the ducks and fish to compete over. The fish, gorged on carbohydrates all day have to balance up their diet by eating protein all night. The abundant fly life makes this a viable lifestyle so the fish grow to amazing sizes.

The little Sherry Spinners return on many summer evenings in enormous quantities. On those evenings we simply use the artificial designed to represent these flies as they lay cruciform on the surface having finally used up their ration of energy in the final throes of egg laying on the water's surface.

Sometimes the sedge fly is the predominant fly on the fishes' menu. The sedge fly is a much easier fly to deploy than the Sherry Spinner. It need not drift absolutely drag free. Sedges skitter about and so it might be an advantage if your artificial does likewise. The fly is larger than the spinner, so you can use a heavier tippet and that might be very important when you hook what might be a double figure fish - in the dark...

On Sunday there was nearly as much pleasure to be had watching a member of the Peacock Fly Fishing Club and his four mates, who had joined him on day tickets, fishing the sedge fly and really getting it right.

The long handled landing net and the unhooking mat were in constant demand. They fished until it was simply too dark to see the flies anymore, in despite of the lights from the Italian restaurant across the river giving some illumination on the proceedings. They all went home very happy, which is, after all, exactly how anglers should always be on their return from an evening on the river...

Regular Rod