Delayed Action

2018 will be remembered for its persistence in reverting back to winter after every brief spell of sun! 

It brings to mind the old music hall joke about the English summer: "Oh we had a wonderful summer last year.  Unfortunately I missed it...  I was shaving at the time."

Here we are, almost a month into the season and the wind is cold, the sky is leaden and the flies are showing themselves only in little flurries of activity.  Today the Lathkill, that beautiful, limestone spring-fed tributary of the Derbyshire Wye, was calling.  This winter the keepers had worked very hard on giving this beat its pentennial "haircut" so a natural curiosity to see what things were like was only to be expected.

Click it to see it bigger.  See how there are none of the yellow Lesser Celandine flowers opened up.

Yet here we are with Lady's Smock, blooming well, supported by the grasses around it.

The river looks amazing.  There has been so much rain this year that the flow, which usually chuckles along, today was steaming through like a mountain torrent.  The fly line had to be managed at break neck speed to maintain contact with the fly.  The river may be high and swift but the water is as clear as gin.  Too much caution therefore could not be exercised in the approach.  Crawling into position was still vital.

There were some Large Dark Olives skittering about on the surface, dragged hither and thither by the erratic breezes.  Not one was being eaten.  Very occasionally a singleton Grannom would appear and, in one or two cases, these were eaten... with alacrity!  On with the Fresh Grannom then onto the knees and a careful sneak into position. 

He really is behaving himself here.  Just behind me there is a pheasant and I've told him "Stay!"

Waiting and watching was frustrating for Henry but he behaved himself and refrained from distraction so that his pal could concentrate on the quarry.  The first fish was a brown trout typical of this water, dotted to perfection and with bright red rays to the lower edge of her tail.  This strip of red was augmented by the red adipose fin giving the impression of redness all over, although buttery yellow was the predominant colour really.

All were brown trout except for one wild rainbow trout that zoomed all over the pool twice before being tricked into the net.  Henry was very relieved to see it there (so was I)...

The "haircut" has been a success.  Casting here is now quite easy yet the fish still have their overhangs and other cover to lurk in.  It's a beautiful place and, even though we are still under the cold hand of a late winter, there is Sport to be had, if we turn up to fish.

Fresh Grannom

The Grannom is really over now, so don't waste time tying any up for this year.  Just makes sure you have some for April 2019!

On St. George's day there were Hawthorn flies about, which meant they were two days early, St. Mark's day is when they are supposed to appear.  Next week they will be around so Charles Cotton's Black Fly will most likely be the best bet, especially if we finally get a bit of sunshine...

Regular Rod

All Fool's Day 2018...

...  fell on Easter Day this year!

The rain had been so heavy that the Club's breakfast morning in the Baden Powell Fishing Hut was cancelled.  30 motor cars stuck in the mud would have been dreadful, not to mention the wrath of the tenant farmer for the destruction of his pasture land!

Instead it was breakfast at home and then out to a lovely tributary of the mother river.  This little river is a pure limestone spring-fed river, the only one in England.  As you can see from these snaps, the water is as clear as gin.  The trout can see you from a distance.  Stealth is even more vital here than it is on the mother river, the Derbyshire Wye.  Scare a trout on the Wye and you ruin your chances in that pool for quite a while.  Scare a trout in this tributary and you can ruin your chances for a hundred yards or more and for an even longer time. These trout are beautiful, well fed creatures with gold and red bejewelled skins.  They make it worth the angler's while to be very careful and very stealthy in the approach.

Henry was delighted to be helping with the fishing again and seemed to know in advance exactly where we were going to sit.  He did move over to let your correspondent get in position but only after hissed instructions to "Budge Up!".

The plan was to stop fishing once six had been caught (and released).  It was a good plan, which kept us on the move, catching only one fish at each place we decided to fish.  The first fish was caught by prospecting with a likely fly, the Double Badger.  The Double Badger works well when Large Dark Olives are on the water and as these flies were expected to show up at any time, the Double Badger was put on (and kept on).

The Large Dark Olives duly appeared shortly after the second fish was returned.  This made finding and catching the last four a lot easier...

This trout was the fifth caught.  It had a large leech on it, which was removed immediately, after all, one good turn deserves another!  A healed hole was evident on its right upper body just below and in front of the dorsal fin.  The heron will have missed a meal a few months ago and this trout will get to pass on its survivor genes to its progeny, if it can keep out of harm's way until Christmas!  The markings are very distinct so an ID photograph was made.  It will be easy to recognise if caught again.

It would have been easy to give All Fool's Day a miss but this happy angler was glad that the effort was made.  The reward was better than any chocolate egg could ever be!

Did you all celebrate Easter this year with a spot of fishing?




Regular Rod