New Beginnings...

Did you ever subscribe to a typical fishing magazine for a year or so?  Did you ever get the feeling that apart from fishery reports, the advertisements for new products and reviews of them that you were on a Merry-Go-Round?  The magazines only had the same thing to say over the year as they said the year before and the year before that?  Well those of you in the affirmative opinion will understand when I admit that I was worried this blog was going the same way.  This made for hesitation and the posts just stopped.  What completely amazed me was that there are still so very many page visits every day, with certain pages proving popular (and hopefully useful) to you kind readers...

Still there is more to fishing, especially dry fly fishing, than catching fish so maybe this blog can still be worth writing and (please) worth reading?

At this time of year, if you have not already, you really should be doing something about what the Victorians called "Gaining leave to fish".  By this they meant gaining access to fishing via permission, booking day tickets, joining a club, renting or even buying a water. 

The first time your blogger essayed into high quality dry fly fishing was by staying at the Peacock Hotel at Rowsley in Derbyshire in June 1969.  In those days, being a resident at the hotel qualified you to buy a day ticket to fish the Derbyshire Wye on the Haddon Estate.  It was resident's only back then and the season didn't start until May 15th!

Today you can buy a day ticket to fish this lovely water AND/OR you can join the Peacock Fly Fishing Club and fish just about whenever you like.  It's a great saving and makes really learning this 8 miles of river a feasible proposition with all the advantages that brings to your chances of success.  These days the club offers not just the fishing on the Derbyshire Wye, but includes the lower reaches of the crystal clear river Lathkill, all of the river Bradford and four glorious miles of the Derbyshire Derwent.

The other thing you should be doing at this time of year is some wandering by your chosen river in fascinating reconnaissance.  Here is the sort of thing that reveals itself to you on such visits without a rod:

 

 

The above clips show the process of the river being allowed to grade itself again for the first time in over a century.  The weir is no longer holding back the flow.  The weir is no longer holding back the fish!  New habitat is being created...

Here is the next pool down river shortly after some high water.  The power of what can seem a gentle and tame river is revealed here.  Hundreds of tons of gravel have been picked up, deposited, profiled and graded.  If salmon ever find their way up here this will make a fine nuptial bed...

 

You may remember what it was like a little while ago. 

 

Your blogger is one happy angler who is looking forward to learning this "new" bit of river and how to fish it.  Roll on All Fool's Day!

 

 

 

Regular Rod