Trout before breakfast

Dawn can be quiet, tranquil and absolutely gorgeous..but enough about her, let's talk about fishing.

As we reach the, sometimes, sweaty heights of summer fish become less inclined to feed on the surface during the day. I have a couple of theories on this which are probably way off the mark but they work for me.

Firstly, Trout don't like looking into direct sunlight and at this time of year the sun is almost directly above us at mid-day, unlike during spring and autumn; they cannot see properly and probably feel 'exposed' to predators.

Secondly, they are a cold water fish which means their body temperature is governed by the the water around them, they can sense the slightest change and therefore will try and keep out of water that is rapidly changing such as that in direct mid-day sun; this means moving lower down or into the shade.

Obviously there is less food about and fewer flies hatching but I believe that makes the Trout more opportunistic.

If you read many of the old authors they advocate fishing later in the day or through the evening. Not too many of them recommend early mornings but this is probably more to do with wanting to stay in bed and have a nice leisurely breakfast before venturing out; to do this though can mean missing some of the best fishing of the day, although it does have some appeal, especially at 4am....

You don’t have to miss out on a good breakfast either. Fried Trout fillets go well with a poached egg but if that does not appeal you can always carry some slices of pig and crusty baguette - a frying pan and stove are useful as well unless you like your Pork products rare!

Another plus point and probably the most important for early morning fishing is the lack of other anglers. Thinking back over the last few years I cannot recall meeting anyone else before 10am. There is something satisfying about putting the first artificial of the day over a Trout and they are often the better fish, fish that seem completely absent latter in the day will make an appearance for that early morning meal. A recent outing resulted in one of my best fish from Wolfscotedale this year.

Shiny Precious things

Why oh why do I never learn? Why?

I know there is no compromising quality and I know quality comes at a price! So why don't I learn? Maybe it's because I really love getting new 'precious' things ('precious'= anything to do with fishing....., of course!!!).

Perhaps, somewhere in my subconscious I know that I can work my way up to a quality version of some item, something that will last and last, by buying several cheaper versions on route and therefore have more precious things arriving in the post.

This has happened over and over again; my first light trout rod cost about £25, was a Diawa #5/7 (how can any rod have such a range?) fished ok with a #4 and was overloaded with a #6, had the action of a soggy piece of string and weighed about 14lbs.

Then I upgraded, going for a bit of quality this time, to something with a Hardy badge but was the bottom end of the range - the Marquis #3/4. It has (I still own it) a nice build and finish but the foundation, the blank, is slow and well... just a bit of a damp squiff really.

Eventually I bit the bullet and bought myself a Sage TXL (actually I picked it up on a business/fishing trip to South Africa before they were launched in the UK). I have had this for few years now and it will last me a good few more, if not forever because I can’t see how it can be improved on....... no really, I mean it!

This last year I have been on a similar 'journey' with packs. For years I have used vests, owned loads but was never really happy with them. Great for carrying fishy stuff up front; fly boxes, tippet etc. However, the back has always been problem to me. I like my Kelly Kettle - bulky I know but they weight sod all and make a better drink than you can get from any flask. Sometimes I have lunch or dinner or breakfast or all of them with me. Previously I used an over-the-shoulder bag to carry this stuff. Then I discovered packs, well I didn't, the 'septics' came up with the idea for their long walk-in fishing excursions.

Packs are great. You can get any amount of gear in them and still have room for more, especially if you buy a really, really big one!! BUT you CAN also carry them with nothing in the back and they still work just as well, ah - see - always thinkin' me, always thinking!

Anyway, I digress. So I decided, after a fishing trip to the US, to switch to a pack. This was a couple of years ago and I have been through four packs to get to where I knew I would end up; with a Fishpond. I tried Ron Thompson, nice build actually but the design was just off the mark and I struggled to get everything in that I like to carry up-front. Scierra, cack design. Phoenix, a cheap copy of the FP Wildhorse, fell to bits in less than 3 months fishing. A month ago I took delivery of a Wildhorse and since then have been regretting not getting one before.

Mind you, none of it helps you catch more fish!

I have been out a few times recently and had a few nice fish and a jolly nice time. A couple of the trips were in pleasant, warm sunny weather and a couple were in wet and windy conditions; each has its up-side and both are better than sitting watching the telly!

It's a funny old game...

The car park was packed; well there were two other cars, which is pretty busy for Sutton Brook. We introduced ourselves and discussed the general state of the nation in the heady world of Blount Flyfishers. All the time I was wondering how we were going to fish without falling over each other. In the end we agreed that they would take a mile of river downstream from the footbridge and I would take the top three miles; very good of 'em I thought!

After the last outing I was interested to see if I could get stuck into some fish of quality. Conditions were very similar; it was warm and sunny with a light breeze. The water was clear, well as clear as it gets in this brook and a little lower than of late which can make the fish a bit spooky in my experience.

I tied on a size 14 Goddards Caddis and a size 20 Adams. They were just two flies I pulled from the fly patch to help me carry the rod to the water and I fully intended to swap them once I had worked out the best options according the hatches.

It turned out to be a funny old session with about a dozen fish coming to the net. Most of them were 12 inches or more and the best went 16" with a 8" girth, weighting about 1lbs 12oz - big for a brook that you can jump across in places...mind you there are also places where you would get very wet if you tried it; being 30ft wide and 6ft deep!

I never changed flies, even to put fresh ones on and caught equally well on the Adams as I did the Goddards. There was nowt on the water to indicate anything in particular hatching although one or two olives could be seen floating around amongst the Sedge, Gnats and the ever present, well it seems so this year anyhow, Mayfly; although nothing was eating any of them - no rising fish except to my poorly presented fur and feather!

A really nice session and one of my best fish this year left me scratching my head...it's a funny old game!

“You should have been here last week, sir!”

Denver is a lot like any other big US city when you first look at it. However, there is a difference; head a few miles West and you will trip yourself up, several times a day if you’re me, on some dodgy wading in what is probably the best river Trout fishing in Colorado; the South Platte.

I am huge John Gierach fan and his scribblings inspire my fishing antics. This is one of his local waters and I was well pleased to be getting a chance of catching a fish that the man himself may have once hooked and lost.

Thirty miles is not a long way to drive but when it’s on a winding mountain road with no lighting and averaging around 30 miles per hour it seemed like it is. After midnight and feeling very tired from travelling thousands of miles across North America, it was blinkin’ hard work! I was mighty relieved to see the cabin lights welcoming me to Trumball, a small cluster of log cabins that overlook the South Platte.

Danny’s directions had been spot on and it was a relief to drop the bags in the entrance to my temporary home for the next couple of days. The sound of the river roaring below me started butterflies fluttering somewhere inside, although that could have been a dodgy chicken pie from the service station.

The alarm was set for six o’clock but I was up by 5.30 to deposit the pie down the big white pipe and to brew a pot of coffee.

Now at this point I would like to say that this was a remote mountain cabin with no electricity and basic facilities but it wasn’t! It was spacious and rather luxurious; somewhere you would happily live, let alone spend a few days admiring the view – a rather lovely river and Scraggy Mountain in the distance.

I stood on the porch drinking the first coffee of the day watching the House Martins which had taken up residence over the front door. I never did like their chirpy tunes and once they started on the “Caravan of Love” I chased them away. A Buck in velvet with a Doe in tow wandered into the garden of the cabin next door to browse on the lawn. Regardless of how good the fishing was I was going to enjoy this short break!

It was just about a mile back down the road to the retail expanse known as Deckers; a coffee shop, a a general store and a fishing store. At 8am, as agreed, I shook hands with Danny Brennan, the owner of Deckers fishing outlet and general all-round good egg. He informed me I would be guided by Jessie, a young but experienced guide and general all-round nut case! We shook hands.

There was some discussion about flows. It was down to less than 400cfps, which sounded high to me having tried to wade the Vaal in South Africa at 500cfps. However, Jessie said “You should have been here last week, it was over 800! You’ve timed your visit perfectly” – now that’s not something you hear every day...

Setting up in one of the many free parking areas along the South Platte, Jessie informed me that he’d screwed up on the wading boots front and had a size 11 and a size 13, with the size 11 being too small; after this he was named as a Cherokee Indian – Chief Little One Boot (LOB). He returned from the shop with matching boots and we set off for ‘Mad Dog’ run. We fished down past ‘Bernie’s Rock’ to ‘FBI Johns’. We caught fish too, lots of ‘em; Browns, Rainbows, Cutthroat and the Cutbow hybrids. The fish were all strong, wild and very, very beautiful – I was very happy.

We moved later in the morning, LOB led the way to the ‘Scraggy View’ car park and we fished a wide sweeping bend just in front of it. My guide was good, he knew just when to switch from nymphs to great big attractor dries, that looked like they could eat a trout, with droppers to double dry rigs. Every time we changed the rate of takes would return to normal and my conversion rate would follow; about a 4,000,000 to 1......seriously I was catching a lot of fish compared to all those around us.

Lunch was served at Danny’s house on the veranda, overlooking the river. It was a fine burger, grilled to perfection and served with a potato salad. LOB and I talked about the fire. It was the Missionary Ridge fire of 2003 and it was the anniversary. LOB explained that some mad-mare of a woman had started it intentionally to try and secure a position with the local fire department. It took a week to put out and had changed the landscape for miles around as well as effecting a change in the rivers. Fishing had gone downhill after that.

The good news was it was returning to normal now, the river is full of fish again but there have been some changes. Caddis hatches are different and there are some fine Green Drake in the river now, hardly ever seen before the fire. The Blue-wings, Trico’s and Caddis are still providing the fish with an excellent diet. Everything I had read about the area recently suggested it was hard fishing, with one or two fish being the norm. Well after the arm aching morning I had just experienced there are lots of hungry fish in that river waiting to be caught – you just need the right flies.

We fished the afternoon out stalking Browns and ‘Bow’s and Cutt’s using dry flies and we caught plenty. Not as big as the fish from the morning session but just as much fun on short line double dries. We shook hands at around 4pm and I went off to fish on my own. I caught a few more and returned to the cabin for a well earned beer.

The next day I was on my own. I fished a few of the known pools that we had fished the previous day and a few I had not. I caught, not as well but was well pleased with the result. After a shower I headed for the airport but not before popping in to see Danny and thank him for a great couple of days.

As I drove out of the Platte valley I came across an area still ravaged by the scars of the fire and it bought home to me just how devastating it must have been. However, as with so many things, time heals and as far as I can tell there is no lasting a scar on the South Platte and I look forward to a return visit.

If you are thinking of a bit of fishing in this area I can recommend the service of Danny Brennan and his team of excellent guides at http://www.southplatteoutfitters.com/



If you can only secure one of them ask for Jessie...after all he may only have one boot that fits but if John Gierach recommends him (Still Life with Brook Trout) he can’t be that bad, can he?

One thing I can suggest is get a guide. One thing I am sure of - I’m glad I wasn’t there last week.....

Struggling with your flies?

There's nothing worse! Fish are rising and whatever you put over them dead drifts past with only a cursory glance. You catch the odd fish, usually small but there is little consistency. At times like this I often feel like putting it down to a bad job. The last outing to Blount was like that.

Conditions were good, a light, warm breeze and plenty of stuff on the wing. There were still a few 'Mays' about but the fish didn't seem too bothered. I guess after a twice daily, three week diet of double big Macs with extra fries and diet coke, you probably want to pick at some fruit for a while. What is it about diet coke with a 2000 calorie meal? It's a bit like having salad on your kebab after downing 10 pints!

At times like these I tend to lean towards my 'banker' fly selection; Adams, Deer Hair Caddis, No-colour Klinkhamer or PT Spinner.

We caught a few, fish to about ten or 12 inches but we could not really get into them. The usual "dead cert" pools let us down and we were in the pub for 9pm.

Being sociable and showing good etiquette

Fishing alone is great, you can focus on the job in hand and you will have the run of the river. Fishing with friends is fun too and it’s nice to be a little sociable every now and again. If fishing with friends, or your on a busy water, you need to follow good etiquette.

With a regular fishing partner this is all quite natural. It starts before you leave the house, like who drives; taking it in turn without really discussing it. Perhaps, if a meal is involved, usually on longer sessions, then KG will bring his pork based products one time and I will make a butties another. Often a treat will be slipped into the food bag, like a nice cold can of Stella! Sometimes we like to share a ‘proper’ meal like Dynamite Stag Chilli and Rice....then text each other the next day comparing bowel movements!

When selecting how to fish a beat a natural system forms, in our case its short sticks. If we divide the beat into two then the one who draws the short stick gets the longest walk to start. On some waters, like the upper Dove we alternate pools between the stone weirs. This is a lot more sociable and we will stop for a brew on a regular basis. A word of caution; if you have been drinking Stella avoid wading and dont stick your finger in the top of a lit Kelly Kettle!

We always fish up stream; this is good etiquette and should be followed by all river anglers. It is a sensible approach to stalking Trout but also saves on any confusion.

A good example from this recent outing was some numpty who decided it was OK to work his way down stream. The guy had little water craft and no manners. The inevitable happened and a pool that I was working up, nice and steady, ended up getting spoilt because he just jumped in at the top, scaring any decent fish for 50 yards downstream – I can’t stand rude people! If you fish rivers do everyone a favour; start at the down stream end and work your way UP RIVER!

All in a spin

I don’t like crowds when I'm fishing, I don't like crowds much at all come to think of it. I like having the river to myself, don’t we all? There are some waters where this is hard to achieve and some waters where its damm near impossible. If you can't do owt about it then, I guess, you learn to tolerate it or fish somewhere else.

Wolfscotedale on the Dove is water a bit like that. Only a couple of miles from Hartington, a very popular base for walkers, there are times when you think the procession of blue and red anoraks will never cease.

I used to fish Dovedale on the Leek and District ticket and that was very similar. In fact I read a report recently that said this was the second most visited spot in a national park next to Mount Fuji. It certainly felt like that at times but I learnt a few valuable lessons which apply at Wolfscotedale and probably many other stretches of river popular with the general public or, as I like to refer to them when I have rod in hand, noisy scumbags! Those lessons were, in no particular order but I will give them one anyway...

Firstly, that the fish actually get used to scumbags walking next to the river, they will carry on feeding but they tend to be a little more cautious of anything over or on the river.

Secondly, the fish will adapt to the scumbag hatch/fly hatch cycle and make the most of the early morning and late evening but that they become ultra cautious of bankside activity at these times.

Thirdly, scumbags don’t rise until 9am and are not seen making noise and merriment before 10am. They need long, big, hearty meals before a long sleep and are at the dinner table by 7pm and so desert the riverside by 6pm.

Finally, Scumbag hatching cycles increase at the weekend - avoid at all costs!

I arrived at Wolfscotedale at 6.30pm to find one car in the car park. He'd been fishing since 3.30 so it was a good guess that he would not be fishing late. This was a good sign, not many of the Derby County AC anglers’ fish the spinner fall even though it can be very good fishing.

There was little activity on the river and no activity on the footpath. Nothing really happened until about 9pm when the first fish started that classic rising pattern of trout feeding on spinners; a porpoys..poirpose..porposie..dolphin like rise where the head comes out first slowly rolling along the back until the dorsal fin shows. I like this kind of rise, you get a good feel for the size of fish.

Although I had been at the river two hours already the Pheasant Tail tied spinner pattern was already in the butt ring.

Five lovely fish between 12 and 15" graced the net in about an hour of wonderful silence!

A case of mistaken identity...

"I know where you live!", that's what I was saying to myself as I drove towards Blount. No, I have not started to collect debts for big Vern and I have not taken up a post with the Royal Mail. I was just psyching myself up for stalking a big fish.

It was a fish I had seen a few weeks ago and unless it has already been served with a squeeze of lemon then it should still be there, having found itself one of those lies that is near impossible to present a fly to without snagging a tree/hooking the rushes/fly dragging like a skating sedge on speed etc.

I arrived to find the air alive with Mayfly, in fact the car was covered in them before I could get my wading boots on. My fishing time was limited to the cooking period of a pair of Mediterranean breasts.., with new potatoes and my seasonal favourite, asparagus.

As I walked down river the dancing May's filled the sky, the grass and even the fishing hut looked like it had a living skin. The spiders would be having a right hearty feast for the next few days but they would need it to repair their webs, damaged by volume.

The leviathan's lair was quiet. There were few flies on the water and no sign of rising fish. I would sneak into position and wait for him to show...not too long mind, I like my breasts soft and moist, don’t we all?

After maybe fifteen minutes a fish snatched at a passing fly. It was not the monster Trout but it meant that he would soon be out to play. Another five minutes passed and now there were three or four fish under the willow, all snatching at the Mayfly feast. Then, moving a large wake of water he came to the surface of his dark lair, to engulf his starter.

It was time. I got into the river and crawled on all fours, rod in teeth, to the spot where I knew I could present the fly. Although only shallow, I needed to stay low and the water was dangerously close to the top of my chesties as I knelt against the rushes.

He was now rising steadily.

I prepared the shooting line, I prepared to cast....the fly landing just at the top of the eddy, enough slack to hold it still whilst the current ate up the free line, "SLOSH!!", he struck, so did I

....a blinking Chub!!!!

Its the 1st of June and we all know what that means

Whey hey! Its June at last, Epemerella Danica, the Green Drake Mayfly, that time of year when I spend a lot of time watching fish feed, watching flies mate but not actually do a lot of fishing.

Why? Well I don’t find fish particularly hard to catch when they are gorging themselves on the old 'Danica' so I prefer to spend my time stalking bigger fish, fish that normally might not show or be seen.

Last year’s best fish came to a ‘May’; hopefully this year’s will be even bigger!!

What is it about Salmon?

You would think spending a week waving 15ft of graphite and a #10 line about with little to show for it, apart from sore shoulders, cracked skin on the fingers from line burn and an empty wallet, should be enough to put any sane person off?

It was a great weeks Salmon fishing, despite the lack of Salmon! They were in the river but we seemed to be about 10 miles behind them all week.

The first few days we fished Ardoe on the Dee in the morning and the South Esk for Sea Trout in the evening. As with so many Salmon trips, like so many anglers before us, the weather proved our downfall. It had rained very hard the Friday and Saturday before we got there. So we used the first three days as casting practice.
Fish that had been sitting in the Estuary all piled into the river at the same time and used a rising Dee as an opportunity to get as close to their spawning grounds as possible. They swan like fish possessed all the way to the middle and middle-upper beats, they were caught on the Monday and Tuesday from Lower Blackhall to Cairnton. We were about 20 miles too far east.

Mid-week and we switched to our second Dee booking, Lower Blackhall. Overnight rain on Tuesday scuppered us again and as we arrived on the Thursday to see the last of the Salmon swimming under the Banchory bridge and heading for tea with the Queen at Balmoral!

Soon the aches and pains from constant Spey casting were the main topic of conversation and AT's bad shoulder and my sore hands were the focus of our attention. Even the capture of a silver tourist was not enough to fire the hope that we were about to start catching Salmon.

The afternoon rain storms continued for the rest of the week and there was little prospect of a fish. We were neither seeing Salmon in the river nor were there fish being reported from the lower beats to give us hope that something could be heading our way.

However, no sooner were the rods loaded into the car on the Saturday evening than we were planning a September trip and the hunger for a Salmon was all consuming, again, until next time!

You ain't seen me, right?

The bank side cover does not really start growing around here until early to mid May. Keeping yourself hidden from those over-wintered or wild fish can be very challenging through March and April. So we have to ensure, more so than during the summer, that we wear the right clothes and use a higher degree of stealth. Two tips for not being spotted; make sure your head is below the cover behind you; wear dull, dark colours.

A recent trip to Sutton Brook was a good example. Both my fishing buddy and I were wearing camouflaged tops and spent most of the afternoon on our knees trying to avoid our silhouettes falling on the water. It was the only way we could get to see rising fish.

Although RE does not do a lot of river Trout fishing a sound coarse fishing background means he has excellent water craft. Fly selection was critical on this outing and the fish soon switched from sedge to olives and then to gnats. Although RE is a good fly tier his preferred method for filling the fly box is blatant pilfering and very soon some of my double badger and Klinks were re-homed!

It was good to see that the fish are doing well in Sutton Brook. One positive sign on this outing was a couple of small wild fish, much smaller than the stocked fish.

Somewhere over the Brownie..Part II

A few days later and I returned to the Haddon Estate for another go at these lovely fish. The three of us spent about half an hour trying to find breakfast in Bakewell before giving up and giving the Grouse and Claret our business. It was a good breakfast too although I should know better than to tuck into a big lump of black pudding and spent the rest of the day regretting/tasting it!

There is something guiltless about a cooked breakfast before a day’s fishing, as if the fresh air and day pursuing wild creatures makes all the cholesterol OK. I just wish my doctor could see it that way!

It was a friend’s Birthday gift and seeing as he has not done a lot of river fishing I suggested he start on the Put and Take section where it’s nice and open. Here he could get his casting eye in and there's a good chance of a fish or two to build confidence.

We arrived opposite the cottages and I pointed to a spot at the end of some reeds on the far bank, "A lump of a fish lives there Ian" and proceeded to peel of a length of line and cast to the spot I was referring to, the fly hit the water, "Just there" and it disappeared in a swirl that can only be made by a good fish! I'm a generous fishing buddy like that...

We watched a Stoat get chased off by a couple of Coots, they gave him a real scalding and us a good laugh. After mucking about for an hour there IP was now well into fishing a dry on moving water, had caught his first Wye Brownie and so we headed up stream.

We fished hard and all caught well. It was pleasing to see IP catching a few and having a jolly time of it.

The day was a tough one with the gusty wind, I knew I should have given the black pudding a miss but the fish were obliging, all three of us caught well through the mid-day feeding spell. They were coming to the Double Badger mostly but as the day wore on the flies got smaller and by the time we finished it was small olive immitations that were catching.

The hatches were of Grannom, although few and far between the fish still wanted them, and Spurwings, well that's what the book said

As the light started to fade I called it a day and took a steady stroll back to the car. IP joined me and we opened a bottle of warm beer whilst we waited for TJ to join us, and we waited...and we waited...

The Owls were just settling down for a nice kip when TJ decided to join us...we clicked our heels together and said "There's no place like........

May so far; 5 Brown Trout; 9 Rainbow Trout

Somewhere over the Brownie..Part I

Somwhere over the Brownie lives a Rainbow, lots of them actually - well that certainly seemed to be the case on the Derbyshire Wye this weekend! The Brown Trout were there, I could see them but Rainbows dominated. Reading the fishing log in the reception of the hotel told me that this would be the case with reports showing Rainbows significantly out numbering the Brown’s. They were certainly more aggressive and quick to the fly, often coming from well down in the water if not to actually take the fly but to investigate it. These wild fish get ever wilier as the years go by and refusals outnumbered the takes 10 to 1. I guess you have to expect that on water that is 100% wild Trout that are fished for daily through the season; they have seen it all...


We were fishing the Haddon Estate water booked through the Peacock Hotel at Rowsley. The water here is managed by Warren Slaney and his team as a wild trout fishery and is probably the best of its kind in the UK. if you were going to create a list of the top 10 UK rivers you would struggle to find a reason not to include the Derbyshire Wye...and if you did it probably wouldn't be a very popular list...


As we sat in the Peacock's breakfast room tucking into smoked salmon and scrambled egg we were given some good news; there would only be about 5 anglers on the river today as only one syndicate rod would be fishing and apart from our tickets there were only two other day rods sold. Maybe a sign of the times or perhaps we had dropped lucky. It would mean a lot of undisturbed river to go at.

We popped up to the Orvis shop in Bakewell for 'supplies' where we were greeted by a couple of cheery old soles. When we told them where we were fishing they regaled us with stories of fish covered with fungal growths and a river that is going backwards and "it's not as good as it used to be". Now call me cynical if you like but I really don’t think it would be classed as best business practice to knock your local river and its potential if you want to sell the flies you produce at a bench in the shop?.....we walked out of the shop a few minutes later vowing not to give it our custom again.

The lower beat, above the weir where the catch and release starts, is my favourite section on this fishery. The river is much more interesting here and probably a little harder to fish, that's not saying the fishing is harder, it’s just harder to put a fly on the water and very easy to put it in a tree. A lot of rods head to the middle section where it's more open and easier to fish, but not nearly as much fun....

There was very little fly life but it was early. I opted to sit it out until fish started showing and as the KK boiled I spotted the first rise. Ten minutes later after crawling on my belly to the water’s edge a super 10" Rainbow was in the hand, fit healthy and looking a picture of everything you would want from a wild fish.

I worked up river and managed to find a few Brown trout that were not in the company of small 'bows. One of these fish fell for my Deer Hair Grannom and was a perfect 13" of gold and brown. I like these wild Rainbows but the Browns are just perfection!

Time passes so quickly when fishing and before we knew it lunchtime had been and gone. We moved to the middle beat, even though it had taken four hours to cover only half of the lower one. After a hearty picnic of Quiche, Scotch Egg, Turkey pie and my many meats Deli butty we split up again and headed off for different sections of the river.

The afternoon was bathed in sunshine and the fish were a little spooky, probably because of the weather, probably because a couple of anglers had already been through. But a few more fish came to hand, almost every fish was perfect. Just one stood out which had been spiked on the back by what I can only assume was a heron.

We finished as the sun was setting. 11 Rainbows, two Browns and a Grayling - all free of disease, all a picture of health, all as wild as hell!

So as April draws to an end it's been a good fly fishing month with 45 fish logged; 4 Grayling, 11 Rainbows and 30 Brown Trout.

Bridges....

fascinate anglers, they always have and they always will. Childhood imaginations are filled with big fish, leviathans, monster specimens that live in the dark shadows created by the bridges; the kind of fish that would make headlines in the weekly angling press. Even this middle aged man is still captivated by them. I have my favourite types of bridge which will always attract me and ones I am not so keen on but will still be drawn to them if they are the only bridge on the river.

Brick bridges are best! Ones with curved arches even better and more than one arch make them really special. Wooden ones are good and concrete constructions the least attractive or appealing. The lower the bridge the better, low bridges make for good fish holding potential. The wider the better! They have longer dark shadows and potentially greater secrets!

Sutton Brook has a few nice bridges. A couple of good brick ones and some wooden foot bridges. I managed to sneak off for an hour’s fishing the other night. A short evening session of two bridges; one of brick and one of wood.

Bridges deserve special attention and they got it in the form of a cane rod rather than the usual graphite. Cane rods and bridges go together well.

I spent about 30 minutes at each bridge and managed a fish from both, even though there was little fly life on the water; it was too cold and the wind had a bite to it. The no colour Klink working its magic again. Thirty one fish this month...

Sex on the beach..

I like a brew when I am out fishing. The thermos flask is the favoured method of carrying a hot drink to the river for many an angler, I prefer the Kelly Kettle. There is something inherently satisfying about making a fire that boils the water that brews the drink. It's also good karma to drink the water that the fish you are after live in..or am I just weird?

Obviously safety is important around fires. The preferred place for lighting up the KK is on a nice stoney gravel bank, well away from woody debris. If this is not an option then I use the heel of my boot to clear a nice soil bed for the KK base to sit on. This can always be covered up after you have finished. Always, and always pour water onto the fuel after you have finished, make sure it gets a good soaking as well. That's the safety bit done with.

So what's the best drink from a KK? A fine cup of tea is good but only from the very purest of waters. Rivers that have a slightly earthy taste, or are perhaps a little coloured are best used for making Coffee. Strong instant coffee covers the taste of the worst water and so this tends to be my drink of choice these days, not that I fish the worst waters but that our rivers are often carrying extra water! The river Ecclesbourne has some lovely pure water and makes a fine brew. It was our destination for the latest outing as well.

The WTT has been undertaking some fine restoration work and parts of the river were unrecognisable compared to last year. A lot of effort has been put in to creating some great Trout habitat. The WTT does a fantastic job and if you ever fish rivers for Trout I would encourage you to join and support them. The laws will change in a few years time and the stocking of triploids will become law, with diploids no longer available from fish farms. Any association or syndicate that is serious about its river Trout fishing should be seeking advice from groups like the WTT on how they can best prepare for these changes. Moreover, it's really nice to catch wild, river born Trout.

http://www.wildtrout.org/

This section of the Ecclesbourne is made for a couple of anglers sharing a day. There is a weir smack bang in the middle and it takes about two hours to fish each section, above or below it. So we started there and adopted our usual 'short stick' system for selecting which of us had the longer walk.

I fished the lower section and caught from the off. There were a few Grannom on the water and one or two Olives. However, the no-colour Klink had been tied on at the car and that’s the fly I fished, all day. One fly, seven fish - magic! It has now been retired to the hall of fame on the peak of my fishing cap, the first to do so this year.

By the time I reached the middle of the beat again there were 5 fish recorded, the best 14" and the smallest 10". We found a suitable gravel beach and the KK went on for the second time today. It was at this point that KG pointed out a pair of "Eels" in the shallows.

You never stop learning when fishing and you never stop experiencing nature. I had seen Lamprey attached to branches dragged from the river but never actually seen them swimming. I guess that’s because for eleven months and 3 weeks they live in dark water, under woody cover. However, for the first time in 30-odd years fishing rivers I was watching Brook Lamprey spawning. Fantastic!!!

We swapped over and I headed up towards the road bridge, which is where a lot of the work has been done. Upstream weirs, woody debris and a lot of sweat and toil have changed the nature of this section of river. In a couple of years this will pay off and then clubs investments will hold it in good shape. It's a shame more clubs and associations can't see this!

I hope the EA latches on to this as well. It would be good to see a system similar to the US's Gold Medal system introduced to rivers here. Personally I think whole rivers should be given the catch and release status, especially those where managing bodies have invested a lot of effort and money to restore habitat. We need more rivers like the Derbyshire Wye.

The last fish was another 14" over wintered beauty and although I was an hour early finishing by the time I had trekked up that hill to the car and sorted my fly patch out I was ready for a pint, which went down really well....as did the second!

Just a tart...

Just browsing through any fishing catalogue will tell you that the options for carrying your gear are numerous. Many of the vests and pack systems are designed to catch the angler rather than help him. I have been victim to this over the years, spending large sums of money on vests and packs that have actually proved to be a hindrance rather than a help.

The conclusion from this is there is no one system for this country if you are an river angler that fishes all year...well that’s my conclusion anyway; maybe I am just a tackle tart looking for excuses!

In the winter you need a larger carry load for your back to cover the extra clothes as well as the standard flask and food, or in my case Kelly Kettle or Coleman’s stove. I always carry an entomology book plus a few bits like mug, lighter, hand-wash and mozi-cream. I carry fewer fly boxes during the Grayling season and that means the space requirement is reduced. A chest pack works OK for this time of year.

Once spring arrives and the number of fly boxes increases then a vest type configuration works best for me; to stick with a chest pack configuration means having something so large in front of me that it gets in the way. I carry less clothing and catering which means a smaller pack is required.

Again this is all about personal choices but I now have two systems...well three actually but that’s a whole seperate discussion about short sessions over longer ones...I guess the real conclusion is I am a tackle tart. Hey-ho!

The conditions were much more spring like and we arrived on the brook at around mid-day, we found the fish starting to rise to Grannom which were out in considerable numbers. I fished an Elk Hair Caddis which has a peacock herl body and a lime green butt; it fished well....really well!

By about 3pm the rise was coming to an end and it was time to light up the KK for the second brew of the day. There were a good number of fish accounted for and some nice ones too. Here RT works some typical Sutton Brook holding areas.

We fished on until 7pm, when it was time for a beer. We had covered the whole river today, about 3.5 miles of fishing and caught a lot of nice fish. The prospects look good this year. After three sessions there are already 22 fish in the log book!!