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!
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.
Next time you are in the area try The Flyfishing Shop for supplies as Peter is one of a kind and will supply the usual killers! His shop is just up the alley by the pedestrian crossing on the Matlock road.
ReplyDeleteDitto about Peter's shop - far better to be served who knows his game. I called in at Orvis on Saturday (having first been to Peter's). I wanted to pick up some fine dry fly dubbing. They had every bit of wet/nymph/scud/seal dubbing going, but nothing for dry flies. I don't just mean not the colour I wanted - they had none at all! The staff didn't seem to understand what the difference was. Anyone would think (1) it's May - when dry fly fishing comes into its own and (2) it's a fishing shop in Bakewell - perhaps the dry fly capital of Britain, where the local river is dry fly only!
ReplyDeletePlus, if you ask Peter nicely, he'll make the sound of a fish :)
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