The Glorious River Dove

This morning I fished the DRAC water at Eaton Dovedale on the famous River Dove. It was a cracking start to the day which was fortunate as the river was a little reluctant to give up her treasures. The fishing was pretty tough to start with and I must admit to being on the verge of packing up for some tea when the fish below grabbed my pheasant tail nymph.

The duo had been my method of choice to start off the day but as there were little signs of a rise I soon changed to GRHE on the dropper and a PTN on the point.

This fish was taken just below the island that is about a third of the way down the section. A swan is nesting here so it will be a brave angler who dares to fish close by the island. This will also make wading up to fish above the island tricky and this is sometimes a productive spot.

When I set off this morning it was turn left for Darley Dale or right for Eaton. As I did not fancy the drive to Darley I plumped for the Dove. We forget though how lucky some of us local anglers are to have these glorious rivers not too far away. I spoke for a while this morning with an angler who drives up from Evesham for his fishing, that is a tidy step and makes you appreciate what we have in the county of Derbyshire. Interestingly, the angler suggested that a trip to Darley was not a good choice at the weekend as he had been plagued by canoeists. I only fish this stretch a handful of times each season and normally midweek so have not been particularly troubled by these trespassers. He recountered one incident that had irked him when one club had claimed they had permission when challenged. Fat chance.

This week I again may have missed the best part of the day as I departed just after noon. Either that or the car park stretch may be turning into one of the hotspots as I took a couple of fish from here before I called it a day. Many a time though I have not fished the last of the water and a number of people have mentioned to me that it is always worth a few casts.