Derbyshire Derwent

Yesterday will probably be my last full session of the trout season and the venue was the glorious Derbyshire Derwent. This is arguably the jewel in the crown of the DRAC trout waters and it is a beautiful stretch. Autumn is a special time of year with the bleak days just around the corners and it was a joy to be out in the countryside. I met up with Andy at about 1pm and we got sorted out and decided to head down towards just past the bottom of the fly only stretch as this is one of the easiest areas to access.

Modest sport was enjoyed through the afternoon and I was soon off the mark with a brownie to the Sturdys Fancy. We had rain on and off throughout the afternoon and the first sharp shower seemed to put the fish down for a while. Persevering with our dry patterns though brought more fish to hand and a couple of hours soon shot by before we stopped for a Kelly brew. Luckily Andy had a flask so I was able to have some refreshment whilst sparking the kettle into life as I have still not quite got the hang of it. I'm probably putting too much in to start with.

Working our way back upstream we saw pockets of feeding fish which were difficult to tempt refusing most offerings. Finally I got some interest on a deer hair emerger but bumped off both fish which was down to poor angling on my part. Stealth was the key though and we stalked a pod of fish well on the fin, this was going fine until we were just within casting range as Andy slid down the bank and entered the river in a fairly un-dignified manner. We swiftly moved on.

Things died down as evening approached with just the odd sporadic rise. My most successful flies of the afternoon were black and olive Klink type patterns with the black having the edge.