Grayling on the 'pin

The winter is well and truly with us now and to avoid freezing my nads off wading the stream I decided to get out the trotting rod and run a few maggots down on the centrepin. Eaton Dovedale was looking very desolate when I arrived this morning with the Dove carrying some extra water and colour. The river appears very bleak now with signs of the first winter floods now passed, there was flotsam and jetsam liberally dispersed over the banks.
I kept fairly mobile and it wasn't until the third swim I fished that I picked up a couple of small fish just below the swan island. I had invested in a wire stem Drennan Avon 5BB and this suited my outfit a treat being just the ideal weight for trotting. I dropped off a couple of better fish but put this down to being a bit rusty on the pin.
Another move put me on the best pod of the morning with the fish above being the better of my session. I soon remembered my grayling playing skills after losing a couple more and kept the rod tip low to keep them off the surface.

I enjoy using my Shakespeare Alpha 12' rod for this type of fishing as it has a nice action. I do have a 14 footer that was bought for fishing the stick on the Trent. The extra length sometimes comes in handy but it has so many rings I'm ready for a sit down and a cuppa by the time it is threaded up. The last swim I fished was a delightful trot with some broken water at a steady pace. I did use some loose feed which kept the fish coming and thankfully did not attract those greedy spotties.

Barney's first haircut

Barney our Cocker Spaniel is now 7 months old and has just had his first trip to the doggy barbers. These first two photos were taken about a fortnight ago when he was a full on fur ball.

The next shots are the after version taken today in Calke Park and he now looks a lot lighter and streamlined. Calke is one of our favourite places and this morning Barney has a great run round having some good fun with other dogs.

We took a picnic of tomato soup and some cheese cobs, it was great to be outside for lunch and the kids enjoyed exploring some of the more off the beaten track parts of the park.

It feels like autumn is now slipping into winter but there are still some great colours about. This year the autumn rainment have been the most vivid I can remember or is this just as I'm getting older and appreciate it more?

Tomorrow I'm having the morning on the River Wye with the Erewash lads so am looking forward to some nice grayling if everything goes to plan............

Post script - why oh why did I write that last sentence?? Last night Barney decided that he would like to have several bedtimes, about one an hour in fact. In the end I couldn't work out whether he had the screaming ring twitters or just fancied a walk round the garden. By this morning I was completely cream crackered and could not get my backside into gear to get up the A6. Many apologies to the REF team and I hope you had a great day.