I've had a few trip over the last week or so to the Dove and the Derwent and have been lucky enough to find the conditions OK each time. The fishing has been productive but despite it being the height of the mayfly you've had to work for your fish.
Prospecting has not really raised many fish and it has been important to find fish on the feed and them cover them and a well presented mayfly pattern has usually met with a positive response.
On my trip to the Dove last Sunday I didn't actually cast for the first hour as there was no sign of rising fish, however as a good hatch developed the fish started to move and the air was soon swarming with drakes as can be seen in one of the pics. Phil joined me on this beat and as he stayed a little later really enjoyed the cream of the fishing.
The Derwent last Monday afternoon was a similar prospect, with the angler having to first find the fish and then present the fly. This is not the easiest prospect at Darley Dale as the banks are very steep with deep margins so it is extreme wading!! You will also be rewarded for staying low, I took a couple of fish rising close to the bank with a only a few feet of line out of my tip ring but I was nestled nicely into the undergrowth.
I finised off the week yesterday evening on the middle Dove and despite being in two minds about the river conditions it was spot on, a lovely level and colour with a constant hatch through the two hours or so I was there. This was real duffers fortnight stuff once the sun dropped and in a short period I took high teens of fish on a variety of patterns.
I had a chat with one of the Norbury fly fishers who had celebrated his 40th birthday by taking 40 fish! Not sure how many days we have left of the drake for 2014 as it is now raining heavily and not a brilliant forecast for the rest of the weekend, but I can't complain and have had a good mayfly season this year.
