25/4/09 Darley Dale and Ellastone on way home

River Dove Ellastone

Went to Ellastone last night for a few hours, Dave (squire) had been in the day and said it was quite hard going,
On arriving the weather was hot and bright but no fish were really rising, just the odd rise now and again, As the light started to fade the river errupted with fish rising all over the place, managed to take around five fish to the dry, most were taken on a grey duster and the dhe, all were quite small but i hooked a out of season grayling that was huge, (see picture), I unhooked the fish in the water and never picked her out so photo was taken holding her upstream, taking a mark off my rod the fish was just over 14 inch long!! I would say it was over 2 lb, I am not a grayling man but this was the largest one i have seen and it looked a old fish..
I also saw some big rainbows leaping out last night but failed to hook one, its seems only Dave can catch them this year!!
Another good night for me on the dry and may fly is still to come...

Thanks Glen

Darley Dale, River Derwent

It is 29 miles from my house to here and takes me a around a hour to get there, but well worth the run..
The river looked in fine form, short of a top up but running clear, this strech is a joy to fish with deep slow runs to fast weed runs, lots of overhanging trees with wily trout rising under them..
The river is the widest i have fished and wading can be a bit tricky if you dont know it well, i noticed that the bottom of the river can go from shallow to deep in a few steps so care is needed to be taken in these areas, i think a wading stick will be purchased on my next visit,
Arrived around twelve to see a good hatch of granom coming off, the sun was bright but did not put the fish off from rising, First cast produced a nice 10 inch wild brown to my DHE, I tied a couple of these with a green band of dubbing on the bottom of the hook to match the granom coming off, i was getting free rises to this fly taking 4 fish until all were caught in trees
Having no more dhe i went for anything in my box brown and took quite a few fish on a adams..
My best fish of the day came while wading through a deep slow weedy run, i saw a rise under a overhanging tree and while casting to it i only had 3ft of run until i had drag on the fly.. after four flies in the tree i managed to hook and land a lovely wild brown which fought its head off..
Had a top day and took 8 trout in all, these fish seem to fight harder than dove fish, All were taken on a dry fly which is what i love so will be back again soon for another go...ref="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYv_P2M3KykkngdGRmMLDaQMefVPg6DwkJF_DfHzwWR_rX1XaKMWnwXZIVtD5M_QNP0yXeQffu03qHVzsNZ_GAddds0_eWbgNjOwwPfT4njcpBJpwr1lpg9oCOIOQshiP_f3SUYKA5LKQ/s1600-h/18042009131.jpg">

My girl poppy learing to cast!!

Poppy is throwing tighter loops than me!!!

River Dove/ Ellastone and Eaton dovedale

Had the full day fishing yesterday so opted for Ellastone in the morning and Eaton dovedale in the afternoon..
Not much rising early on but stuck with the dry, Lots of ldo's coming off and around 11 the trout started to rise, they were hiting the ldo hard, jumping clean out the water and sinking them, managed to take 4 brownies on a DHE,
Finished at one and went down to Eaton Dovedale to have a go, only fished it once last year so going to give it more fishing this year,
Parked by the bridge and saw fish rising straight away, got in by the bridge and had a couple of refuseals until hooked a small fish but the fight was much harder than any trout i have hooked for the size, on landing the fish i noticed it was all silver with a hint of blue, i think the fish was a smolt, i have put a picture on my blog if anyone can tell me what it is?
Met Brian a lad from stoke who was also fishing, he knew the water well and kindly showed me all the good spots to wade, We waded together and fished for a couple of hours taking around 8 fish between us, at times the hatches of ldo was massive,
Brain was very helpful and kindly gave me lots of his own flys to try,
The fishing was great today and i will be putting more time in at the farm to see if i can hook one of the 2lbs ers people talk about on there..
Had the EA come around Eaton dovedale checking rod licences, first time i had ever been checked, infact Brian said it was the first time in twenty five years he has been asked
I asked the baliff if he catches many fly fisherman with no rod licence and he told me 'not many but most of them have been caught at DOVEDALE'

Thanks

Glen
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River Dove Ellastone

Whent for a couple of hours after work tonight, blanked for the first time on Ellastone, well i did fish a dry fly all night, met a nice bloke up there who said he had a couple a grayling to the nymph,
After a short rain pour while fishing there were loads of ldo's coming off everywhere but even that did not spark many rises, saw a few but nothing much, another few weeks and we should see some good dry fly fishing, I think you have put a jinx on me dave saying i was lucky

Glen