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/AVvXsEh4n0KvWpsrKyU9HbEgzIU0jH0wEx9NTK-pVwUOM20fNyBJPyy3ry9LyEjDK2UC9db-i8otYVq-vbA1HsTILyGEFojMG2lYHipf37U4am947pAxFkWKShi3MLC_hJLpQYbKebKXBrkDAgU/s1600-h/18042009131.jpg">

16/04/09 - Winterbourne Duck Pond

Weight – 35lb 9oz
Catch – 59 Bream, 1 Roach, 1 Common Carp.
Weather – Cloudy, showery. Heavy rain to finish

The Duck Pond is situated on a road junction, has 3 small islands the depth ranged from 1ft to 3ft and you only fit a handful of people around it. So why would I fish here?

The pond is only 10 minutes from the office and during a lunch break a few weeks ago a chance meeting with Dave Tierney revealed the pond was now free fishing. The last time I fished here was 5 years ago, when the pond was looked after by my former club Frome Vale AC. However it appears that Winterbourne Parish Council were making more demands on the club in terms of looking after the pond, that Frome Vale decided to give up their rights.

I caught my first double figure carp here and it was where I learned about fishing for carp. My best weight from the pond was 70lb of mainly carp and since the pond was only 10 minutes from the office, I thought it could be an ideal venue for a summers early morning session. However, was it still worth fishing? As usual I had 2 different opinions. Dave said there was still loads of skimmers in the pond, as well as the carp. Whilst someone else suggested loads of carp had been removed.

I had the week off to revise for my exam next week and needed a break. So decided on an afternoon session. I set myself up on what I call the bus stop swim, because it’s next to a bus stop. Settled on 2 swims, the 1st was 10m along the wall, which runs parallel with the road and the 2nd was 16-18m towards the island, fishing the waggler.

Bait was either double red maggot or Tony Rixons jelly pellets. Feed was 4mm coarse pellet. I prefer to use the waggler here mainly because it less likely to get in the way of the general public and for that reason I tend not to fish the pole any longer than 10m. Also I use my less expensive J27, instead of my N47.

I started on the pole and soon started to catch skimmers up to 1¾lb on maggot. A switch to the waggler resulted in more skimmers, but they were on average smaller than on the pole. As the session progressed, I started to catch on pellet, but this didn’t improve the average size, either on the pole or waggler. As the session drew to a conclusion I concentrated more on the pellet hoping for a carp, but other than 1 weighing 12oz on the waggler I had no others. You usually see the carp moving round, but I didn’t see any signs, so perhaps they have been removed.

Today was an enjoyable distraction from my revision and I will back to see whether there are any carp left.

Boat Update

It's almost ready to be launched. I know I have been saying that for a long time but I think it is close now.

On Monday the decals get put on and I think the cushions and top will be ready also.

It is a 28ft center console with an aluminium pod on the stern. The top is designed by me and custom built, as no one in Fiji has ever built one like this. The bow rail is also custom to allow fishing up front in rough seas.

Here are a few things I had done, 300lt fuel tank, 100lt fresh water with pump and hose, salt water wash down, built in ice chests, Garmin 4010 plotter/fish finder, 2kw transducer, there will be a radio box hanging from the t-topwith stereo and VHF. Spot lights around the top and lighting under the gunnel. Padded gunnel around the rear for fighting fish in comfort. Toilet in the console for those that are shy. 8 rod holders on the rocket laungher and another 8 on the gunnels. And much more but that is for another post. Next week pictures of the boat with logo and hopefully in the water. Yahoo!!!!

Tight lines

Electrofishing Fish Pictures from Today

We got back from our aeration install in Southern Illinois with enough daylight to check on our morbidly obese fish in our 3 acre pond in Peoria, IL. These fish definitely need to get some exercise, I think we are making it way to easy for them to find their dinner. 

Check out the size of these 4 year old fish from a 3 acre pond! The Yellow Perch/Largemouth Bass combination is working much better than I had anticipated!

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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10/04/09 - Fishponds

Weight – 97lb 11oz
Catch – 10 Carp, 8 Bream, 2 Tench, 2 Rudd, 1 Golden Orfe, 1 Eel, 1 Roach.
Weather – Cloudy, showery. Breezy start.
Water Temp–

With an exam later this month, fishing has taken a back seat due to revision, but today’s decision to go was a little last minute. I was hoping to catch a few bream, as well as a few carp.

I settled on peg 11 with the wind blowing into my face. Decided on 3 swims, 8m in front of me in 8ft of water feeding with micro pellet, 4mm pellet and corn. Bottom of the left hand margin and next to the reeds in the right hand margin, both fed with mostly 4mm pellet, plus 6mm pellet & corn.

After an hour I was beginning to wonder whether the angling gods were trying to tell me I should have stayed at home. Losing 4 carp, thrashing 2 rigs and 1 only had a 1½lb skimmer to show for my efforts.

I managed to slowly get it together, mostly catching bream & few carp over my 8m line, using sweetcorn on the hook. I found it best to pot a full cup of feed, but the fish weren’t settled and I fouled a few, so I decided to put 2 full pots in and this definitely improved things, producing few liners and better bites.

I kept feeding my margins with pellet and periodically tried each margin whilst resting my 8m line. The left hand margin produced very little, although a 2lb eel provided some amusement trying to get it in the landing net. The right hand though produced 5 carp in 5 put ins for 40lb, including 2 double figure fish, all on triple hair rigged corn. The only other fish from the margin was a 4lb golden orfe late on, bring my total silvers net to 32lb 1oz.

Spring is definitely on its way and I need to start putting the heavier elastic in, because the carp are definitely starting to get a bit lively.