Here’s the magical path that leads to this exciting water!

And the railway crossing to negotiate!

and at the end the single plank bridge! But No, we are turning right this time, so that must wait for another day!

I had decided to walk right and continue until I reached the end of the stretch! Looking for likely looking swims on the way.
In everything I decided to do today, I failed miserably!
I was late arriving (gone 2.O’clock as I overslept and did not feel well on awaking!)
There were so many good –looking swims that I stopped before the end of the section, as I succumbed to the desire to set up and start fishing!
I set up an over complicated, too light tackle, end rig!
And I fished terribly clumsily!

Here’s the swim I was seduced by, See those overhanging trees on the far bank?

Well I managed to cast into them and smash my end tackle off, for the 1st 3 consecutive casts!

For anyone less incompetent, let me hasten to add that the swim reeks of good holding water.

Finally, I changed up to an 8lb braid, with a 1 oz bomb, as I decided that the 4lb line to 2lb hook length and ½ oz bomb, was too light to give any control in the fast current and after 3 successive snaps, I needed the confidence to bully the bomb away from the weeds and bushes.


It worked immediately! And as I allowed the bomb to swing in with the current, I was rewarded with a fierce snatch on the rod tip.
A super fighting, clean, Brown trout of 1and ½ lbs, pulled the little 9ft rod into a right angle bend, but had no chance of escape, even with the currents help, against my 3 and1/2 lb hook length.

Here is my 1st of the day, at 4.00 pm, after I had truly been fishing for less than 5 minutes, due to my cack-handedness!!

I still fished badly, and lost several hooks on snags, but, I still managed to catch every so often and each fish fought hard and long.

Emulating the Pike in Ireland, most leapt clear of the water if the rod was lifted.
The clarity and shallowness of the river added to the enjoyment of playing the fish, as you could clearly see the effort to escape and the energy put into each run! I have tried to capture here the explosive leap above the surface that they all tried!

The weather was again amazingly good for April, and although the sun was hidden by clouds, only twice did a few spots of rainfall and they were warm and totally ignorable.

The take limit on the Derby Railway card is two fish per day, which, as I had promised a friend fresh trout, I completed with the second fish!
I was then able to relax and happier returning the 3rd and 4th that came in quick succession as I still feel queasy about killing any fish! Even small roach for dead bait!

I discovered that in these snaggy swims, the method was Not! To allow the bomb to roll with the current, but to actively cast a much longer distance downstream and then inch the bomb and worm, back up the swim, which invariably produced a quick take.

However, for the first time on the Derwent, when I was into my 5th fish, I had played him gently for some 3 minutes and brought him 2/3rds of the way to the net, when I lost him!
The hook was OK, the worm understandably gone, but no fish!
Now I know it was a barbless hook, bur out of 5 today, only 1 was not deep hooked as Trout do take extremely fiercely, so I was somewhat surprised.
Still, to lose 1 out of 17 so far, I do not feel unhappy about!

My mobile phone, (kept well back from the water Wendy!) had been reacting as though IU were at my old office! First my wife had let me know where she would be! both my oldest 2 lads had phoned and then I received the welcome news that my ticket was ready for the PAD club stretch of the Trent!
This is the Practical Angling for the Disabled Club, which has a marvelous stretch of 20 Platforms on the Trent, plus a 20 match series at top venues, with the disabled access a priority.
Just fantastic! But even more water to investigate!

With these interruptions, I was not fishing 100%, but just as the village clock in Darley Dale struck 8.00 pm and the wonderful Bell notes rolled across the fields, I struck into this beautifully marked fish.

So I ended the foreshortened day with 5 lovely trout, all in excess of 1lb weight and happily walked back to the car, feeling that although I fished poorly, was late and was interrupted, my sense of looking forward to returning and fishing all the swims I had passed by, for trout in summer, Grayling, Chub and Perch in winter, made the day memorable.

Some of you may know that the A6 in this area has houses built up the steep banks beside it and as I walked in the gloom, the lights on the hillside came twinkling on from the narrow windows, making the area seem even more mystical!
I was strongly reminded of Tolkiens Bilbo, seeing the lights appear in Hobbiton, as he returned home in the ‘Hobbit’


‘I love these late evenings’

Trev