Bakewell, Derbyshire
The rain which we spoke of in the December Prospects has hardly let up and the river angler has been doing well to catch anything like reasonable conditions. It seems the river Dove has been a little more fishable than say the Wye or Derwent at times, but, by and large fishable days have been hard to find.
Still, knowledge comes with experience, and some good knowledge can come from negative experiences, but the last Wednesday in December found the river Wye high, but with a little less colour and therefore fishable for anyone suffering from cabin fever !
Double nymph technique is the way to go for myself, one heavy nymph and a slightly lighter one , short controlled drifts making as sure as possible the leader ,fly line and nymphs are all in a line whilst maintaining contact, Use some kind of indicator rig if need be . Fish are not always facing upstream, eddies are worth a try in near flood conditions. It only takes a couple of decades to figure it out!
Stillwater fisheries remaining open are actually fishing well as it has been so mild recently. Floating line or maybe a midge tip / intermediate and a mixture of tiny buzzers / dry flies and traditional wet flies are working well at the moment on Barlow lakes (open all year) and Press Manor (weekends only but will open for a party of three or four)
Thank you all for supporting a local tackle shop, the Shop has a web site now and you can purchase Gift tokens for Tuition or Tackle on line.
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