Jon picked Bone and me up and off we set, full of expectation, excitement and anticipation of the day ahead. I also wanted to find out if my new Flextec 9' #4 streamtec (back up rod) was a rip off at £61.50 (ebay) or real value for money. (a review to follow).
We arrived at the Peacock just after 12:00 and instead of the customary cup of tea, Bone persuaded us to partake in the Carling. I don't normally do this prior to fishing but what the heck, it might make the casting sweeter. Glen was going to join us later in the day.
We began on the lower stretch, which was running a little low and gin clear. We sorted flies and decided on the sexy sedge patterns I had tied up in the week. There were a couple of rises in the pool I was fishing but nothing doing on the sedge. A change to a Griffiths... and immediately had a small grayling.
Jon also had a grayling and a chat with a nice gentleman who also informed Jon that the fish could see his gut. Jon took the advice and is now on a diet. A couple of rainbows later we decide to move north above Bakewell.
We had the shock of our lives when we parked up. The river was up; well up, running fast and chocolate brown with alll sorts floating down. I was really confused! Had we taken the wrong turning? Had we gone through a time warp and ended up on the River Churnet 30 years ago? No! There could be only one reason for this and I thought: "Must have been a heavy storm up Buxton way and wow! It must have been a right deluge". Boscastle sprung to mind.
I rang Glen, he rang Jan,
Jon, Bone and me walked downstream. The river was totally unfishable.
We then decided to drive in to town and grab a bite to eat and maybe call it a day, we were so dissapointed , to say the least.
However, we cheered up a bit as the town stretch looked as though it could be fishable later, maybe when the crowds had gone. We had delicious fish and chips and watched the trout being fed by the tourists and these fish did not look remotely bothered by the extra flow and colour. This is a very slow stretch and would be less effected anyway, except maybe for fly life.
We could not fish at this point in time as there were too many people about and the rest of the river was a bit of a torrent. So we went for a pint
Bone and Jon enjoying a 'Farmers Blond'. We couldn't think of a better way to wait for the river to fine down.
I then got a call from Jan to say that a guy with a lake upstream had decided to release some water. Obviously this was not the fault of the Haddon Estate but Jan still offered us a free days fishing in compensation. He also said that the flow in the river would drop and it could be very fishable later on in the evening and we could stay. This, in my opinion is top notch customer service!
So we made our pints last!
As the tourists began to melt away we got tackled up.
Glen joined us, Richard Ward popped by for a chat and both Jan and Warren paid us a visit.
How glad we were that we stayed! Jan was spot on! Electric fishing once again. I even got a round of applause from a few onlookers after landing a huge rainbow that gave a super account of itself.
We had many, many good fish!
A rather large Wild River Rainbow on my own sedge. CommOOO! and the 'cheap' Flextec worked perfectly.
Please take a large net with a decent handle if you fish here. Forget the river scoop, just not suitable. Make sure the fish recover before they finally go. I am also buying an unhooking mat.
What a day! Again, super fishing, great company and being looked after so well was a real bonus!
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