Headed out to Derbyshire again first thing for probably my last crack at a few more Brownies. Nobody else in the parking spot meant I had the section to myself again, so it was quickly down to the river through the maize. Have to say that the fishing was a lot harder this time. The river was at its lowest and clearest, so any careless approach, duff cast or snag up was probably an opportunity gone. The flow had also dropped off in the pools and I could now see the bottom in most of them, so the faster, broken water seemed to offer the best chance, at least for the smaller fish.
Small one on the nymph
Had a better one by jigging (induced take!) the nymph past some tree roots.
Getting jiggy with it
Made a bit of a gruesome discovery on the shallows upstream - a dead hare with a rather surprised expression on its face! Also disturbed a little brown duck with white "spectacles" that I didn't recognise. She had at least one duckling that shot into the bankside vegetation with her, so gave them both a wide berth. Looked it up later to find that it was a female Mandarin, an introduced species, but apparently common in the area, e.g. on the lakes at Markeaton and Allestree.
Hare today.....
Had a couple more little ones from the faster water at the head of a pool. There seems to be a lot of these around, which should bode well for the future.
The next generation
Hooked and lost a couple of bigger fish that would have improved the scorecard no end and was thinking it was all over when I had the best fish of the morning, again by trundling the nymph past his lair in the tree roots.
Last spotty of the year?
Reached the upstream limit without any further action and bid the river goodbye, thrashing my way back up to the road through the Himalyan Balsam. With no (or very few) grayling in the section I suspect it'll be April before I'm back again. However, I've certainly enjoyed having the river to myself over the last few weeks.
The end
What to do next? Choices, choices!
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