If the "meteorologists" at the Daily Mirror are to be believed, it appears that we are heading for the next Ice Age. However, to be fair, nobody seems to be able to predict the weather at the moment. Whilst there were various forecasts of rain, snow and sub-zero temperatures over the weekend, the reality at first light this morning was a bearable 4 degrees Centigrade and not a breath of wind. For a brief period, as the rising sun bridged the gap between the horizon and the blanket of low cloud, it was glorious. It even made the local power station look good. The maggots I'd left in the garage from last week had survived surprisingly well, so I'd already decided that I'd return for another short session on the River Derwent whatever the weather. The benign conditions were therefore a welcome bonus and meant that I could have another go at the attractive, long glide that I'd been forced off by the wind last weekend. Even better, an empty car park indicated that I had the whole section to myself.
With hindsight, upon arrival at the top of the glide, I made the mistake of wading in straight away to fish the faster, deeper water over towards the far bank. I also made the fundamental error of not changing the hook link, the rod still made up from the last session, as I lost three decent fish in quick succession to hook pulls! Having got the message and changed the hook link I moved a few yards downstream. However, this time I chose not to wade in and just ran the float down the inside off the rod tip. Second trot down the float disappeared and I was into my first grayling of the day. Several more followed from that inside line and when that dried up, I waded out a bit further to try another one.
Carried on in that vein and by the time I'd reached the end of the glide I'd had fifteen grayling in a range of sizes to just over a pound.
Had a quick look at a swim further downstream but, whilst there was a nice depth and a smooth, even flow, the bottom looked sandy and pretty featureless. After a couple of unsuccessful exploratory casts I was therefore itching to try somewhere else, so headed upstream and dropped into a swim I'd fished before, another nice glide down to a large, overhanging tree. Five more grayling followed before things went quiet there as well and my self-imposed rule of "ten casts without a fish" saw me move once more. Unfortunately my hooking issues returned in the next swim with the first two fish coming off, before I eventually made another grayling and my last fish of the morning stick. Gave my last few maggots to a robin that had been waiting patiently in the bushes behind me and headed home for a late breakfast of my own.
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