Richard and Richard (AKA Dave) on the river Churnet

I'm lucky enough to live 5 minutes walk from a beautiful trout stream, the river Churnet. On Saturday I was joined by two chaps who I last met when guiding for them on a wild loch on Islay a year or so ago and they had asked me if I'd mind showing them one of my favourite local rivers.

Fishing on the upper Churnet is tricky, but if you are stealthy and you don't mind getting on all fours and crawling through a few bushes and under one or two fences then the angler can be rewarded with some lovely hard fighting fully spotted wild browns, and the odd grayling too. The scenery is as good as any and the wildlife is incredible, kingfishers fire up and down and the river is home to many dippers and other beautiful birds. 

Choosing a short rod is definitely an advantage here. I like to use my 6ft 3wt Hardy glass rod, this allows me to get a cast in without getting in to too much of a tangle and feels lovely when playing a fish. Richard was using a 4 and a half foot split cane rod and he was able to put a lovely line out with it. It wasn't long before both lads were landing fish and both were clearly enjoying the afternoon.

The lads were using a few different fly patterns but I find that the klinkhammer always does well. There were a few mayfly coming off in the warm afternoon sun and I'd be tempted to stick one of those on at this time of year. There were plenty of large dark olives coming off and quite a few swarms of gnats and the fish were slashing and jumping at them, particularly in the upper reaches of the beat.

The lads caught a few few fish between them, most quite small but beautifully spotted, but a couple were much bigger, one in particular that gave Richard a right good run around late on in the session was closer to the 2lb mark.

Sam enjoyed sitting on the bank watching the anglers landing the fish but later on started to wonder when his owner might start thinking about arranging his tea so it was with heavy hearts that the lads packed up, having had a great afternoon and we made our way back home and then on to the Earl Grey for refreshments, the favourite of which seemed to be Union Hop from Moor Brewery!

Haste ye back lads and I hope to take you up on your offer of fishing with you down Worthing way sometime in the near future.

Slainte

David

A Perfect Autumn Day with a Lunker in Dovedale

It seems a lifetime since those warm and late summer evenings, Kelly Kettle bubbling in the background, tall tales being exchanged, stalking lunkers, proper lunkers, clunkers, and all manner of classes of large, wild Brown Trout. Russell Crowe charging up and down Dovedale with his merry men is a distant memory, an event that now seems so surreal that I question myself as to whether it really happened. It seems that Crowey and his mates filmed at just the right time as, visiting Pointon's Glen yesterday, I noticed that the main area that was used for the set has now been dissected by a sturdy new fence.

It was a classic November morning. Thick mist shrouded Highfield and Leek but the sun was just peeking through. I wondered whether it would be worth a run up to Dovedale, whether the levels would have come down, and whether the Ladies would be on the feed given the heavy frost we'd had during the early hours.

I grabbed a bacon, egg and black pudding bap and sped of in the Wine Shop van, armed to the teeth with my Greys Streamflex 6ft 6, waders and other essential angling accessories.

I arrived and made my way up to the footbridge, my first impression being that, after seeing how much water was pushing over the measurement weir, today may turn into more of a pleasant Autumnal walk rather than an angling session. How wrong I was.

All was quiet at first until I had fished up to the mid section of Pointon's Glen. At one point, I caught myself looking around to see who was chucking stones at me, having heard a couple of splashes in the pools that I fished, but it soon became apparent that these were Trout on the feed. I made my way to the pool where recently, I hooked into, and landed the biggest Grayling I've ever seen never mind caught, and made a few casts. As usual, I'd rigged up a duo set up, weighted Pheasant Tail Nymph on the point with a Klinkhammer on the dropper.

The water was running through quickly and I had to really concentrate so as not to loose sight of the klink. After a couple of casts, the klink darted under and I struck. A big fish was on and I was desperate not to loose it. I could tell straight away that it was a Grayling by the way it was twisting and turning like an eel. Eventually, I landed this beautiful fish. I'm convinced that it wasn't the same fish that I caught a few weeks ago, this one being slightly smaller. Chuffed to bits, I'd exceeded all my expectations, having caught, and not only that, having caught a cracking fish. I wondered whether to pack in there and then, or whether to have a few more casts upstream.

As I walked up past the nursery pool I was surprised at just how many rises there were given the time of year. There were Olive hatches everywhere and the trout were on the feed. I had a few more casts, managing a couple of smaller Grayling and an accidental, but very beautiful and quite large Brownie.

All in all, a great angling session, in a stunning location, which I consider myself incredibly lucky to live so near to.

There are a couple more pics in the right hand panel of this page.

David

The Grayling Trail, Milldale to Dovedale with La Petomane

....The end of the trout season is here. The weather has changed. The warm evening breeze and the late evening fishing sessions are becoming a distant memory. Sitting around a smoking Kelly Kettle is no longer just a luxury, it's nearer a necessity to keep us going as the air cools and wind picks up during these autumnal evenings. The nights are drawing in quick...it will, as the saying goes, soon be Christmas.

So, it was one of the last Sundays of the season and I had finally managed to persuade my angling and dramming chum, Chris Kelting (aka Keltong) to join me on my favourite Dove. We left Chris' car at Dovedale and made our way round to Milldale, tackled up and walked down to the start of the LADFFA stretch. I'd told him that it would be much quieter at that end...it was heaving.

Chris dropped into one of the first pools and I into one further downstream. We both hooked into Grayling in our first few casts, Chris landing 3 good fish in three minutes on the duo. The water was the lowest I have ever seen it and incredibly clear.

After a while, we made our way down to Ilam rock where we were to meet up with Matt and Glen who were making their way up from Dovedale carpark at 2pm.

A few yards upstream from the footbridge, I had been watching a massive Grayling that was just sitting in an opening in the weeds. I pointed it out to Chris and he was on it with his Klinkhammer and nymph. Chris couldn't believe how close he was getting to it without it being spooked...he also couldn't believe how the big fish was completely ignoring the fact that a wee nymph was repeatedly passing it's nose without it flinching or having a snatch at it. Please expand the pic to see the fish.

We soon met up with Matt and Glen and we decided to stop at the boards to light the Kelly and to get our snappin out. We all made our contributions to the feast. Chris produced chocolate brownies, lovingly baked by his wife Nik, Matt pulled out a huge banana loaf he had made the night before, encouraging eyes to become way bigger than bellies, I layed out a dozen or so freshly cut ham baps for all to share, and we all looked on in anticipation as to what delight Glen might have procured on which we may all hungrily feast.

A box of individually wrapped Ferrero Rocher chocolates arrived on the boards, accompanied by much merriment and mockery on our part.

"Whats up with yer, get them Rochers in yer youth, nowt up with em."

The deal at "The Spar", apparently, had been buy one, get one free, so one box stayed at home chez Pointon, and the other was before us now, embarrassed by it's edible, and considerably more impressive culinary neighbours. Nevertheless, ignoring the funny looks we were being given by passing walkers. We shared the food around and filled our bellies, and made ourselves ready for the evening of fishing ahead.

The fish were fewer than the laughs, and we spent the evening learning fishing skills from one another. finishing off our cakes and butties, and making fun of Glen's chocolates. One passing visitor, having spotted them remarked...

"Oh, Ferrero Rocher, you must be a different class of fisherman"

I remember thinking he'd hit the nail absolutely on the head!

Please expand the pic above to see Mr Pointon impersonating the windy French performer, La Petomane, much to the amusement of Matt and Chris.

In terms of amount of fish caught, this wasn't one of the seasons best, but in comedy terms...it's a cracker.

Don't worry. We returned Mr Pointon safely back to the sheltered accommodation well in time for his medication and his doze.

David