As I sit writing this on a rare morning off, the sun is streaming into the rod room and at last we seem to have lost the easterly winds and chilly mornings that have plagued the fishing for so long. Hopefully with temperatures on the rise we should see some superb catches coming along. Not that the fishing has been all bad, although a recent visit to Chew with the trusty Chew Valley pikers was hard going. One twenty pounder and three upper doubles- Stuart Clough had an 18 and I had this amazingly marked one of similar size that went like stink and put a proper bend in the trusty Guideline RS fly rod, but three of our very able crew didn’t even get a pull over the three days fishing. But the craic was mighty and the laughter rolled on. One of those wonderful trips that keep you sane. Here’s to the next time. Back into the lake District and straight back into work, we had a great day of 11 pike off one of the local waters with two of my regulars and some fabulous dry fly fishing for trout on both the Derwent and Eamont. Best fish was superb wild brownie of over three pounds to Lister Fielding as part of a sixteen trout catch over a couple of days- all on dries while a visit to my favourite bit of the Eden provided two surgeon clients with a memorable ten trout session again all on the dry fly with an average of just over the pound. It has been amazing how the size and quantity of our local trout have improved over recent years. Mind you the hatches of all sorts of insects have been a good indicator of the improvements of water quality on most of our rivers. As prof. Brian Cox might have sang in a previous life..’things can only get better’ and with the weather turning for the warmer days of summer hopefully there’s more great fishing to come.

Tarra Eric

Unashamed bragging, sorry – Chew Valley on a fly

another nice Derwent trout fooled by a dry

Lister Fielding- Derwent trout on the dry