Big Brown Trout - Attempt No 1 (River Dove, Mayfield)

Finally!

I've managed to get some time to get out on the quest again. It's taken two clients to very kindly offer to take me fishing as thanks for completing jobs for them, which means I can't cancel to get more work done and it's an instant green card at home. First up is a trip to a stretch of the River Dove which is held by a very old fishing club populated by the great and the good, with Rt Hons and holders of OBEs on the card. The beats are in the Mayfield area and with a bit of luck it's prime mayfly time....

Quick gammon and chips at the Royal Oak pub on Mayfield bridge (very nice it was too) and we're ready to go. It's not really a big fish target day today because my brown trout PB is about 5.5 lbs so to trouble this by fishing upstream dry fly on a small river would be as shocking as Utd stringing together more than two passes in a Champions League Final. Should be a nice day to blow off the cobwebs though and hopefully get myself ready for a sea trout trip I've got coming up in South Wales in early July.

First glance and the river looks great but a lot wider and deeper than the stretches I've fished previously at Dovedale and Alstonfield where it was shallow clear streamy water with the odd pool and ankle to knee deep wading. This stretch looked 5-6 feet deep in places with steep nettle and cow parsley covered banks.

A light coloured mayfly lands on a shrub on my walk round and after my first catch and release of the day I manage to find a pretty close match in the fly box. Permasink on the 9ft Hardy fluorocarbon leader and then Gink on the mayfly and it's first cast and.....we're off and running with a take straight away followed by a quick strike. It's a nice brown of about a pound but as usual there's a problem - thinking the river was paddle deep I've only brought a bamboo scoop net which is about 4ft short of the fish which is now sucking in air at the surface. There's only one option so down the bank into the river, quick scoop and then grapple with the nettles as I scramble back up the bank. Quick photo on the phone which will never be posted (more of that later) and back in he/she goes. Great start.

Second cast slightly upstream from the berthing commotion and it's another take - am I getting really good at this or am I in the famous "Duffers fortnight". Another lovely brown of about 3/4 pound and it's SAS time again to net it. This time I feel a bit lighter at the top of the bank.....

Fly box still there; fish in net; car keys in pocket; forceps clipped to pocket...., but there's an issue when trying to photograph this one - no phone. Triffic (!), about two pounds of trout on the bank in 5 mins but 200 pounds of iPhone at the bottom of the river. 45 mins of searching but no joy. Lucky it's a work phone so looking on the bright side there's no more calls today and an iPhone 4 on it's way next week.

Two trout follow over the next hour to 1.5 lbs with one falling to the mayfly skimming across the surface before a very cold wind starts to blow and the fish stop as suddenly as they started. A couple more hours produces abortive takes and a lost fish to a Brown Klinkhammer but it's tough going now and time to call it a day. Ignoring my new phone upgrade tactic it's been a fun day and I'm looking forward to next week when I've got three days on a Shropshire Mere with 30 carp over 20 lbs including a 40 lbs common. It's run by a small syndicate so hopefully we'll have the lake to ourselves....

Cheers

Mr Fish