Fly Fishing

"A bad day fishing beats a good day at work"

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life"

Anon (man)

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you are rid of him for the weekend"

Anon (woman)

I started fly fishing about 17 years ago encouraging Jonathan to join me - all Dads want to take their son fishing. Rita became interested and when I heard the plaintiff cry drifting across the water "Dad, Mum won't let me have my rod back !", I knew I had a problem, and yes, I did buy her a fishing rod for Christmas. During her first year (1992) I have to report that she caught 42 trout (possibly more than I did!). The benefit of course is that I don't have to find an excuse to go fishing, quite the opposite my spouse is the one who is always raring to go.

We prefer to fish small still waters such as our local Yeaveley Estate, Danebridge near Macclesfield, Donkhill near Swadlincote and Alton Manor near Wirksworth but do occasionally visit Carsington Water when the weather is kind (I am convinced it is the windiest place in the UK and ideally suited for the proposed wind farm!). In 2006 we spent six weeks in New Zealand hoping to realise an ambition to fish Lake Taupo; we arrived with our new travel rods and unfortunately (as far as fishing was concerned) we were met with blue skies and scorching hot sun!!, never mind, there's always next time.

My best fish to date:

A rather nice Rainbow Trout caught about 1993 (times flies!) at Donkhill Fishery weighing in at 8lbs. 12oz. It lived nose down in our freezer for a couple of weeks but it was clear that we would never make best use of it so through the local newspaper I offered it to any organisation who could put it to good use in a fund raising event. A local nursing home took up the offer and used the fish as first prize in their garden fete raffle; mounted on a pile of ice the trout proved to be quite an attraction and contributed substantially to the residents' social fund. Everyone's a winner!!

Link to Carsington Flyfishers page

Page updated : 18 Juni 2008