This weekend I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to fish with a couple of the England ladies. Sheena Goode and Lisa Isles at Carsington Water in Derbyshire. We stayed at the knockerdown pub which is just up the road from the water. A lovely place to stay if you are planning a visit!
Carsington water is situated in Derbyshire near the towns of Matlock and Ashbourne. Also near by is Bakewell where you can find the huge brown and rainbow trout in the river.
Arriving on Friday night I was in the caravan with mum and dad whilst Sheena and Lisa were in a tent. We met in the pub for our tea and talked fishing all night! Tails of fishing adventures and of course tactics for the following day. We agreed to be at the water for 9am meeting sheena and Lisa’s friend Ian, who was fishing with sheena for the day, and be out on the water by 10am.
Usually you would find me fishing natural looking flies, however today I was told that blobs and boobies would do the trick. So, also new to me in set up my new Airflo sixth sense di3 sinking line with a leeder of about 10ft with a white boobie tied on the end. This was the first time I have used a sinking line so I was eager to get out and see what it was like. So as planned we were ready to fish at 10am.
Our first port of call was to start a drift at the top end of the lake by the north islands.
Then by pulling the white boobie fly fast saw me land my first fish of the day. A lovely Carsington rainbow, hard fighting too! After releasing the fish Lisa was soon into her first too. Another good sized fish!
Before we headed back to the jetty for a spot of lunch and a chat Lisa switched to a floater and a team of dries. Fish were starting to rise but to what? There was no fly life, no hatches at all. On previous visits I have seen loads of buzzers floating about but today there was nothing. We saw one mayfly and that’s it!
So at 1pm we made out way back for lunch. Talked about the mornings fishing and had a peek in each other’s fly boxes. Soon after we were back out in the same spot, this time it was different. I switched to my floater and put a blob on ( yes a blob! ) not something you would normally catch me doing! A blob that Ian kindly passed over to our boat via his landing net!! Lisa tied me a dropper on with a nymph on it, we were starting to get loads of chases, this method saw us get about 12 fish to the boat. I explained it like jaws, the film, the trout being the shark! Casting out. Three long sharp pulls and the fish was chasing the blob then stopping the retrieve. It was like du du, du du, D D D D D!! Bang, the fish took the fly!
At around 3pm the fishing really turned on. Fish topping the surface everywhere! Switching to the floating line made all the difference on the day because the fish were so high up in the water. My dad was fishing with his friend and was letting his fly sink and had no fish. Whereas if he had retrieved it high in the water he would probably of had some fish!
If you are looking for some good fishing I would recommend Carsington! It’s a brilliant fishery and produced some lovely fish! They also have some wheels boats for anglers who are registered disabled so all anglers can have a great time!
Tel : 01629 540478
Email : flyfishing@carsingtonwater.com
Phillippa Hake Fly Fishing 