The fly of 2002

A very busy week included the birth of my first grandchild Isabelle on Thursday (for those of you who are interested, she weighed about the same as a small Spey grilse). All anglers in this region are hoping it will keep her father - Peter - off the river! And then on Saturday and Sunday we had Chatsworth Angling Fair. So I could manage only two days out with the fly-rod.

THE fly of the year is the turkey brown dun. An unmistakeable three-tailed, dark brown dun (which I think gets its name from the wing colour - that of the white-tipped dark brown oak turkey tail feather), it seems to have spread to several rivers in northern England. Or there are more than just one or two hatching. Oliver Edwards and I even managed to get a nymph from the Derwent at Chatsworth .....our first here in umpteen years. I would be grateful for any records you have (let me know c/o Fly-Fishing & Fly-Tying). There have also been excellent hatched of medium olives, olive uprights and the large brook dun on the rivers I have visited, with reasonable hatches of mayflies on Derbyshire Wye and Derwent. On both Derwent and Parsonage Reservoir (set high in the hills) falls of black gnats (matched by a pattern tied on a size 20 hook) have taken over from falls of hawthorn flies earlier in the month.

We have had an explosion of the grayling population on the middle Ribble which, for those of you who have never seen it, is a small and often slow-flowing limestone stream. The grayling spawned early this year and already their fry are out. The adult fish are more than recovered from spawning, and whilst they do not come into season until 16 June, it is difficult not catching a few when dry fly fishing for brown trout. I have had several reports of fish estimated as in the 3+ pound class (1.36363636 kg for you in Euroland); so get ready for a 4lb fish this year here! What is interesting is the way the wild trout have responded by tucking tightly to the bank, often in corners that are difficult to reach or which give mega problems with drag.

Tomorrow I will try for the first sea trout on the Hodder; early reports from Welsh rivers have been promising!

Tight lines!

Malcolm Greenhalgh
Tight lines!

Malcolm Greenhalgh

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