Steves friend Phil was keen to brush up his fly fishing skills so Steve and I joined him on one of his local rivers, the Derwent. Another very relaxed affair with lunch being interrupted by bouts of fishing. We did though cover some casting and presentation tips that were immediately put into practice.

 

One Grayling was proving particularly tricky though and after a few minutes of ‘guidance’ from me, Phil handed me the rod as if to say, “you catch it then”!
I was unable to hook it although I did tempt it a couple of times. As my hosts were snickering behind me whilst taking their 7th break, I spotted a rather good fish rise further upstream. Still using Phil’s rod I went up for a closer look. There were two really good fish rising now. One which we had targeted earlier and another one a little closer us. I would go for him first. Feeling their eyes burning holes in the back of my head I waited for another rise to pinpoint the fish’s exact position.

 

I was very happy with my first cast and mend, as was the fish who engulfed the small Klinkhammer tied by Steves wife, Hilary. As I had removed my waistcoat earlier, I was now stuck. I was connected to a very large fish just above some very fast water and my net was still attached to my waistcoat which was lying on the bank.

 

Begrudgingly, I called for assistance and Steve quickly joined me in the river. His net was also attached to his waistcoat and by quite a short zinger. For some reason, he had decided not to remove the net but instead, simply hand it to me still attached to him. This meant that we were forced to move in synch as we were led up and down the pool by this brute of a fish.

 

By now a small crowd had gathered to watch our strange fish dance whilst Phil was videoing the whole thing with a running commentary. Eventually, I got the 3lb Brownie into Steve’s incredibly small net and I was rewarded with cheers and applause from the amused but impressed onlookers.
Sadly, their cries of admiration turned to boos of derision as the fish made a bid for freedom and landed hard on the pebbly bank. The crowd dispersed.

 

I’m pleased to report that the fish was none the worse for its adventure and eventually swam away strongly.
I would like to thank my support team as none of this would have been possible without Phil’s rod, Hilary’s fly and Steve’s net.