Earlier in the year I visited the Temple beat of the Beresford Fishery, on the River Dove in the Derbyshire Dales. Season Rods are ‘reasonably’ priced, and come with a key to the Fishing House where an open fire and hot drinks await. Anyone familiar with the Compleat Angler (Izaak Walton, 1653) will be aware of the historical significance of this stretch of river. The fishing is for wild Brown Trout which run to 3lb+ in size, and Grayling. The beat is not stocked and Season Rods can fish for Grayling during the trout close season. So I opened my cheque book and signed up!
It’s a fair trip from Northampton to the Temple beat (near Hartington in Derbyshire), but that is almost always the case when seeking wild brown trout fishing given where I live.
After much anticipation I finally managed to get my season started on the 27th April. The upper reaches of the Dove are always ‘late starters‘ when it comes to trout fishing and given the cold weather we have/are experiencing the fly hatches have not really got underway yet. There have been some hatches between 11am and 3pm on sunny days but unfortunately on the day I visited there was a cold wind and the flies decided not to come out and play.
With the lack of fly life on the surface I decided to put my trust in the ‘duo‘ method (small size 16 H E nymph suspended under an olive klinkhamer. The first hour or so was a bit chaotic, it’s been a while since I have been fishing and I was using my 7’ #3 Featherweight for the first time and I spent most of the time untying knotted leaders, retrieving flies from bank side vegetation (and the odd tree) and trying to place my flies where I wanted them (not easy with a Klink and small beaded nymph on the leader and a crosswind). I did however manage a couple of nice little Grayling early on so that gave me heart.
Progressing up the beat things began to improve and I managed a couple of brown trout, the first of the season being pictured below, taken from a run at the head of Pike Pool.
I continued to fish likely looking runs as I worked my way upstream catching the odd trout, but more grayling, on my way.
I eventually reached the Temple early afternoon and so had a break for a while to enjoy a freshly brewed coffee and my packed lunch.
The Temple (built by Cotton) is ideally positioned by the side of the river nearly half way up the beat.
After my break I continued fishing upstream, catching three grayling from a riffle just upstream from the Temple, created by the breaching of a weir (I’m hoping a few trout will come from there later in the season).
The first half of the beat above the Temple is, I think, more suited to dry fly fishing and will come into it’s own later in the season but today it proved unproductive. However, despite having to finish at around 4pm I had still had a good day catching three nice wild brown trout and eight or nine grayling, enough for anyone to be happy with.