Trout fishing in Derbyshire on the beautiful Derwent

Towards the end of last year’s trout season, I joined my mate (Tim) trout fishing in Derbyshire as his guest on Waltonian Angling Club (WAC) beat of the River Derwent at Baslow.

After navigating the morning Manchester rush-hour traffic, I met Tim on River Derwent at about 10 am. On approaching the river, the effect of the dry summer was still evident on the River Derwent, despite a short wet spell. Tim had not seen this beat of the river that low before.

Trout fishing in Derbyshire on the River Derwent

Tim had noticed a fish move under the overhanging trees on the far bank and set about trying to tempt it with a dry fly (double badger).

I selected to start the day fishing a team of nymphs in the fast water above Tim. So, I set up my 11ft 3# Vision Nymphmaniac to nymphs space 18″ apart on a 4 lb fluorocarbon leader because no fish were rising (point: #14, purple collar black PTN with a 3.5 mm silver TB; middle dropper: #14, Quill nymph with a 2.5 mm TB; top dropper: #16, gold ribbed hares nymph).

While fishing the fast water towards the road bridge, I hooked a grayling that threw the hook before I could net it. Then, after missing a few takes, I caught a small but beautiful wild brown trout that had fallen for the quill nymph.

Tim had better luck dry fly fishing and had caught a few trout and grayling. Therefore, I switched to fishing a #14 Iron Blue dry fly on a 12ft 7X tapered leader and moved downriver to fish the river around the suspended pipe where I’d spotted a fish rising.

Taking my time to avoid spooking the rising fish, I got into position and placed the dry fly a few feet above the rise. As the fly drifted downriver, the trout rose and engulfed the fly, and…

BINGO – the rod bent around as the fish took off.

After a few dicey moments, a colourful, wild brown trout was eventually netted and admired.

The commotion of landing the trout had disturbed the pool so I gave it a rest while having some refreshments.

Refreshed, I fished the area above the pipe with the dry fly, which was a good move because a rainbow trout smashed the iron blue as it drifted downriver.

Keen to explore more of the beat, we wandered downriver to the next fishy-looking pool.

Below an island, the river opens out into a large pool, where we spotted a few fish taking emerging dry flies. I fished the pocket water at the head of the pool with the dry fly while Tim went downriver to the tail.

As I fished upriver, the first rising fish I covered with the iron blue was a lovely Derwent grayling, and that was followed by a couple of small brown trout.

After catching two small brown trout, the fish stopped responding to the dry fly when it started to drizzle. So, I switched to fishing a team of wet flies/spiders (point: #14 black hopper, middle dropper: #14 March Brown spider, top dropper #14 iron blue dun wet fly).

Prospecting my way upriver with the wet flies produced another Derbyshire brown trout that fell for the March brown spider just below the island.

To finish the day, I carefully waded up the far side of the island, where I caught another wild brown trout and a rainbow trout that fell for the black hopper.

Summary – Trout fishing in Derbyshire

It was a great pleasure to finish the trout season fishing with Tim as his guest on Waltonian Angling Club (WAC) beat of the River Derwent at Baslow. We both caught some beautiful brown trout, rainbow trout and a few grayling. Changing methods throughout the day kept fish coming to the net.