More of the same, please!
With so much talk of global warming we anglers must think about possible effects
of the weather because it plays such a big part in our success or failure at the
waterside.
I think that global warming may prove to be a temporary thing. No doubt one year
in the future, probably the very distant future, our planet will suffer another
ice age.
That’s if we don’t blow it up before that, which seems quite possible.
Over-industrialisation and heavy use of vehicles may well cause localised problems
such as fog and poor air quality but I believe that the human race is far too
puny to alter climates greatly, or forever.
After all those of us who have lived long enough to have seen every climate change
possible occur again and again will remember that in the 1950s scientists and
journalists were saying that the ice age had returned.
No doubt readers will wonder why I have chosen to write in this manner.
The reason is that we in Derbyshire were very lucky in our fishing last year.
In some counties, largely in the South of England, dreadful drought conditions
caused severe difficulties, but not up here.
Reservoirs at Carsington and at Foremark (which was under new management) and
at Ladybower maintained water levels at a decent height for angling.
The last named had a great season, especially with the stocks of those lovely
blue rainbow trout.
And trout anglers on our much envied Derbyshire rivers enjoyed a very good mayfly
season with water levels and weather just right and with big hatches of both E.
Vulgata and E. Danica mayflies eagerly taken.
It did get rather silly in July with temperatures into the 90s and this does not
make for good fishing, particularly since it makes me feel quite ill.
Winter sunshine is the weather that I like and we have had our share of that recently.
Here’s hoping for more of the same good sport this year, even though the
sheer physical aspects of actually going fishing become hard to manage when your
bones are as ancient and fragile as my own.
On the coarse fishing scene too there is cause for congratulation if you live
in our area. There is a lot more room for peaceful fishing on the rivers now that
so many anglers are opting instead to visit the commercial stillwaters.
The exciting thing about this uncrowded river fishing now is that today’s
anglers have never before enjoyed such great sport with those very hard fighting
fish the barbel.
In the Trent and in the tributaries Derwent and Idle too as well as the Don huge
barbel are becoming almost commonplace.