Spring trouting can be heavenly
For most of
my life I became seriously excited around this time of the year because it was
great to go out trout fishing after the winter break with new opening dates on
different fisheries occurring on several different dates.
Stillwater trout venues tend to open earlier nowadays, but once upon a time several
places had opening dates in April, with April the first a very popular day for
opening.
For several years when I was still working for a living, which I hated, I used
to make a point of taking the whole of the month of April off work to go fly fishing
for trout every day.
Now old age and poor health prevents me from indulging in the more strenuous kinds
of fly fishing such as creeping and crawling along river banks to avoid alarming
the fish, and trying to clamber into or out of boats on big stillwaters.
However, having fished for trout so many, many times over a period of many, many
years I must surely have built up a store of useful hints and tips that may help
some readers enjoy for themselves the joys of trout fishing in spring on our glorious
Derbyshire rivers and lakes.
One thing that always puzzled me was the fact that by far the majority of the
people who asked for advice when I was having a successful day asked the same
question: “What fly are you catching your fish on?”
Not what line or how far out, or how fast are you moving your flies?
Though some readers will disagree with me on this point I long ago came to believe
that the actual choice of fly to fish with was one of the very least important
things to worry about. Size of fly, colour of fly, and how deep to fish the fly
were more important considerations on the majority of days.
Newly stocked trout, or wild brown trout in some of the stillwaters in Scotland
would often be only too eager to grab at any offering that is fished at the right
depth and speed.
It’s true that over the years I discovered a few patterns of fly that worked
very well for me on most occasions.
Also at various special times of the fishing year it is wise to take advantage
of the kind of flies that are hatching out just then.