Autumn Fly Fishing At Ladybower Reservoir In Derbyshire

At the weekend I was back at my usual haunt - Ladybower Reservoir, a beautiful reservoir nestling in a wooded valley in the Peak District. Autumn is my favorite time of year, after the heady evenings of summer, full of scented air and warm still nights, Autumn brings a fresh and colourful change. This is a time for animals and fish such as the trout to start feeding up ready for the coming winter.

It was a glorious weekend and as I arrived early in the morning there were many landscape photographer's with their wide angle lenses set up to take shots of the Autumn mist rolling on to the reservoir.

The fly fishing at Ladybower can take a bit of a dip during the summer months when the fish have a tendency to put their heads down or cruise the margins picking off the odd water bourne insect. Autumn tends to liven things up a bit and I am looking forward to some good sport over the last few weeks of the season.

I decided to fish down at Raspberry Bay and as it was such a glorious day there were lots of walkers, mountain bikers and day trippers out enjoying the sunshine. It is sad, but I did notice on my return journey down the lane at the end of my session considerably more litter than when I arrived. I have given up asking people to pick up their litter as it always ends with being abused so I know just pick it up myself chuck it in the back of the Land Rover.

I only had a couple of hours to fish so I decided to walk the bay, fishing short and moving constantly looking out for trout cruising the margins and drop offs. I opted to fish a small orange Fritz type lure - Fritz lures have a body made of a tinsel type material which reflects light at different angles, much like the scales of a small injured fish it is a similar lure to a Cats Whiskers or Dog Nobblers. With short casts and quick retrieves this would enable me to cover lots of ground in a short amount of time. I managed 1 rainbow of about one and a half pounds and pricked a couple more fish.

Ladybower has filled up considerably over the past month with the rainfall that has collected on the surrounding hills so much of the bay in inaccessible again, however there are still plenty of spots with lots of casting room round this side of the reservoir.