Fishing in Derbyshire and around

Front matter

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY

Preface

Some years ago I used to find myself inquiring, in the ' ever-returning spring,' ' Where shall I go to fish ?' In those days there were but few books for anglers containing directions as to the finding of fishing waters, and descriptions of the streams in a stated district. For example, one might have read diligently all that had then been written upon the Derbyshire Derwent or Wye without learning whether those rivers were open or private fisheries, where one could stay upon their banks, and how much a fishing holiday would cost. There are a number of fishermen still in this plight. How many of us have travelled more than once to a far corner of the kingdom, with mingled expectancy and misgiving, to fish in a river about which we have been able to gather little or nothing in the way of practical information ! Such expeditions, as I know from experience, frequently end in disillusionment and waste of time.

X Preface

The gratifying assurances of fishermen that my ' Fishing in Wales ' has proved acceptable and useful, and the generous commendation accorded to that book by reviewers, have encouraged me while writing the present volume. Perhaps I may here say that the collection and arranging of material for such a book is not unaccompanied by peculiar difficulties. My aim is to strike the happy mean betwixt overstatement of the sport that may be expected in a given stream and the peril of a pessimistic view.

There is an old-standing accusation against anglers that they are, to express it politely, prone to extravagance of statement. It matters not if the fishing writer is by nature severely dispassionate and impartial. He will not escape the charge, let it be facetious or spiteful. Someone will tell him that he has drawn the long-bow. In order to guard against inaccuracy, I have not remained satisfied with relating my own experience of rivers in this district. My personal investigation has been supplemented by many interviews and a considerable correspondence with the secretaries and members of fishing societies, riparian owners, and water-bailiffs Probably I have erred now and then on the side

Preface xi

of cautiousness. If so, I may be pardoned for a shrinking from that not altogether kindly banter to which anglers are exposed. At any rate, I may state that I have been at much trouble to impart trustworthy information.

I hope that there is no omission of any of the names of those friends and correspondents who have assisted me in writing this book. My thanks for obligations are due to Mr. A. P. Payne-Gall wey, to Sir Thomas Wardle, to Mr. T. C. Jeffrey, of the Midland Railway Company, to Dr. S. Warneford, to Mr. W. H. Foster, of Ashbourne, and to several fishermen whose names will be found in the text. From out of the large number of authorities from whom I sought knowledge only two ignored my request. To these I accord my free absolution. The interest shown in my project convinces me that the great majority of resident Derbyshire anglers welcome viators in the cheery and fraternal spirit of Izaak Walton.

WALTER M. GALLICHAN.

The Crimbles,

YOULGREAVE, BaKEWELL,

Derbyshire, March, 1905.

Contents

CHAPTKR PAGE

I. A GENERAL CHAPTER - - - I

II. THE UPPER DOVE - - - "25

Chapter I

It is scarcely necessary to extol the attractions of rivers rendered classic by association with the names of Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton. The pleasant task that I have set myself is to direct the fisherman to the streams and angling waters of a beautiful district, comprising the county of Derbyshire and some parts of the adjoining shires. Other writers, in the past, have described the rivers of this region from the point of view of the tourist in search of the picturesque ; while, here and there, amongst angling volumes that are out of print, one finds a few accounts of Walton and the Dove, and an occasional reference to the Derwent, Wye, and other trout-streams.

During the past thirty or forty years, one or

I two interesting books have been added to the scant collection of angling literature appertaining generally to the Midlands. The veteran who writes so charmingly under the name of ' The Amateur Angler ' has given us his impressions of Dovedale, and in his book on ' The Trout,' the Marquess of Granby has told us of enticing sport by his own lengths of the Lathkill and Bradford. When I chose Derbyshire for my home, after some years of wandering, it was suggested to me that I should endeavour to set forth the claims of that county upon the angler, in the same way that I have described sport with the rod in Wales and Spain. Falling in with the hint, I sit down to-day, with the song of a trout-stream in the dale below borne across the garden, to begin the survey of familiar stretches of rivers endeared to me, and to lead the brother of the angle to runs and pools where he may cast his ' Derbyshire bumble ' in the wet style of fly-fishing, or stalk the well-proportioned trout in translucent water, and drop his dry fly in the dimple of a rise. Nor shall I forget to disclose to the bottom-fisher the exact points where he may expect to find pike, roach, chub, barbel, grayling, and other fish in the proper seasons.

Nature has provided kindly for both the fly-fisher and bottom-fisherman in this district. Most of the large and small tributaries of the Trent contain chiefly trout and grayling in their higher waters. Where the game fish are scarce in these rivers — that is to say, in their lower lengths — coarse fish are in some instances very abundant. This is a most excellent provision, for reaches that harbour chub, perch, and pike can be avoided by the fly-fisherman.

In another respect the rivers in Derbyshire and around claim the attention of visiting anglers. The means of communication from the chief towns of the North and South, and within the district itself, enable the visitor to reach the riverside within a few hours. For instance, fishermen residing in Manchester and its surrounding towns, or in Derby and Nottingham, can leave home at a reasonable hour in the morning, spend a day by the Derwent or Dove, and return by an evening train. The quick service of trains on the Midland Railway enables the fisherman to travel by a fast morning train from St. Pancras to Matlock or Bakewell, in plenty of time for an afternoon and evening with the trout and grayling of the Derwent and Wye ;

1—2 while week-end tickets on this line, at reduced fares, are issued to all the chief fishing stations. The district under our consideration is, therefore, easily accessible, and compares very favourably in this matter with Wales or the West of England.

As to the cost of fishing, and board and lodging, I shall refer to the charges in describing the various rivers and the towns and villages upon their banks. Some of the fishing lengths in private hands can be fished by permission of the land-owners or tenants holding rights of angling, and portions of the rivers are fishable by taking quarters at comfortable hotels. There are also preserved waters, which are controlled by associations, and daily, weekly, and season tickets can be purchased at a moderate cost. The Conservators of tlie Trent issue licenses to fish with rod and line for trout and char in the main river and its tributaries at half a crown for the season, and one shilling for one week. This license covers almost the whole of the rivers mentioned in these pages.

The streams of Derbyshire and the bordering counties offer considerable diversity both in the character of their scenery and their waters. In the limestone regions watered by the Dove, the Wye, the Lathkill, the Manifold, and the middle lengths of the Dei went, the streams are normally clear, and have the transparent quality of the Hampshire rivers and the chalk streams of Berks and Bucks. The Lathkill has water of remarkable limpidity, and almost the same may be said for the Wye during dry weather. In the Dove the angler will find a very slight colour, but it is still, in its reaches from the source to the lower end of Dovedale, a bright stream, with scarcely a perceptible stain in a fine summer.

Surface water soon colours these rivers, but fairly heavy rain is required to render them turbid for some days together, and I have seen the upper Lathkill quite clear when the stream had overflown its banks at several points. A brown stain in the Wye is an advantage, but occasionally during rainy seasons the stream is much swollen, and the water remains muddy for a few days.

The Derwent takes a tint from the peat in its upper waters, and after rain it is tinged with ' woodland water ' from the woods that clothe its banks above Chatsworth. Under ordinary summer conditions this river is not so limpid as its tributary the Wye, and from Matlock downwards it is discoloured with drainage for some distance, to assume a clearer character in the swift shallows of Cromford and Whatstandwell. Lower down, in the neighbourhood of Ambergate and Belper, the Derwent is less impetuous, and its water is somewhat deeply coloured throughout the rest of its course to the Trent.

The trout and grayling rivers of Derbyshire differ in certain essential characteristics from the rushing, boulder-strewn streams of North Wales and the Scottish Highlands. Limestone determines their clearness, and the springs whence some of them arise are among rocky uplands. We may perhaps say that the trout-streams of the High Peak Country are far wilder than those of the South of England, but not so wild generally as the rivers of Scotland and Wales. They possess an intermediate character, with certain resemblances to the clear southern streams and the boisterous, peat-stained rivers of the North. Picturesque is the word that describes the dales watered by these crystal streams.

In Narrowdale and Milldale, on the Dove, and in the gorge of the Wye above Monsal Dale, the banks of the streams approach the stern and gray order of river scenery. Here the waters have forced a channel betwixt limestone cliffs, with beetling crags and sheer escarpments. Amid surroundings more pastoral, the rivers flow on to the Trent, but in these lower lands there are spots of exceeding charm, and no lack of interest in the banks whereon the coarse-fisherman stands to watch his swan-quill, or to swing the bait for pike.

And like the country and the rivers, the trout and grayling fishing has a quaint fascination all its own. For Derbyshire angling is not quite the same affair as fly-fishing in the Test and Avon, nor is it exactly comparable with fishing in Yorkshire and the Northern Border streams. It is my conviction that the trout in question are better worth the angler's perseverance in attempting to lure them than the hungry, uneducated :^-pounders of less-fished streams in Scotland and elsewhere.

If your object in fly-fishing is to make heavy baskets, with the minimum of skill, there are brooks in other parts of the United Kingdom where you may cast your three wet flies almost at random, and expect to hook a wee troutlet at about every other cast. This is one kind of trout-fishing, and I personally do not despise it upon occasion. But the well-earned, wary fish of

I pound in weight, which I have marked rising in the Dove, and hooked at the third or fourth transit of my oHve dun on the outer ring of his dimple, gives me a keener satisfaction in the outwitting, and a HveHer joy in the capture, than a dozen little trout from a burn.

This is not saying that fishing with the wet fly is impracticable in the rivers of Derbyshire. In the spring months, and at any time when the rivers are coloured, very good sport may be obtained by sinking the fly. Many of the local anglers never use the wet fly. They have been reared in the tradition of dry-fly fishing, and they profess ignorance of the methods of the sunk fly, while some of the craft hold such fishing in contempt.

Is this a reasonable prejudice ? The two oldest fly-fishermen in the county, Sir Thomas Wardle and John Fosbrooke of Hartington, water-keeper to the Trent Conservancy, both fish with the wet fly. Sir Thomas Wardle owns a length of the Dove above Dovedale, where the water is usually pellucid, and yet he makes heavy baskets with the wet fly. Fosbrooke ' never tinkers his fly,' to use his own phrase, but adheres valiantly to the older mode of fly-fishing. Both of these anglers could undoubtedly hold their own against dry-fly fishermen on their local streams. Therefore, if anyone informs you that no one can take trout with the wet fly in the Derbyshire rivers, do not heed him, but adapt your fishing to the water, the season of the year, and the general conditions.

In the Manifold I have had better sport with the wet fly than with the floating fly. I do not believe in that bigoted orthodoxy which announces that only the dry fly shall be used all the season round. What of chilly days in April, when one may look in vain for the rings of rising trout, and fail to discern any standing fish?

Will you go home with an empty creel merely because you deem it heretical to throw a brace of smaU hackle flies off the edges of the streams ? If so, I am afraid that in certain seasons you will have very little fishing until the end of May, while in times of spate you will be forced to leave your rod at home in its canvas case. By changing my style of fishing from wet fly to dry fly, I can usually contrive to catch trout from the beginning of April until the end of September, and grayling from mid- June till Christmas.

I willingly agree that there is something extremely alluring and unique in dry-Hy fishing. It is the finest poetry of fly-fishing. But I do not neglect the finest prose because I am fond of poetry. There is, to my mind, a curious warp in the angler who rigidly refuses to use the wet fly when the floating fly fails to attract fish. If it is a question of skill, I will go so far as to say, that in the limpid Wye it is easier to catch trout and grayling with the dry fly than with the sunk fly. Unless the water is thickly stained, wet-fly fishing is by no means a despicable art in these streams of the limestone region.

"What, then, should be the fisherman's guide as to the mode of fly-fishing in Derbyshire ? My answer is that you should try either method, wet or dry, on the same day if need be. This is my own plan under certain conditions. For example, in the open length of the Wye, between Bakewell and Rowsley, I caught four brace of fish one day in the spring of 1904. Five out of the eight fish were taken with the wet fly. Some of these were hooked at the tail of runs, and the others in pools rippled by a breeze. You can soon discover whether trout are feeding near the surface.

If the duns are frisking prettily down a glide, and the trout are sucking them in, by all means oil your fly, stalk up, and let your lure float on the surface. The wet fly will hardly avail here unless the water is coloured. But if few flies or none can be seen, what do you propose to do ? You may peer about for standing fish, and try to tempt them with a floating fly, or you may pack up and go home. I do not propose to give up simply because I cannot use the dry fly. It is an easy operation to change the cast, and to fish with a couple of small flies in the sunk fashion. The trout may be feeding greedily on the larvae under water. I would rather catch them on the surface, but I am not going to lose a half-day's sport because the trout will not rise to my floating blue dun or olive. As a keeper on the Dove remarked to me : ' This is the sort of day when you can make 'em rise to the wet fly.'

We will suppose, however, that you find yourself on the bank of the stream on a warm day at the close of June. The water is bright and rather low, and the sunshine is somewhat glaring. Here and there, on the stills by the boughs, good trout aiid grayling are rising to surface insects.

This is not a wet-fly day. You may get a brace or two with wet fly late in the evening by fishing in the runs, but the dry fly will be the only effective method of tempting fish in the full daylight. Therefore, mark your trout, and cast the floating fly over them. If you have graduated upon wet-fly rivers in the North, do not be discouraged at the prospect. With a steady perseverance you will soon acquire the knack of dropping your dry fly prettily, and in the right spot.

I have watched a Scot, used to rough rivers and wet-fly fishing, learn the trick of dry-fly casting in one day by the Wye. Every wet-fly angler has the root of the matter in him, and it is only a question of practice to change from one style to the other.

I have endeavoured to make clear that the wet-fly fisherman need not be dismayed when he is told that ' there is only dry-fly fishing in Derbyshire.' There is almost any kind of fishing which you may please to select. You may even use the worm and minnow in certain parts, and fish with float tackle for big trout at Matlock. If you are already a dry-fly angler, well and good ; you will need no tuition. If you cannot throw a dry fly, you have a better chance of learning here than in the chalk streams of the South, and at much less cost. And should you ever have the fortune to fish the famous Hampshire rivers, you will assuredly derive profitable experience from dry-fly fishing in Derbyshire.

As compared with the rivers of Wales and the West of England, the streams of Derbyshire and Staffordshire must be described as ' late.' Although the Trent Conservators have fixed February i as the opening day for trout-fishing in the tributary streams, there is not much chance of successful fly-fishing until the second or third week in April. From that time onwards until the end of June the trout-fishing is usually at its best, though it happens in some years that spring frosts and east winds combine to mar sport in April. One cannot, however, prognosticate with any certainty as to good fishing days.

My best basket from the Dove last year was made on a day of bitterly cold wind in April, when snow seemed in the air, and I could scarcely keep warm in my winter clothes and a mackintosh. I have seen a good rise to fly early in March in the Lathkill, but that was upon one of those days of exceptional mildness that often precede a spell of cold, cheerless weather in the early spring.

July is a poor fishing month almost everywhere. Conditions often improve in August, and September may be even better. October is considered the best month for grayling-fishing, and in mid winter grayling can still be induced to rise to the fly between the hours of 12 p.m. and 3. With the sport of grayling and coarse-fishing in the drear months, and trout-fishing in the spring and summer, there is full scope for the fisherman in this locality to pursue his pastime throughout the year.

The Mayfly appears upon most of the lengths early in June, in favourable seasons. It is often plentiful on the Derwent, Wye, and Dove. Some years ago the erratic drake was not seen over the Manifold. Now, thanks to John Fosbrooke, who ' planted ' a number of the pupae in that stream, there is an annual hatch of the imago in the length near Hartington. In ' The Trout,' the Marquess of Granby refers to the disappearance of the Mayfly upon the Lathkill for some seasons past, though, oddly enough, the fly is very abundant over the tributary Bradford stream. So far as my observations go during 1904, the drakes hatched out in fair numbers on the lower lengths of the Bradford, but very few were seen upon the dams near Middleton. On the Upper Dove last season there was a good show of Mayflies for about ten days, and on two or three occasions trout rose to them with huge avidity.

A few words upon tackle and flies may be of use to the stranger in this district. An all-round fly-rod, let it be of split cane or green-heart, should be brought to Derbyshire. By an all-round rod I mean one that will cast a dry fly as well as a wet fly. A lissom weapon of 11 or 12 feet, which may be admirably adapted for wet-fly fishing, is not the rod for these rivers. What is needed is a fairly stiff, but not stubborn, rod of 10 feet or even 9 feet in length. This will serve for either style of fly-fishing. The line may be fairly heavy, and if tapered so much the better. Casts must be fine for clear-water fishing. They may also be tapered. And it is well to have one or two casts of the finest drawn gut in readiness.

Reels may be of any make favoured by the predilection of the fisherman, and the same may be said for landing-nets. Wading-stockings, and for preference wading-trousers, are necessary adjuncts to fly-fishing in the Derwent from Whatstandwell to the higher lengths. Wading is not allowed in the Duke of Rutland's length of the Wye, nor is it essential to wade in parts of the Dove nor in the Manifold. Anglers who kneel to make their casts should protect the knees with pads or wading-stockings. These protections may prevent a case of rheumatism.

The subject of flies provides a theme of universal interest to trout and grayling fishermen. Derbyshire, like other parts of the kingdom, has its ' local patterns ' of artificial flies. For wet-fly fishing hackle flies are to be preferred, and they should be dressed on rather small hooks. I have used the Yorkshire hackles with success in the Wye, Derwent, Dove, and Manifold. For the last river, Fosbrooke ties some quaint and killing patterns, much resembling the insect as it emerges from the pupa. One of his lures, which may be used wet for trout and grayling, he has dubbed the Golden Earwig. It is a good general fly for the Manifold and Upper Dove. Messrs. Foster and Co., of Ashbourne, have a number of specialities for the Derbyshire streams, which they guarantee to kill fish. Eaton, of Matlock, can be relied upon to dress flies for the Derwent and Wye. He is a good fisherman of long experience. Allen, who watches the Darley Club length of the Derwent, is another fly-tier who can be recommended. He lives at Rowsley. Lock, the keeper, Load Mill, Alstonefield, ties excellent flies for the Dove. Wood and Co., of Pinstone Street, Sheffield, who turn out good flyrods at reasonable prices, can advise as to the best patterns of flies for the higher Derwent and its tributaries, and the streams over the Yorkshire border.* Such flies as the yellow dun, olive dun, ash dun, apple green, gravel bed, iron-blue dun, furnace bumble, and claret bumble are tied locally, and have points of their own differentiating them from the patterns known commercially by these names. The best flies are not always the most lovely to look upon, and the cheapest flies are usually the dearest in the long-run. I do not wish to restrict the experimental fisherman to the use of the flies that I have enumerated. Let him try anything and everything. But I think he will waste his time if he tries to tempt the Derbyshire trout with big palmers, zulus, coch-y-bonddus, stone-flies, and daddy-long-legs. Upon the whole, the visitor may be guided by

* Sec complete list of local fly-tiers at the end of the book.

the experience of local anglers. Pale and dark olive duns, used dry, account for many good fish in Derbyshire. A little later on the yellow dun may be used in two sizes. The larger fly serves well about dusk, or upon very windy days, and in heavy water. A capital emergency fly is the iron blue. On dull days by the Wye I have seen the naturals come out in processions between fitful batches of olive duns. At such times nothing but the iron blue will tickle the palate of the fastidious trout. Olives are then scornfully refused. It is, therefore, advisable to carry a supply of the useful iron blue at all times.

As to Mayflies, do not use them very big or very gaudy in the dressing. They should float and cock well, and resemble the natural fly as closely as possible. The spent gnat should not be forgotten. Do not be surprised, however, if your cunningest Mayfly is rejected, even in the midst of a big flight of the real insect. Trout are apt to exhibit singular caprice in the Mayfly season. But as a rule fish are on the look-out at this carnival time, and you may confidently use any other fly which is in season if the drake is refused.

I think I have generalized quite enough conceming the flies for this district. The rest may well be left to the fisherman's judgment. I will now reply to the possible query as to whether the rivers are over-fished. My answer is that this may be true of one or two lengths close to towns, but, upon the whole, fishermen certainly do not jostle one another upon the banks. Naturally, the trout of much-fished waters are more intelligent than those of lonely lochs and unfrequented mountain burns. Personally, I would describe the fly-fishing in Derbyshire as extremely fascinating by reason of the conditions which I have endeavoured to make plain in the preceding pages. It is the kind of fly-fishing that has attracted a very large number of men whose names are well known at the Fly-fishers' Club and among anglers generally. I need only mention the Marquess of Granby (whose preserves on the Lathkill and Bradford afford splendid fishing), Lord John Manners, Sir Thomas Wardle, Mr. William Senior (Editor of the Field), Mr. John Bickerdyke, Mr. Rolt, Mr. R. B. Marston, Mr. Paul Taylor, and Mr. Longman.

The system of fish preservation in Derbyshire is generally good. There are trout hatcheries on the Dove, two on the Lathkill, and one on the

2 — 2

Matlock Association length of the Derwent. A number of private ponds have been stocked with rainbow and Loch Leven trout, but the latter species has not thrived when introduced to the Lathkill. Two or more water-keepers are employed constantly on the several club waters of the Derwent. The Wye is well watched from below Buxton to its junction with the Derwent at Rowsley, and all the private lengths are carefully protected. The upper Dove and the Manifold are free from coarse fish, except a few eels, and scaly enemies of trout are not abundant in the Derwent above Cromford. A few pike find their way into the Derwent from the Cromford Canal, but they are wired or netted at sight, and every means is taken to prevent their increase in trout waters. In the Wye, below Haddon, I have seen a few perch ; but in this well-stocked river they work but little damage, and are said to return periodically to the pond where they are bred. Chub are scarce in the Derwent above Matlock, and are not often seen in the Wye. Here, as elsewhere, herons and aquatic birds account for the destruction of a certain number of fish and of the ova. Dabchicks are rather too abundant on the upper Bradford.

Pollutions from mills and manufactories work some measure of mischief along parts of the mid and lower Derwent, and drainage and contamination below Buxton have affected a portion of the Wye. The Dove and Manifold are free from pollution in their trout and grayling yielding reaches. A long length of the Churnet has been ruined by mill pollution.

Poaching fish is a rather uncommon offence in Derbyshire rivers. There is but little tampering with trout on the spawning redds, as the rivers are too well guarded. The nefarious fishing is almost entirely confined to the laying down of night-lines, and this is not a very common practice. Some years ago the upper Dove was poached with nets a few miles below its source, and I have heard stories of trout-spearing by night in this quarter. But as compared with Wales, fish-poaching in Derbyshire is almost harmless.

In the last report of the Trent Conservators reference is made to sewage pollution at Bakewell. It is difficult to say whether the crude sewage works real harm among the trout and grayling of the Wye. The water has been carefully analyzed at the mouth of the sewer, and also a hundred yards below the effluent, and the analyst pronounces it free from elements noxious to fish. A brook at Cromford is described as ' very bad,' and an order has been made for a sewage scheme at Matlock.