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CAST

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CATCH

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RELEASE

〰️ CAST 〰️ CATCH 〰️ RELEASE

The trout season is back!

We were invited to the PFFC annual trout season opening event in Rowsley, on the banks of both the Derbyshire Wye and River Derwent. The day marks the start of the seasons fishing on these two rivers and offers an opportunity for members to meet up and get excited for the season ahead. As well as the expected hand out of the club booklets and tea and coffee, the event hosts a number of PFFC members who are well respected fly tiers, rod builders, conservation experts, and sellers of beautiful angling equipment. We spent the morning stocking up on flies, catching up with fellow anglers and sampling the many baked goods that were on offer.

We’ve been members of The Peacock Fly Fishing Club for 3 years now, and we’re still learning every time we head out on the banks. These club events are great for us to catch up with old friends, make new ones and discuss locations and tactics with anglers who know these rivers far better than we do. We collected our 2025 booklets and PFFC members merch, including key ring (in place of membership card), PFFC pin badge and a very fancy branded YETI bottle.

The PFFC is a superbly well managed club, with the welfare of the wild fish put first, it was really interesting to see the water quality testing the club have been doing to ensure the health of the rivers is optimal. Seeing kick samples of two of the four rivers available on the ticket really shows that the work they have been doing is paying off with the samples looking very healthy.

At 11.30am local fly fishing expert Peter Arfield made the first cast of the new season using a bamboo rod, silk line and a traditional double badger fly. No fish rose unfortunately, but with that the 2025 trout season started. Chris Flay distributed a fine Scotch Whisky and members darted off to various parts of the rivers in search of their first trout of the season.

We had a small pocket of time after the event to throw a few casts and we headed down to the Derwent. Conditions were tricky due to a lot of overnight rain which caused the level to rise a foot and have the clarity of gravy. No rising fish found so David headed over to the less rain affected River Wye and managed to rise some fish but unfortunately couldn’t set the hook.

A slow start to our trout season in tricky conditions but it was great to get out and throw some dry flies after a long winter of nymphing. Thanks again to Jan and the PFFC for having us, it’s a real pleasure to be part of this club and we’re excited for some sunny weather and days out on the river.