16/07/10 - River Derwent

Fact finding trip to the Trent at Newark found it low, clear and "peggy". The fish were there if you knew where to find them - one peg had recently produced catches of 30, 20 and 19 fish. Not suprisingly it was very popular! I am not into hammering fish, so decided on another trip to the Derwent instead. Arrived early evening to find the carpark nicely strimmed and not another soul in it, so had a leisurely wander upstream again. Found a nice near bank crease running down to a shallower, weedy area and promptly put two baits down it. Had a bit of bother with floating rafts of weed, but managed to avoid getting wiped out by slightly re-positioning the rods. Crease was alive with bits and as it got dark there was quite a bit of predator action with bow-waving on the surface and small fish scattering everywhere. That fact got filed away for future reference. Apart from a few chubby rattles, that was the extent of the excitement and I was just about to pack up at around midnight when the right hand rod shot off. Had a bit of a moment when, after losing track of the fish in the dark, I found that it had kited around and was buried in the nearside bank. Thankfully the hook held and another pristine Derwent 6lber was in the net. Fished on for a little bit after that, but my new-found adrenaline-fuelled enthusiasm soon wore off......