28/02/2025 - Hard going all round

Friday last week promised to be a dry sunny day with light winds, so I booked the morning off for a quick grayling session on the Derwent. Didn't reckon with the hard, overnight frost that had me scraping the car windows. 

I just hoped that it hadn't knocked the fishing on the head. Whilst it was fairly bright when I eventually left the house, as I descended into the river valley it became increasingly foggy and the temperature dropped a couple of degrees to below freezing. Got togged up in the empty car park and made my way across the footbridge, which looked like  a portal into another world! The river, however, looked spot on with just a hint of colour. Made my way upstream in the gloom, interested in seeing what re-modelling had occurred following the winter floods. However, apart from a couple of fallen trees it looked pretty much the same as twelve months ago. Dropped into the swim at the top of the section and sent the float down the run. 

After a few minutes I had my first bite but, after a couple of heavy thumps on the rod tip, what felt like a decent fish came off. After that bites proved hard to come by and after an hour in the swim I'd only had three grayling, including a baby not much longer than my forefinger. Moving downstream, the next two spots were complete blanks and so I found myself in a usually reliable swim downstream of the island with little to show for my efforts. The sun had burned off the fog by now and it had turned bright and sunny. Would this bring a change? First trot down the float buried and I had the first decent fish of the morning that gave a good account of itself in the fast flow. Thought my fortune had changed and that I'd dropped on them at last, but had another fruitless half an hour before moving on again. 

Headed to "the beach" downstream of the footbridge and found that the sand bar deposited last winter had disappeared and the swim was now slow, deep and boily, so carried on a little further to a nice walking paced glide. Again, had a fish fairly quickly but then it was back to scratching for bites and after one final fish I'd had enough. Unperturbed I decided to venture back on Monday afternoon with the remains of the maggots. Finishing off work as quickly as possible I was out the door for 3 PM. It was again bright and sunny when I arrived on the bank half an hour later but, in contrast to my last visit, the temperature was well into double figures and warm enough for me to dispense with my jacket.

With time limited I focussed on the swims I'd caught in last time but after an hour and a half I'd only had one small grayling that I'd somehow lasooed around the tail, so it didn't really count. Dropped into the last swim as the light was fading and managed just one more - at least it was hooked in the mouth. Left slightly perplexed and wondering where the hell all the fish had gone! With the pleasant weather continuing into the week I'd also booked Wednesday morning off but, not wanting to flog what was obviously a dead horse, I decided to follow up a lead instead.

Scott in Soar Tackle had mentioned seeing a big pike during a match on a local section of the River Soar so, after scraping 'round for a few deadbaits, I bought a day ticket online and headed off bright and early. The section in question was opposite some boat moorings, so started off putting a bluey into a gap between two barges and a lamprey down the nearside margin. After half an hour without a sniff I leap-frogged upstream and again put one rod over to the boats and the other down the side. 

After another 30 minutes I was contemplating moving again when the float over the far side started bobbing. Seemed to take an age for the fish to commit and eventually trundle off, but when I wound down I must have pulled the bait straight out of its gob judging by the slash marks on the flanks. Doh! Put it back out for a bit longer hoping for another chance that never came, so moved swims once more. As I was doing so a chap stopped and asked how I was getting on and mentioned that a 17 lber had been caught recently just upstream, so at least confirming I was in the right area. Put both baits out over the far side next to a floating pontoon and was again on the verge of moving again when I saw one of the floats bob and then move off. 

Gave this a bit more time and waited until it had built up a head of steam before hitting it but, even then, the resulting jack was only hooked in the nose by a single point of the bottom treble, which promptly fell out in the net. Tried a couple more spots after that, but had no further interest so headed home for lunch. Again, a bit disappointing despite the glorious weather and regularly being buzzed by at least three different kingfishers, probably more interested in each other than in me. At a bit of a loss what to do next!