Answers on a postcard please because I haven't got a clue. Okay, not strictly true as work, weather, illness and the usual pre-Christmas madness have all played their part in me failing to wet a line this month. Couldn't even drag myself to the coast while we were down in Pembrokeshire for the festive period for some whiting bashing.
Back in Nottingham I therefore decided to force myself out of the piscatorial rut I was in and went and got a pint of maggots off laughing boy at Stapleford Angling. At about mid-day and after a quick look at the river levels I headed off to the River Derwent. Whilst about a foot higher than I'd like, the river had been fining down over the last few days and I was sure that it would be clear and that I'd be able to find some fishable water. Parked up in the empty club carpark and crossed over the footbridge as two lure anglers appeared. Said hello and as they turned right I went the opposite direction down to the sand bar. With the extra water on it was a bit "boily" at the top end, but the flow had smoothed out nicely within 25 yards, so that's where I started running the Avon downstream.
Second cast the float disappeared, the culprit being the smallest grayling in the river! Still, it was my first of the winter season and had saved a blank, so slipped him carefully back with instructions to give his grand-parents a nudge. However, after half an hour's trotting I had only managed to add two more of a similar size. Nice to see in terms of recruitement but they weren't what I was after, so I headed upstream to the back of the island. The main flow was tonking along the far bank and whilst it was a lot quieter on the inside, the river had done some re-modelling since my last visit and it was really shallow.
Tried running the float throught the slightly deeper, narrow channels but I just wasn't confident that the fish were there and after a biteless half an hour I was on the move again. Headed to a "high water" spot upstream of the pipe bridge to find a tree had come down blocking access to the swim. However, scrabbling down the bank a little further upstream I dropped into a perfect looking spot with a nice even flow down the inside. Was a bit tight and involved trotting the float under another tree suspended over the river, making me wish I'd got my 11 ft Ultralite, but with about three foot of water off the rod tip over gravel it seemed ideal. Had a fish within a couple of casts - another tiny grayling. This was followed by a dace and another four little grayling before I finally struck into something worthwhile.
Unfortunately I didn't get to see it as it was off almost immediately, the maggot deciding to foldover onto the hook point at a very inopportune moment. However, the very next cast the float disappeared again and I was rewarded with a satisfying "donk" on the rod tip and a proper bend in the Acolyte. After a short fight my first decent grayling of the winter was in the net. This was repeated on the next cast with an even better fish that made several dashes across the surface for the trailing branches to my left, its dorsal waving in the air like a pennant, while I tried to keep my rod tip out of the trees overhead. The last two fish happened to con-incide with a drop in the light levels, so I thought that was perhaps the trigger for them to get on the feed. However, after one more tiddler the swim apparently died. Walked back to the car in the gathering gloom, bumping into the two lure anglers again and who'd had just the one small jack between them.
Hopefully that was enough to get my mojo back, but I say to myself every year that it's about grasping those opportunities. Until the next time, Happy New Year!
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