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......

23/06/10 - River Derwent

Another trip to a new section for me, this time on the Derwent near Draycott. Spent an hour having a wander and getting my legs pricked and stung peering over the high banks. Saw plenty of chub amongst the streamer weed, but again barbel were the target. Settled for a swim at the bottom end of a steady section that shallowed up into faster water.

Nice!

The bailiff came along just after I'd got sorted and my choice of swim was vindicated when he said that a group of barbel usually hung around in the shallows, then moved into the deeper water to feed when it got dark. So it proved, with just a few chubby rattles before sunset. Bailiff had just returned from his rounds at around 1030 pm when the left hand rod shot round resulting in a pristine 8lb 10oz barbel.

First barbel of the season

This one was shortly followed by two more barbel of 8lb 1oz and 7lb 6oz before it all went quiet again, presumably when the rest of the group moved on. All the fish came to Sonubaits 16mm Hali-hookers and were nailed fair and square in the bottom lip or scissors by the size 8 Korda widegape, proving that I'd just been unlucky at Swarkestone. Packed up a happy man at about 1230 am.