It Comes Into Its Own In Autumn

"It comes into its own in autumn." I was told in the tackle shop, as I confirmed I was going to the Derwent again. It's a phrase I've heard many times over the years and to be honest I've rarely found it to be true. The river seems to manage to be a pain in the arse no matter what time of year I fish it and today proved the point. Even the cattle that came down for a look weren't impressed.

 








As I wandered upstream towards a swim with some nice overhanging trees. A couple of swans fallowed me, the first I've seen this year. The swifts/swallows/martins (I can never remember how to tell the apart) were taking a last drink before heading south. There seemed to be a bit more water passing through, judging by the speed of he debris floating past.

Setting up a 4g bolo for the 11' deep swim, along with a feeder set up seemed to be the best option. Feeding hemp and caster along with a few grains of corn via a dropper along the tree line I was straight into minnows, minnows and more minnows. On two occasions I managed to hook two on the same hook! Sweet corn on the hook had the float bobbing about all over the place as the minnows played volleyball with it. The feeder rod fared no better with the tip bouncing about non-stop. After 30 minutes of this i decided on a move.

The new swim was slightly deeper. Fed in the same manner as previous it produced a couple of bleak before the minnows moved in.   Though not as bad as previous with the bleak getting a look in occasionally, it was still annoying. A solid bite while fishing the feeder resulted in a length of ironmongery. How does an inanimate object tug the tip round? A little roach turned up in among the minnows and bleak so I stuck it out a bit longer, but no more showed. Time for a third swim.

 This was the same swim I'd fished the previous week and had so much pike trouble in. Today, though, it appeared to be pike free as I took a steady flow of dace, roach, gudgeon and the occasional minnow, but no perch. This changed with a bit of feeder fished corn which resulted in a perch of around 8oz and nothing more. I continued on with maggot or caster on the float as I was taking a fish every other trot. I kept trying corn on the hook and eventually got a bite which after a bit of a struggle tuned out to be a rather lean, battle scared jack. The first sighting of a pike all session. With only 30 mins of light remaining I stuck with the corn and was rewarded with a nice perch of 2lb 1oz. With no more bites showing and not having a torch with me I called it a day.

 

Not the spectacular sport 'It comes into its own in autumn' would have you believe, but there is something rather pleasant about taking a steady flow of fish on the float, even if they are rather small.