As I arrived at the River Derwent Friday morning there was still a it of a fret and it was still quite chilly. As I wandered down to the first swim I kept thinking something was missing. It eventually dawned on me that a huge tree had disappeared since my last visit. It was a useful guide as it allowed you to take a short cut though the middle of the field rather than follow the path the long way round.
I had three rods set up. One float ledger for fishing in the current. A trotting set up and a bob float for dropping a dead bait in any small slacks near the bank. Six swims and four hours later I got my first run. I'd seen something lunge at the bait as I dropped it in a little slack by some reeds. A minute later the float shot away an I was into a lively little jack of 64cm which did a sterling job of pull far harder than it's size.
Several more swims and three hours later I got my next run. I'd placed a bait upstream next to some tree roots, so struck hard and walked backwards along the bank to pull i away from them. It fought with dogged determination into the current before I got it near the bank where it made several attempts to tangle it's self in the bank side vegetation. A splendid fish of 16lb 13oz and 104cm. That was to be it for the day, despite fishing into dark.
I think I may dispense with with these early start and late finishes, all the pike I've caught lately seem to have come in the middle of the day. Quite bright days at that. A nice sunny day and a couple of hard fighting river pike made sitting in a slow moving traffic queue on the way home bearable. It was quiet on the wildlife front, though, apart from the crows. A couple of kingfisher shot up and down occasionally and there was the odd LDO hatching.
Down on the river not long after first light I was greeted by one of the few bird calls I recognise, a curlew. It wouldn't be for another nine hours before I saw one though, despite hearing them throughout the day. The usual pike tactics were to be employed - a float fished bait at the bottom of the shelf and same on top of the shelf, usual near an over hanging tree or similar. Four and a half hours and three swims later I got my first run and was in into a lively little jack of 63cm, which had taken piece of lamprey.
Two hours later and another couple of swims I got my next run and failed to contact with any thing. This was to happen three more times before I even got a teeth mark on the bait. Sprats, lamprey, smelt and sardine were all tried, in different sizes and still this kept happening. The runs were either good steady runs or the float bobbing about. Really I should have moved, but I refused to be defeated. I tried trotting baits, sink and draw and wobbled baits, but the pike didn't seem to like moving baits. Nattering to a fellow pike angler, who had worked his down form the opposite end, He had had a similar day, lots of runs but no contacts. Just one very small pike foul hooked. We both stayed until dark, but got no more runs for the last hour and a half. A rather frustrating day, but hopefully the big females will start to appear soon as they prepare for spawning.
Friday's session, although slightly curtailed, was a pleasant day out in the sun. I'd popped down to the local gravel pit, which is slowly filling back up after the summer drought. The first swim was next to a fallen tree. I dropped a sprat in nest to it and a sardine over to the left in the deeper water. After a short time the float shot under the tree and I was into a small, but very spirited little jack. just as I got the hook out it 'swam' through my hand back into the pit and shot off in the surface of the water, like a torpedo back under the tree. Normally this wouldn't have bothered me at all, but it was such a striking and vividly coloured fish I'd of liked a photo of it.
After another hour I moved swims. This swim had a bit more room to it and commanded a great area of the pit. Again a sprat was dropped in to the right, nest to a over hanging tree. The sardine had a length of balsa poked down it's throat and a shot a couple of inches from it's tail to pop it up just off the bottom. Injected with sardine oil it was cast out onto the central bar. Again I didn't have to wait long before a run on the sprat. A jack of 66cm that came in like a wet blanket till I bent down to chin it, at which point it went berserk. Leaping about all over before landing on the bank and calming down. I don't know if it had concussed itself but it was in the landing net recovering for over ten minutes before showed any desire to leave. In the mean time I'd dropped a sprat next to the over hanging tree to the left.
The next run was on the rod out in the middle and was one of those is moving or am I imagining it runs. Steadily it sped up and I was met with something heavy that started to feel like a big lump of weed or something. It seemed to get lighter the closer it got. There was nothing apart from the sardine when I got it to the bank. The only damage was where the hooks had slipped a bit. I do use a few turns of light elastic thread on sardines to stop them coming adrift when they hit the water. This bait was returned back from whence it came. The float under the tree then started bobbing about before setting off further under the tree, I struck into nothing. A little while later it was off again and I was into another jack which put up a bit more of a struggle in the water than the last one. A fish of 68cm. I dropped anther sprat in front of me on the 'pole line', but after half an hour it was time to go.
At one point in the afternoon a buzzard flew over and circled about, it's reflection on the water looking more impressive than trying to stare up through the trees at it.
For no good reason I decided to fish the opposite bank from yesterday. There had been a bit of snow overnight and the chill breeze made it feel as cold as yesterday, but the sun made it feel a nicer day. After a bit of a wander I picked a swim with a bit of space so I could spread the baits about. After a bit of plumbing about I found a shelf to my left onto which a put a smelt. A large piece of lamprey was chucked out into the middle of the river. There was the occasional flurry of snow or sleet throughout the morning which came as the breeze stiffened making it feel a lot colder than it was. A family of swans popped over for a visit/feed, but seemed to sense they weren't going to get fed when they saw the big pike floats.
After a couple of hours I got my first run, on the smelt, which amounted to nothing. Half an hour later I got a similar bob, bob, run again contacted with nothing. Finally just after twelve I contacted with a chubby little jack, of 57cm, which spewed out several tiny roach as I lifted out of the water. Half an hour later, just as I had prepared my pot noodle, a second fish was banked, slightly bigger at 67cm and just as chubby. Hoping that there was a shoal of jacks forming prior to spawning I stayed in the same swim, but sadly nothing more happened.
It was nice not to have another blank and to celebrate I popped to the pub down the road for a warming meal and pint.
