Last Day Of The River Fishing Season 2022

Quite why I still participate in this  ritual of fishing the last day of the season I don't really know. It never amounts to much fishing wise, but like any other fishing day there's always a chance of something special. I had been sort of undecided what to do and where to go.  A couple of good reports from the Derwent suggested there was still some chub to be had despite it still been a good 18" up. I was surprised when I got there to find myself alone. I assumed everybody had had their fill over the weekend. It was a cold but sunny start to the day making it quite pleasant to be out. A silly gusty swirling wind was the only thing spoiling it. The wind made float fishing very hard work. I'd brought a float rod a feeder rod with me, along with bread for flake, cheese paste, and liquidised bread. I should have had some worms with m as well, but had managed to lave them at home.

I started with the feeder, alternating between flake and cheese paste. This produced just the one bite, a real three foot twitch which resulted in nothing. When the wind dropped I had a run through with the float. The next couple of swims failed to produce anything despite spending a couple of hours in each. The fourth swim, somewhat slower than the previous three produce a few rattles on flake before  a good steady pull of the tip to cheese paste. Fifteen minutes later same  thing, but still no contact. I tried trotting a pea size piece of cheese paste, but to no avail. Back on the feeder with a marble size bit of paste the tip went over again. A slow steady pull like debris hitting the line. This time though I contacted with some which felt a bit odd like a small foul hooked chub. When it surfaced it turned out to be a reasonable size bream around the 5-6lb mark. This was the first one I'd caught from the Derwent in over ten years. Half an hour later I had another, but managed to bump it off near the net. Despite plenty of feed going in that was it.

Talking to another angler there were plenty fishing down stream but not a lot coming out. As I left there was one other angler fishing a swim I'd blanked in earlier and another after a last river pike. Not the greatest day. Not that I expected much. A rare Derwent bream as  a blank saver is a bad way to end the season.