Monday 19 November 2012

River Derwent perch fishing - the grindstone

After my last perch success on ther Trent I mentioned that I fancied a change and so started to fish the Derbyshire Derwent. The river has treated me quite well in the past but it seemed that it was payback time.

Week commencing the 29th of October I managed to fit in four sessions, on each occasion the time actually fishing was two or three hours at the most. As darkness proper now falls before rush hour my travelling time was extended to an hour or so in total, much of which was spent crawling along in traffic, the round trip being in the region of thirty or so miles I guess.The sum total for all of that agravation and effort was one perch of about 8oz's, you don't have to be mad to be an angler but it certainly helps.

The next week saw me back again on the Monday and I went straight into what has been a reliable peg for me in the past, three hours of intense concentration later and I had upset that track record, another blank.

I returned once again on Wednesday the 7th and walked further downstream. I knew the swim had pedigree but had never personally fished it, it certainly looked the part and it blatantly obvious as to how it should be approached. With a tree to either side of me and a good nine feet of water off the rod top I was soon lowering the bait dropper straight down into the margin to bait a float spot., A feeder was fished to the downstream tree and the two rod rests were positioned so as to allow me to watch float and tip at the same time. The weather man had predicted a bright clear day but just for a change, cough cough, was wrong, and for once error was in my favour as the light levels were really low long before dusk, I really did fancy my chances.

I was in a world of my own, day dreaming about something or other, when I thought I saw the float move, and then I definately saw it move. The chubber was slowly moving out into the river and then it bobbed twice before sinking into the depths, a very perchy looking bite. A strike was met with solid resistance for for a seconds or two I was very pleased with myself, then whatever was on the other end powered off towards mid river and my heart sank, if this was a perch it was in double figures. No it was another worm snaffling pike, good sport on the float rod but not really conducive to building a perch swim. Eventually I managed to get it into the net, not a bad fish at approaching ten pounds I would think, and relocated it a few swims along the bank. Full darkness was just about upon me, I could just make out the shape of the float sitting in the reflection of a fluffy cloud when it disppeared and I struck into a perch, no grand finale to this story though I'm afraid as once again it was a little fella.

The traffic was particularly bad on the way home and I sat there thinking that I really was ready for a break from all of this. In fact I had been thinking similiar thoughts for a couple of weeks or so and mentioned it in a previous blog entry but as I am prone to do I pushed myself on for a while longer in the hope of a result, sometimes I don't know when to stop.

Back at home I sorted out something to eat and did a bit of tidying up, rammed bits of tackle into any available space as usual and was about ready to put my feet up at half past eight when I remembered that I was out of coffee and decided to nip out and get a jar. There are three supermarkets within less than a mile of my house and for some reason I decided to go to the one furthest away which involves driving past the other two. I passed Tesco and was a second or two from the entrance to Asda when a car pulled out straight in front of me and inevitably my van ploughed straight into it. Why didn't I go to Tesco?

The recovery vehicle finally got me and the van home, all of a few hundred yards away, at eleven pm. The van was looking considerably worse for wear, more than likely a write off, it seemed that like it or lump it I would be getting that break.

6 comments:

  1. Ooer, not a great day then. I hope you get back on the road - and river - quickly.

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  2. Cheers Dave
    Am mobile in a hire van but it's a proper pain, I nearky said in the neck but that's another story! Just looking at vans now, could go on forever...

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  3. A very interesting read though I'm sorry to hear about your van! It's funny how pike can get in the way off catching your intended quarry - I've had them take all sorts including pellets, luncheon meat and boilies. I've added you to my 'I enjoy reading these...' blogs list over on blogsfromthebank...
    Richard

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  4. Cheers Richard, I started to read your blog the other day and very interesting it is too, meant to add it to my blog list but as often the way at the minute something else happened to distract me, have added it now and look forward to reading more

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  5. Hi Rob. Great post mate, I love Perch fishing it's by far my favourite fish.. I've been hoping to get down to the Derwent to try my hand at hooking a big one.

    To be honest, I've only recently started fishing again after 15years out of it. I would love to chat to you about your experience on the derwent.

    Cheers

    Andy Morley - www.ilkestonfishing.co.uk

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    1. Cheers Andy, feel free to drop me an email mate

      rob.thomo66@gmail.com

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