Blanks and Bream
On the first day of September I was back on the River Derwent, this time at Darley Abbey to put into practice some of the lessons I learned at Borrowash a few weeks ago. I had a good session catching plenty of Minnows and some Roach, plus I saw a Kingfisher and Water Vole at a lovely spot on the river.
Feeling a bit adventures on 7 September I tried ledgering boilies on the canal at Willington in an attempt to catch something a bit bigger. Unfortunately nothing big came along and only the smaller fish took a liking to the boilies but they were too small for the hook! I also had my spinning rod with me and tried a bit of lure fishing, but that wasn't very productive either and I came to the conclusion more practice is needed ledgering for bigger fish on the canal and lure fishing!
I had a few hours on the 8 September so I went back to the canal, this time at Swarkestone, below the lock as I hadn't been there this year and never really had much luck on this stretch. I had plenty of Silvers and Perch including this good size Bream and a Roach caught on my last cast.
After finishing work early I went to Allestree Pake Lake on 13 September under 28 degree heat! I tried a few pegs float fishing in very humid conditions and although I saw fish, I wasn't able to temp them onto my hook! Another blank session but it gave me some time to think about other methods to try at Allestree Lake as it's a nice place and one of those old estate lakes that any retro angler would like to fish.
Once again temperatures were in the high 20s on 15 September and with a few hours to spare I went to Mill Dam as I'd not been for a while. Unfortunately there was a lot of blanket weed or Mermaid Hair as I've also heard it called, which made fishing extremely difficult. Not wanting to give up I decided to go over the road to Markeaton Park Lake with my half pint of maggots and some bread and see what I could catch. I cast a float under an overhanging tree and hooked into a perch first cast. I was hoping for some roach or bream but it was perch on the hook for the whole session but at least I didn't blank.
I was back on the river again on 22 September and after a VERY slow start, lots of minnows and reshotting my float I managed to find some roach. Another enjoyable session on the river and although only my second real attempt, I'm starting to get the hang of it and at least the fish I'm catching are getting a little bigger!
A nice River Derwent roach of about 6oz.
After work on 28 September I was back on the Trent & Mersey, below Swakestone Lock with some leftover bait from my river session. I recently bought two 10' rods; a Redmayne & Todd (Nottingham) cane rod with a split cane tip and an extra fibreglass tip. Both tips have attachments for a swing tip which I think were added later as I've read the rods were originally for float fishing for roach. The other rod is an E R Craddock & Co Ltd Goldie which has an aluminium butt section and two fibreglass sections. I fished the Redmayne & Todd with my Ambidex 2 reel on the waggler and the Goldie with my Marco Cortesi centre pin reel with a light stick float, which worked quite well in the flow from the lock. It was a steady session and I landed plenty of the usual perch, some nice skimmers and a few roach. I fished the 'Indian Summers' evening with temperatures of 20 degrees until dusk. A great short session with some practice on the centre pin reel trotting for silvers, perfect.
