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 Roach. I also saw a Kingfisher and Water Vole at a lovely spot on the river.

On 7 September, feeling a bit adventurous, I tried legering 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 that more practice is needed in legering for bigger fish on the canal and lure fishing.

I had a few hours on 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-sized Bream and a Roach caught on my last cast.

After finishing work early, I went to Allestree 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 tempt 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 love 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. 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 bread. I cast a float under an overhanging tree and hooked into a perch on the first cast. I was hoping for some Roach or Bream, but it was Perch on the hook for the whole session. At least I didn't blank.

I was on the River Derwent again on 22 September and after a slow start, lots of minnows and reshotting my float, I found some Roach. Another enjoyable session on the river, and although only my second attempt, I'm starting to get the hang of it. 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. 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 Perch, some nice Skimmers and a few Roach. I fished an '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.