Quality over quantity!

An early morning trip to the Derwent was planned for Saturday as i wanted to have a look at some of the swims i found last week. The weather from Thursday onwards had been exraordinarily mild with daytime temperatures hitting 17 degrees so i was hoping for a good session. It was looking like it was going to be really bright again today as the sky was clear and the sun was already peering over the horizon despite the early hour.

   

I made my way to my first spot and got setup, a couple of balls of mashed bread were deposited in the swim and i sat back to await events. After a few minutes the rod was nearly ripped from the rest as a fish hooked itself and bolted downstream. It felt heavy in the flow and kept deep but i managed to net it quickly enough and it looked a decent fish. It was certainly a five plusser and i was chuffed to see the scales pull around to a new best of 5lb5oz!



I moved on to another couple of swims after that and tempted a couple more bites both of which i managed to bump off. Once the sun came up proper i couldnt tempt any more action so i headed for home.

As i drove back i decided to stop off and check the form on the Trent. It looked pretty good but as is to be expected on a nice sunny day there was a few cars already in the carpark and i could see a couple of people with rods and nets wandering about in the fields along the river. Most of the obvious swims wouldve already been covered but i still got the rod out of the car anyway and made my way to the waterside. Within half an hour i managed to winkle out a small Chub of about 3lb but it was the only bite i had. A couple more people turned up to fish so, with my dislike of crowds, i decided to head home and do some car shopping instead.

New car sorted, I was back down on the Derwent first thing Sunday morning and once again it promised to be a bright and very sunny day. I had the Pike gear with me today as id spotted a couple of swims which looked very promising indeed. It was exactly 7am when i sat back after making my first cast and watching the mist rising off the river towards the pink sky was all very atmospheric! Id had a good feeling about this trip as i drove down and the feeling still hadnt gone, i almost knew something was going to happen.

After a while the float bobbed a couple of times and i hovered over the rod in readiness. It bobbed again and then slid away, i struck into what i imediately thought was a small Jack. I bullied it in under the rod tip until i caught a glimpse of the fish at which point i went all aquiver! A very large Chub had picked up my Sardine and it was only lightly hooked on one point of the barbless treble! I netted it quickly and as i lifted it out of the water i knew it was a Personal best by a country mile!

It wasnt a long fish but its girth was enormous, as wide as it was deep! i knew it was six-plus but i was still somewhat shocked when the needle on the scales flew past the 6lb mark and settled on 6lb10oz. The pic below really doesnt do the fish justice, the video shows it off a bit better, it was a proper lump!



After returning it i was a bit shell-shocked so i rebaited and chucked it down the edge whilst i sat back, sorted my kit out and took stock. An hour later the float began to bob about once again, it moved along the surface before going under and staying there. My strike met very solid resistance this time and the rod properly hooped over. I had to lock up to keep it from going under some trees to my right and as it came back across in front of me i got a good look at it, a proper Croc of a Pike!

It used its power well but there was only going to be one winner in this battle and soon enough it was angrily flaring its gills in my landing net. It felt heavy as i lifted it out of the water and i allowed thoughts of a 20lber into my head but it wasnt to be as the scales read 19lb8oz, still, a very nice Pike indeed!





The bright sun didnt do me any favours with the pics but it made for a lovely spring-like morning. I fished on for another hour or so and had a couple of half-hearted knocks but i was already chuffed to bits with what id already caught so i packed up around 10ish.