River Dove

Yesterday evening I tried a stretch of the river I'd not fished previously. Some of the swims looked a complete picture and I found a barbelly looking peg with a line of reeds along the far bank.

It was a beautiful evening and although I didn't commence until 2000 a real wind down after a day at work. Another angler soon passed me and we exchanged pleasantries but did point out that barbel were 'few and far between' on this stretch.

Well there were no barbs for me so he was right but I have had some good luck just recently and thought I was staring at a blank. At 2215 the rod went round and I caught quite a nice chub, guess about 5lb ish. I didn't weigh him as I was keen for one more cast before calling it a day. The picture of him is not brilliant I've had a bit of a lapse in photo quality and must try harder. This looks to me like it could be a very productive stretch but would need the hours putiing in to work it out. A busy summer ahead for me so don't know whether I'll have the time to do it justice.

Thorpe Cloud

There have been showers on and off all day in Derby but I had a feeling about catching some good weather this evening so bundled the kids and the dog in the car after work and headed up to Dovedale. They thought I was crackers as we sat in traffic (25 minutes for the 4 miles across Derby, grrrrr) in a really heavy downpour but once we got past Ashbourne it cleared up. A quick stroll up Pointon's Glen to the stepping stones and then I managed to persuade the kids to traverse Thorpe Cloud. I'd forgotten my camera so we used Meg's phone for this shot on the top where it was quite bracing.
We rounded off the trip with a bag of chips and a can of pop in Ashbourne market place, it was a great evening to be out.

A Fine Brace

Yesterday I managed a short session at Scropton as the day drew to a close. I found a nice swim where I expected the barbel to be feeding in mid water and put in several pouchfulls of hemp and pellets before tackling up. Then I set a new little record for myself of time to bank the first fish, my first cast was about 2000 and at 2015 I had returned a 7lb 7oz barbel.

The fish were obviously on the feed as I've never had so many pulls and twitches on the rod tip throughout my session. About an hour or so later another firm pull resulted in the fish above which I did not weight but would guess about 6lb-ish perhaps a bit less.
The bigger barb was in great condition as can be seen below, unfortunately it is not my best barbel pic, I was thinking too much about getting him back in safely which is the first priority with these fine wild river fish. At 2215 the light was going fast and as I could only just make out the rod tip called it a day.

The Pennine Way

I've decided to blog my trip up the Pennine Way. If you enjoy the outdoors you might like this.

A new river rod

I've always fancied a hand built fly rod for the river, something not from the far east and made by a bloke that you can go and talk to. Upon hearing that Steve Parton was downsizing the retail side of his business I decided to take the plunge.
The rod is an 8'6" AFTM #3/4 two piece built on a Harrison blank. Steve has given it a couple of little personal touches, firstly the name which was a complete surprise and also a little hardwood button on the butt to avoid scratching my reel when the Kelly is on the go. I've yet to have a dabble but am sure it will be a corker. So there you go, a hand build British rod for less than the price of most middle of the road Chinese mass produced stuff.

My First Double

Last night I headed off to the River Dove in search of a barbel and was amazed to find I had the popular stretch at Scropton to myself. So straight to my favourite swim and just to confirm what I knew already the river was the lowest I've ever seen on this stretch. My rod was in for about 1900 and I sat back to enjoy the evening. Another first for me last night was a Kingfisher perched on my rod, probably all of 3 seconds but I felt very privilleged. After about 30 minutes a few taps started on the rod end and then it went round, this was a chub though still that was the blank saved early doors!
It then went very quiet for a while and not until after 2200 did things start to develop. The rod whacked round and I knew this was no chub. After holding the fish for a while I began to move it upstream but it was strong and made a good run for a known snag on the nearside bank. I felt the line scrape against a branch and to get more leverage it was into the river with my net and start to bully it away. Luckily everything held and once in the open the fish had the drag spinning as it made for midstream. Pressure eventually told and it turned back towards the bank but was then into some weeds. Here strong tackle really counts and I was able to get it's head up and into the net. I rested it here for a couple of minutes and then up onto the bank for a quick photo and weighing. At 10lb dead this was my first double and I was over the moon with it. The fish was in fantastic condition and I made sure it recovered properly in a shallower area one peg down, it was great to see it swim away strongly.
That was it for me as it was now getting pretty dark so I packed up and slowly made my way back to the car very pleased with my angling.

River Trent

On Sunday evening I tried a peg that had set me thinking since a work party a few weeks back, it was the closest one to the bridge that was cleared. The result was a repeat of my last trip, no barbel and one chub. Also similar to my last outing was using braid as hooklength the other coincidence is I'm losing a lot of tackle and snagging up regularly. May have to consider a return to Maxima. Any other tips from anglers on this subject are welcomed.