Page 34 - RIFFLE4-flip

P a g e | 33 Next trip, I decided to fish the same sort of swim and nothing can be done, other than hope that but a different one to where I had the 11lb 2oz. nature will eventually balance everything out. The usual pellets and boilies were again loose It was a good season for me as far as barbel are fed into the swim, and the swim allowed to concerned and, on my first perch session the settle before casting in. The rig had not been in other day I had eleven fish, with seven going place five minutes when the rod went over, over 2lb’s up to 2lb 7oz. With an average like resulting in a long fish that weighed 8lb 9oz. The that, surely there are 3lb(+) perch there, waiting Barbel in the Derwent are often quite long for to be caught? their weight; I put this down to them feeding on naturals a lot and not getting too fat from feeding on pellets. After returning the fish, I fed some more loose feed before casting in again. It was around four hours later when I had the next bite, which was from a nicely proportioned 10lb 6oz, which was left in the net to rest before photographing. Unfortunately, that was to be my last session for a while as other things got in the way of the more important things in life, such as fishing! By the time I was able to go again the river was flooded, being six to eight feet above normal summer level. I have no idea why, but I have always struggled on the Derwent when it is flooded. I manage on other rivers, even when on the river Wye whilst it is flooded in winter I have caught, although it was struggle. On the Derwent, I have a feeling that it may be down to some of the stuff that gets pumped in when it is flooded. By the next session a lot of the excess weed growth had been removed by the floods. I continued to fish the deeper water swims and, on the first session back, I landed my PB for the Derwent at 13lb 9oz. Although I did, on occasion, fish weedy swims during the day and catch barbel including a number of double figure fish (but also some smaller fish that are always welcome); I mostly kept to the deeper types of swim that had produced for me in the season. On a less than happy note, both myself and a friend have seen otters on the bank, a situation that does not bode well for the fish. But they are here now