16/12 Trent

Wasnt confident that I was going to catch, unfortunately correct with another blank. 3 hours with 2 deadbaits out, may have had a knock but not sure. 2nd swim has potential though, just a bit of a walk.

08/12 Trent

A bit milder, but a bit wetter and windier than it has been. No sign of any fish again. Blank.

03/12 Trent

Started off fishing a light quivertip, swimfeedering maggots with worm as bait. It was a slow start with no bites but I kept casting regularly to try and build the swim up annd induce some action. A bit on the windy side but not too cold, the football on the radio adding to the entertainment.

Then some idiot in a boat drives right over to my bank and wipes me out - 1 lost swimfeeder and 1 angry fisherman. Quivertip rod put away, sat behind alarms, wind got colder and stronger the later it got, no bites. Blank.

29/11 Trent

Possibly my only chance to get out this week...so I get stuck at work for an extra hour then lost on the way to the river due to a diversion. Arrived at 7 so not a complete disaster. A few good taps and one phantom bite that didnt hook up. Ended up very similar to the other night, one bream and one chub - maybe the bream was a bit bigger and the chub a bit smaller though.

25/11 Trent

First stretch seemed a bit too shallow for my liking...gave it an hour before getting in the car and heading somewhere deeper. Lost one fish but quiet until just after 9 and a chub. Recast, sat down, another fish on, this time a bream. Gave it an hour or so longer but to no avail.

22/11 Trent

A swim Ive been meaning to try for a while but its a long walk...might need to give it another go. 2 chub and a couple of other knocks. Above the noise of the 12 swans in the swim, sure there were some decent fish rolling.

20/11 Trent

Thought I'd have a try for perch in my barbel swim, theres a bit of depth close in. 1 bite just as i was messing about setting up a barbel rod and 1 lost fish.


Stayed on in the hope of a barbel, a couple rolled but no takers.

18/11 Trent

Arrived a bit late, maybe actually on time as didnt have to wait too long for my 1st fish, 10lb 0oz barbel at 18:05. Quite a few knocks but nothing possitive for a while after that, until a small chub made an appearance. Stayed on a bit longer and rewarded with a good one, 13lb 3lb @21:30.

This one did have a winter shape about it, not noticed it much so far this season. Fed some boilies at the end ready for next time ;)

15/11 Trent

1st swim too snaggy, 2nd swim too swirly...ended back in what has been my most productive Trent swim this season (except last time there when I blanked). Blank avoided with a 3lb chub. Barbel about 7 or 8lb at 17:55.

My 2nd proper bream from this swim, this one weighed 8lb exactly. All 3 fish on the dowstream pellet rod.

Finished with another barbel maybe a little bit smaller, on the other rod, boilie. At 20:10. An improvement on blanking. Noted a couple of interesting looking swims for another time.

13/11 Derwent

Actually started on the Trent but was proving difficult to fish where and how I wanted with the weed coming down. Lost a feeder and moved to the Derwent. A slight improvment as I did actually catch a few perch and a couple of bream.

11/11 Trent

Another quiet night. Didnt notice any fish rolling, or any knocks. End result, no fish caught.

09/11 Trent

River level back to normal and virtually weed free! Same swim as the other day. 2 small knocks and 3 fish rolled. No fish caught.

05/11 Trent

Last session of a busy week...fishing wise anyway. Not been staying out late though so thought I would tonight. Trent higher than Ive seen it all season and rising steadily, ideal. Lots of crap coming down though. 1st fish about 7lb at 16:15.


2nd fish and best of the session (just) 10lb 5oz at 17:35.

3rd and last fish at the comedy weight of 9lb 15oz again at 19:55 (a different fish to the other night as miles away).

Intended to pack up at 10 but a couple of fish rolled and had 2 very good knocks so stayed on an extra 1/2 hour but nothing else materialised.

04/11 Derwent

A bit more water in the river, some colour and a bit of debris coming down (but not much). However, the perch were notable by their absence, in both swims I tried. Apart from one little one. One small pike in each swim.

03/11 Trent

Main flow under my feet and weed coming down didnt make it easy...nice to catch on a new swim/ stretch though, 9lb 15oz (17:55). Would have prefered it to weigh a little bit more. And a chub about 4 1/2lbs. Left early at 7 to get back for the footy.

02/11 Derwent

2 casts on the Trent saw me bring in a load of weed and pack up and to head to the Derwent. Only took an hour to catch a suitable livebait although I did again break my furthest downstream Derwent grayling record. After that things went a bit better with some nice perch, biggest 3lb 1oz. Plus one that missed the photo as well at the end about 2 1/2.

Moved 2 swims down for the barbel and a promising start, 7 or 8lber 1st cast at 17:10. Didnt get any more after that though, just a chub and bream.

31/10 Derwent

Quite well weighed down as I had both perch and barbel gear with me, so obviously decided to fish somewhere involving a long walk...
1st take an energetic pike which took me all over the place. Ended up packing up and moving swims due to the disturbance.


2nd swim a couple of nice perch on livebait, the best a plumper of 2lb 12oz and one a bit smaller on maggot. One pike which unfortunately caused a landing net handle malfunction lifting it from the water. Went home without barbel fishing.

29/10 Trent

A blank saving bream. For whatever reason, no real confidence that I was going to catch and left early.

26/10 Derwent

About 5 perch on the paternoster, but nothing over about 1 1/2lbs. Some kids fishing a bit further down did get a good one though...My furthest downstream Derwent grayling, a pleasant surprise.

Stayed on into dark in the hope of a barbel. 2 chub, the biggest a long fish but a bit skinny, just under 5lbs.

24/10 Trent

Another Trent swim that I was 'weeded out' of last time. Not so weedy tonight but not clear either. Started with a little one after literally 5 mins at 17:30 but that was that for the evening. A couple of fishy taps inbetween the weed, I think.

21/10 Derwent

Local stretch again, quite handy for me at the mo. Pretty quiet fish wise, just the one at 19:40, 12lb 2oz. Back to being very low again, at least it was a bit warmer this evening.

19/10 Trent

Another failed attempt at perching...one small one and a dace. More successful on the barbel front, one bite, one fish 11lb 10oz at 20:25. Decided to call it a night then, air temp was showing 2.5 degrees.

14/10 Derwent

Going to have to change this from 'tough local stretch' to 'local stretch', theres a few more barbel here than first thought. Have now had a range of them here from 1lb to 12lb. This net is clearly not big enough for barbel though...

1st fish at 18:50, 10lb 14oz (above/ below)

This was followed by 2 further barbel - 19:10 (about 7lb) and a pinhead at 20:00. Should really have stayed on later...

12/10 Derwent

Same stretch a couple of hundred yards up, previous swim mostly underwater...

One missed take due to pellet tangling around the hook and a couple of knocks, but no fish.

11/10 Derwent

A pleasant surprise to find a couple of extra feet of water in the river and even more surprisingly very little debris coming down. Having put this down as my 'tough local stretch', its proving to be a bit different than expected. 3 small barbel the biggest maybe 5lb at 19:15, 20:00 and 20:10. The river started rising again and did become difficult to fish with the ammount of rubbish coming down, time to go home.

07/10 Derwent

Slightly bigger livebaits and slightly bigger perch - to about 1 1/2lbs. Bit of pike trouble though, 2 of them or maybe the same one twice that killed the swim both times, the second time for good. 1 bream on boilie.
End of a dissapointing week off work but, as they say a bad days fishing is better than being stuck in the office all week or something like that.

05/10 Derwent

Back a bit closer to home...should listen to my own advice re: using small livebaits and catching small perch. Caught some small perch. Another baby barbel at 18:40 and a strange shaped chub, had a bit of a hump back but very deep bodied. Weighed 5lb 7oz, should weigh a bit more when it fills out. Also caught a catapult.

04/10 Warwickshire Avon

A change of venues but similar conditions to the local rivers - low and clear with lots of weed coming down. Maggot feeder caught a steady procession of dace and one perch. Boilies and a dace deadbait produced nothing at all. Smooth didnt fare any better.

03/10 Trent

Arrived at the river early on (well, mid-afternoon) and able to access where I had wanted to fish Saturday. Caught what I think is a first for me, minnows from the Trent, which went out as perch bait. A couple of missed takes and one small perch later changed over to the barbel rods. Weed was being quite a pain so moved upstream. Weed was actually worse there and moved back to where I started. In the end gave up and moved to another stretch where the weed was just about managable...1 bream.

01/10 Trent

A last minute change of plan due to my first choice stretch being inaccessible. Wasnt particularly confident where I ended up and about to move elsewhere before catching a 5lb barbel (21:15) and decided to stay put. No more fish after that, did find a couple of these critters near the car though.

28/09 Trent

Started slowly, not confident in my first swim so moved to where I had fished the last couple of times as its a bit deeper. No bites at all on maggot, three perch to about 1 3/4lb on worms.

2 bream and a barbel later on (21:25), didnt weigh it as scales not working but looked like the 9lb 9 from the other night. Time to give this swim a rest.

26/09 Trent

Unsurprisingly I returned to the swim I fished the other night with a couple of refinements which seemed to work as no lost fish. Quite productive as 5 barbel - 9lb 9oz at 19:00, 8lb 14oz 19:35, small ones at 19:55 and 20:55 and a 10lb 9oz @ 21:05. One bream estimated at 8lb, weighed at 7lb 8oz so not too far out.

24/09 Trent

Found a nice deep swim with the main flow towards the other side, weed much less of an issue than the other night. Started off OK, a bream, a 9lb 7oz barbel (20:35) and a chub then started losing fish....first a phantom bite, then hooklength snapped and finally one came off after about 1 second. Definate potential in this one though.

22/09 Trent

New ticket, new area, same old problem with weed. Hooked and lost a good fish, I blamed the backlead. Nice to know theres at least one fish about there.

20/09 Derwent

Another 'old' stretch that I used to fish, must be having some sort of midlife crisis visiting all my old haunts...
Cant remember catching a barbel from this area
in the past, did tonight though. 12lb 0oz @ 20:35, nice conditioned deep fish.
Levels still low despite the days rain.

18/09 Derwent

Back to an old favourite stretch and swim of mine, not fished it since about 2000. Nice to see theres still some barbel about, allbeit a baby one (18:45). As I didnt catch at all in a more favoured area Friday this place deserves another go.

16/09 Derwent

Slight change of scenery, had caught a few fish here earlier in the season though. Nothing this evening, only a couple of very small knocks. River lower than ever, hopefully some proper rain will sort it out.

10/11 Derwent

A lovely evening to be out. If you like wind and torrential downpours. Fortunately we missed a lot of it due to lateness. 2 barbel of about 6 or 7lb at 20:45 and 22:15. My accomplice was less fortunate in being snapped by one fish but he did manage to land a roach.

09/09 Trent

A bit of a quiet one, 2 fish - one bream and a 5lb 4oz chub. Nothing of any size showing and not much caught by anyone else there. Actually thought the chub was a bit bigger but apparently the scales never lie.

07/09 Derwent

A few perch to start with but nothing much bigger than a pound and a bit. Even tried a 'big roach' as bait but no takers on that one. Micro chublets = small perch again.

Switched over to the 2 barbel rods later on. Just the one chub about 4lb and lost a babrbel @ 21:35 to a hook pull. Was only on for a few seconds.