it weighed 12lb 2oz
Having tried several parts of the swim, I decided to try on the edge of the crease in the river; after a few moments, the weight seemed to break free of what I thought was weed, roll across the river bed and ended up about 4ft from the near bank. The rod tip bounced once, no line was taken as I had my finger tensioning it to feel for bites, so I struck, felt a head shake and the end result was a 4lb 12oz chub.
Not bad for 20mins fishing!!!
The scales stopped at 2lbs 2ozs!! Not bad for for 45 mins fishing!!
I chucked in a couple of cubes of luncheon meat and watched the carp readily suck them straight in, until I put my free lined cube into the water that is. I went and fished another swim and came back about an hour later to find the carp had returned along with another carp. I chucked a few more cubes in, dropped my free lined offering in, rested the rod on the railings, set the baitrunner and waited as I had spooked the fish again.
After about 15 mins, I noticed the fish had returned and tried to see if the koi took my bait when I noticed the line moving from right to left very slowly. No taps could be seen on the rod, no line peeling off the reel, so I picked up the rod with the line still moving very slowly and struck. There was chaos for 5 mins as I held on to the fish as I tried to get down the bank, grab the landing net and land the fish!!
It was well worth the effort, 10lbs 10ozs of a fine common carp.
On Monday afternoon, the 21st of September 2009 at about 1.45 I left home heading for the River Idle at Hallcroft/Bellmoor. As the river was running low and very clear (due to virtually a total lack of rainfall for around 2-3 weeks) I decided to concentrate on float fishing for perch & chub with maggots. After a couple of hours and just a small perch and a 2lb chub to show for it, I decided to move swims to try and locate a group of barbel.
I
knew from previous sessions that there were a few in a particular swim. As I
arrived there I quickly baited up with the baitdropper and then left the
swim in peace for about 40 minutes, to allow any fish present to settle into
a relaxed feeding pattern. During this time I had noted that there were up
to 5 barbel (one I noted that certainly looked like a double) and a similar
number of chub feeding on the offerings.
At around 5.15 I cast in the end tackle and touch-legered eagerly
anticipating a "three-foot twitch" on the rod top. After about three recasts
without a touch I decided to again bait up, but this time by hand so as not
to spook any of the feeding "shoal". I could see that the biggest barbel was
preferring to feed at the back of all the others, further downstream. So I
decided to creep along the bank for a few yards till I was close to where
this fish was feeding. I then lowered the lead into this area as gently as I
could. After returning to my seated position literally within a minute there
was an almighty bend in my Shimano barbel rod. The fish made an immediate
attempt to shed the hook on the tree routes on the opposite bank as I held
on for dear life. As I was using a centrepin reel I managed to put full
sidestrain pressure on the fish, and for a few seconds there was a
stalemate. I knew that this was a powerful fish and that I had not
experienced a
battle like this before. I realised that I had to be bold and give the fish
as much back as what it was trying to do to me. After about three turns and
runs to the safe haven of the far bank I had now exhausted the fish into
submission and netted it with ease.
As soon as I lifted the landing net and fish up onto the bank I knew this
was a really big fish for River Idle standards. It was incredibly long (as
the fish would only go into my 30" net slightly arched around) and put a
good bend in the landing net handle. I moved the fish away from the swim and
left the fish to recover in the net further upstream whilst I prepared the
weigh-sling and camera set-up. My heart was pounding with adrenaline at this
point, after a magnificent scrap and the thought of it being a personal best
capture. Once the fish had had about 5 minutes to recover I lifted her out
onto the unhooking mat. The fish was in excellent condition apart from a
bruise on one side of the face (see photo). After taking about 4 quick shots
and weighing her I got her back into the water to let her recover for a few
minutes until she was ready to swim off strong. I was absolutely elated to
know that I had caught a River Idle "beard" in prime condition
at 11 pounds 5 ounces. This after two and half seasons fishing primarily
for this species, and mainly on the Idle. My previous best fish was earlier
this season at just over 8 pounds in the same swim.
As you all may well understand, I wish to keep the exact location of the
capture under wraps. The only thing I will let you in on is the fact that I
was using a multiple hookbait made of rubber, produced by Enterprise Tackle.
Give them a try. Even a wily mature "barbus barbus" of 83 centimetres in
length couldn't tell the difference !!
Paul Hobson
It was caught on the Lower Derwent at Borrowash (I would prefer not to mention which peg!) during a short session.
It fell to a size six fox hook haired to a 20+ halibut pellet to 15lb fox cammo mono. various size pellets were scattered around swim, this was my first cast of the day and took 20 minutes for bite and boy did it fight!
I have attached a picture of this fish for your perusal. The pictures were taken by a former DCAC member and wife. I feel it is a fish worthy of a mention on the club website.
I hope this has been of some interest to you, i will say again thanks for running a great club which allows me to catch so many brilliant fish.
Thought you might like to see this Pike caught around mid-day on Sunday 25th Jan 2009 at Willington Trout Lake .
It was taken on a large articulated blue and silver diving eel but was very lightly hooked-the hook being in its upper lip.
Since I did not have scales or tape measure available Chris Byard kindly photographed the fish for me set against the bottom section of my rod. When I received the picture I checked the length of the fish against the writing on my rod and this showed it to be some 37-38 inches long. This was measured against my Ron Thompson 10' Explorer rod. Since the fish was quite deep in the belly it must have weighed approaching 20lb if not equal to the weight.
Brian Heppenstall