My last opportunity to fish a river before the season ends was Saturday just gone so I stayed local and headed to the Derwent.

I decided to fish one rod and travel light to make moving swims easier. I've blanked on my last four or five sessions and I wanted to maximise my chances by only spending 30 minutes to an hour in each swim. I also used maggots and worms taking a tin of meat as an alternative bait.

I figured natural baits again might give me an edge particularly as the the water was very clear and at fairly normal levels.

I chose a reasonably deep stretch just above a shallower run over rocks and gravel, I started maybe 200 yards up-stream from this and worked my way back down toward it. I stopped around every second swim casting a paternostered maggot feeder on 6lb line through to the hook into creases in the water, near rafts of debris and under near bank bushes and trees.

I made it all the way back to the shallow run without so much as a knock on the quiver tip and I was feeling a little hard done by to be honest. The wind had picked up and the temperature dropped a little too, luckily the steep bank afforded me some shelter and the rain held off so instead of packing up I decided to stay another hour and re-cast all around the final swim before the water shallowed up.

Around 4pm I had a twitch followed by an unmissable drop back and I wound down into a decent feeling fish; It was certainly bigger than the Grayling I caught there a few months back or the chub I was hoping for.

I played it carefully having been snapped off by a big fish using the same line and rig last week on the Severn and eventually the fish flashed a big golden flank just under the surface. It was most definately a barbel, probably 6 or 7 lb I guessed from a distance.

She weighed in at 10lb 9ozs and was not only a personal best from the Derwent but a personal best full stop! I quickly got her back in the water and while I sat holding the net we both caught our breath although I think she recovered faster than me and swam off strongly toward the deeper water.I couldn't wait to re-cast but had to wait until my hands were steady enough to tie another rig so I called my mate Dicky while I waited and informed him that I'd finally broken my string of blanks with a fin-perfect double figure barbel.Ten minutes later I was fishing again and no more than 5 minutes after casting another twitch followed by a drop back signalled another take, again it felt like a good fish but whatever it was slipped the hook after about 30 seconds of battle. Never mind one banked and more in the swim.I cast again and exactly the same after another 5 minutes, this time a well conditioned, pristine chub of maybe 3 or 4lbs graced my unhooking mat.

Time was running short though as I'd arranged to meet a mate later and I really should have packed up there and then however I couldn't resist one more cast to the same spot. Yet again no more than 5 minutes passed before the tip snapped back and another fish was on; another that couldn't resist my red & white maggots.A second barbel flashed a few yards out and I slowly and carefully played it toward the bank where although smaller than the first I felt it warranted a quick weight check. I knew barbel came up-stream from the Trent and I'd seen a smaller fish of 4lb(ish) caught further up-stream but the Derwent has more than a couple of weirs along its lower reaches and this was no Trent fish unless it had learned how to scale vertical concrete.

Now I remember why we do it .

very nice barbel

hope to catch fishes like this one in France!!

Brilliant Paul, well done and a cheery tale to brighten up the day - thanks.

Poshers 

Well in Paul.

Cheers everyone, I really thought it was going to be another blank as I worked my way along the swims with no indications at all.

I must have dropped on the fish in that last peg or they just switched on at 4 o'clock.

It was amazing, you could almost count down to the bites after casting in.

I must pass on my thanks for all the information I've got off people on here over the last two or three years which has all helped to land those fish amongst others.

Particularly in this instance Woody for showing me how to fish a feeder for drop-back bites down on the Thames a year or so ago.

I've just seen your thread Claudia, great fisher-people catch alike eh? (or something ).

Well done, they don't half pull back don't they!

Do they ever Paul....and what a cracking fight they put up, took me good 8 mins to get mine to the surface, couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the size of it.

I will not give up on a Severn Barbel though, I'll be back

Nice one Paul. A super end to the season for you.

I`ve 2 more outings. Wednesday and Friday, so fingers crossed!!!

Nice story, want to hear mine (very briefly)?

A friend of mine confided that he had never had a barbel, so for the last session of the season I said I'd take him to a stretch where I've been having a few recently. He asked if his brother-in-law could come with us as he'd just bought a new avon rod and had never had a barbel either. I showed them how i had been catching, left them to it and wondered another fifty yeard downstream.

Result?

Me: two baby chub and one chub about three pounds.

Friend: Barbel 5, 7-08, 8-02 and 11-02

Brother-in-law: barbel 2, 7-08

Last time I take them!

Well done mate! Well deserved!

What was it you were saying the weekend before? 'I might give up fishing for golf or snooker...?'

Yeh right