River Derwent - Pike

[JackGE]

Hi all,

So I'm back in the north east for Christmas and brought my fishing tackle, of course. I saw a stretch of the serpent down from the reservoir and found that it was owned by a fly club and they prohibit spinning reels and spinners. So I got in touch and said I have a baitcaster and lures, can I go for some pike? They replied saying it's a fly fishing club PLUS there are no pike in the Derwent! Does anyone know if thisnis true and why, or are they trying to put me off?

 

[Derek Gibson]

Jack, the response you received is nothing more than a load of old shoemenders, at least with regards to no pike being present.

 

[keora]

Ddoes the fly fishing club have sole fishing rights to the stretch you want to fish?

If you aren't a member then you can't fish the river at all, unless you intend to risk fishing it and hope that nobody sees you poaching.

 

[sam vimes]

There are four English Derwents that I'm aware of. Much depends on your definition of "north east" but two of them might reasonably be considered to be in north east England. Another is just to the west in Cumbria. The fourth is in the midlands. My guess is that you are talking about the Derwent on the border of County Durham and Northumberland.

In my experience, most of the out and out game clubs, and quite a few of the mixed coarse and game clubs on the upper reaches of the northern Pennine rivers do not allow spinning. Despite what some might think, the trout zones of such rivers often don't seem to contain pike or perch. I've never seen a single pike upstream of a certain point on my local Pennine river. I've also fished the similar upper reaches of two or three more Pennine rivers and never seen pike in them either. I'm sure it would be an exaggeration to say there are none, but there certainly aren't many.

Whilst there may be an element of trying to put you off going on, there's also a fair chance that you are being told the truth as he sees it. Naturally, that will be coloured somewhat by the fact that they just don't want people fishing with lures. I would be inclined to believe that pike may be rather thin on the ground in the river just below the Derwent reservoir. I've also never heard any talk of pike being caught from the reservoir itself. As you travel closer to the confluence with the Tyne and the chances of pike will increase. Whether you'll be allowed to spin for them is another matter.

The simple truth of the matter is, that once you cross the Tees, you are entering into what is almost entirely game fishing territory. Things only get worse the further north you travel.