A welcome Gudgeon

This month's fishing began on 3 October on the canal at Willington, fishing with my Redmayne & Todd cane rode, this time with my Mitchell 300 which has more weight than my Ambidex 2 and so the rod felt more balanced. It was another pleasant session - even though temperatures had dropped about 10 degrees since my previous session - and I landed some good size Roach Skimmers and Perch.

On 10 October I had a day off work and felt like a change. I hadn't been Carp fishing for a while so I went to Markeaton Park Lake and set up in hope of an Autumn Carp or even a nice Bream...or anything! After casting to a 'Carpy' looking spot just off one of the islands and another mid-water, I was getting knocks and could see fish activity in my swims but no runs. To begin with conditions were flat calm, sunny and about 7 degrees and by lunchtime an easterly wind had got up a little and the sky clouded over. After a few changes of bait tactics; boilies, pop ups and fake sweetcorn, it started to rain heavily and the wind got up in a northerly direction. I saw several Jack Pike right under my peg, chasing the large shoals of fry and a few Herons on the opposite side of the lake who were having more luck than me, so mid-afternoon I decided to call it a day. Better luck next time!

I was back on the canal bank at Swakestone on 24 October on a chilly autumn day. Fishing maggots on the Craddock Goldie with a float, I had a steady session catching the usual Skimmers, Roach and Perch and a small Gudgeon.

On 29 October I went along to a Predator Demo hosted by the 'Earl' but unfortunately the person doing the demo cancelled. As I was there anyway I lure fished on Markeaton Park Lake with various jigs and spinners but didn't get any takes. There were a few others fishing and one angler landed a nice Pike. I did see a descent size Pike right under the platform, but it completely ignored the lure.