Pleasure Catches from the River Derwent & Wyver Lane Pond – 2021

Philip Shaw with a 17lb Belper common carp

Anglers have sent us their catch pictures via our catch report page and through Facebook. Here are some of the best we were sent during 2021.

Back in January, Adam Ingram braved the cold on Wyver Lane Pond and had this lovely carp. Caught on single red maggot, size 20 hook, 1lb 8oz hooklength, 3lb mainline, quarter ounce tip, on his 10ft light bomb rod. It went 10lb 10oz:

Adam Ingram with a 10lb January carp from Belper
Adam Ingram with a 10lb+ January carp from Belper

In February, new Committee member Elliott Boam fished the Derwent and landed 4 chub on a mixture of waggler and stick float tactics, with bronze maggots doing the business:

Also in February on the Derwent, Adam Ingram shared a nice bream he caught, as the river looked in great shape for the final weeks of the season:

Adam Ingram with a bream from the Derwent at Belper
Adam with his Derwent bream

In May, Tom Dukes fished Wyver Lane Pond and landed this beautiful 17lb 6oz common carp:

Tom Dukes with a 17lb common carp from Wyver Lane Pond in Belper
Tom Dukes with a 17lb common carp from Wyver Lane Pond in Belper

In June, Philip Shaw also caught a 17lb common from Wyver Lane Pond. It was his first visit to the pond after an absence of 25 years. Not bad for his first btime back! He submitted this photo using the catch report page on the website.

Philip Shaw with a 17lb Belper common carp

On the first day of the river season, Adam Ingram was back into the bream on the sewerage works section. This cracking fish tipped the scales to 6lb 4oz. Great start to the new season!

Adam with a beautiful 6lb+ Derwent bream

Also in June, venue regular Jonah Cooper found this 6lb+ pike willing to take his sprat, which he’d rigged on a circle hook to ensure the fish could be quickly and safely released. He said of the capture:

“The fish gave me a decent fight and another Pike even followed it in whilst reeling in the hooked fish so that was cool to see.”

Jonah Cooper with a River Derwent pike

The bream continued to show on the Derwent throughout June. Elliott was rewarded with this fine bag of six fish, which included a few lumps:

Elliott Boam with a bag of six bream from the River Derwent

Thomas Webster had a nice afternoon session on the pond with a nice mixed bag, which included large perch, numerous silver fish, a carp and a barbel. Great fishing!

Jonah returned to the Derwent chasing pike and was rewarded for his nocturnal efforts with this fish. Jonah caught the pike after midnight, having only been fishing for an hour. Lure tactics proved successful this time, with Jonah putting an Abu Garcia 10cm Soft Plastic Trout to good use. As always, Jonah submitted details and photos of his capture using the catch report form.

Jonah Cooper with a Derbyshire Derwent pike caught lure fishing in the dark!
Jonah Cooper with a Derbyshire Derwent pike caught lure fishing in the dark!

In July, roach were showing well on the sewerage works section of the River Derwent at Belper. This bag of around 150 fish were caught on stick float, with single maggot hookbait over loose-fed hemp and maggots.

A huge bag of prime River Derwent roach caught on trotting tactics
A huge bag of prime River Derwent roach caught on trotting tactics

It wasn’t just on the sewerage works stretch producing roach, as John Hargreaves showed with this nice bag of roach and dace caught from the members-only top stretch alongside Wyver Lane pond. All were caught on maggot and waggler tactics.

A mixed bag or roach and dace from the River Derwent at Belper
A mixed bag or roach and dace from the River Derwent at Belper

In August, John was back to bother the silver fish on the top stretch. He put together this nice net of mainly roach and dace from alongside the pond, adding a lovely golden rudd.

John Hargreaves' mixed net of roach, dace and rudd from the Derbyshire Derwent
John Hargreaves’ mixed net of roach, dace and rudd from the Derbyshire Derwent

Soon after John’s catch, Elliott Boam proved that if silver fish are your quarry, the Derwent was the place to head. It fished superbly throughout August and roach to 1lb+ were caught both pleasure fishing and in matches. Waggler and maggot was the favoured method.

These bags of roach, dace, gudgeon and grayling were caught by Elliott Boam, a regular on club matches and also a member who contributed many hours on work parties last year, improving the pegs on the river.

Bailiff, Andrew Kennedy, wanted in on some action after being unable to fish much during the season. He visited the river at dawn for a three-hour session and had this to say about his experience:

“Trotting mainly caster, shallow under a stick float, I had over 20 lovely dace, a wild brownie and a chublet. In the last hour I was mobbed out by minnows until a shoal of good chub moved in, just as it was time to pack up! I could see them picking off free offerings in the shallow water but I think the alloy stick float stem kept spooking them. If I’d had time to refine my approach they were there for the taking, but I had to get home. It goes to show that if you keep the feed going in regularly, the big fish can turn up. Exciting fishing and just what I needed for my first trip to Belper this season.”

In October, Dale Lander emailed us details of a 19lb mirror carp which had picked up his 2 x 12mm boilie offering at Wyver Lane Pond. Dale noted how recognisable this fish is, missing the lower half of its tail. Have you caught this fish before?

19lb mirror carp from Wyver Lane Pond at Belper
Dale’s 19lb mirror carp

If you have any captures you’d like to share with us, please either head to our catch report page or the Club’s Facebook page and include as many details as possible, including whether or not you’re happy for us to share the photos and details.

Work Parties, Peg Creation & Improvements – 2021

River Derwent peg improvement works during December work parties

Once again, the Club was privileged to have some hard-working members giving up their free time to make improvements which benefit all anglers on our waters, as well as the Club.

Here we take a look back at some of the superb work undertaken during work parties on our venues last year.

May 2021

More pegs were completed on the sewerage works section below the railway bridge, with around another 5 to put timber on as well. This will give us 30 pegs on this section of the river. Great work by our volunteers!

Another project undertaken over the past 6 months, previously the last peg on this stretch of the River Derwent was peg 16, this was due to further access being blocked by boggy ground and a jungle of dead trees. Trees were removed and a raised walkway installed, which gives anglers access to another 5 pegs up to the railway bridge and also pegs above the bridge towards the pumphouse and beyond. Many thanks to our volunteers!

The Facebook video below shows a number of these swims and pegs, in our lovely, peaceful setting, upstream of Belper town centre. It’s best viewed fullscreen.

June 2021

Three more pegs completed on the sewerage works section, with thanks to Elliott, Adi and Martin.

Strimming was done around the parking area of the sewerage works section, along with pegs 1 to 14, in readiness for the river opening on June 16th. There was also a new peg installed below the railway bridge on the Willows section. Great work thanks to Stefan Harhat, Adi and Martin.

Another peg was completed on the pond field section – this one is the new peg number 3, downstream of the bridge.

July 2021

Peg 1 on the pond field section has benefited from a new walkway, great work by Phil Hoad and Tony Carline!

River Derwent peg improvement works during July work parties

August 2021

The walkway to peg 4 was completed, on the river alongside the pond. Great work once again by Phil Hoad and Tony Carline!

River Derwent peg improvement works during August work parties

September 2021

Another peg was created by Martin and Elliott, on the top stretch above the pond. This gives us a total of 22 pegs from the pond gate entrance to this peg; just below the railway bridge.

River Derwent peg improvement works during September work parties

November 2021

Peg 11 on the pond has now been replaced, great work by Phil Hoad, Tony Carline and Sandra Hoad!

River Derwent peg improvement works during November work parties

December 2021

Peg 17 was completed on the top stretch, whilst the walkway on peg 10 was replaced and a small extension added to get from under the tree canopy, above and nearer the flow. Great work by our volunteers, Adi, Elliott, Roger and Martin!

On stretch at the back of Morrisons, we have chopped out the first peg above the wires, which has produced barbel and chub in the past. More pegs will be developed in the coming months.

Peg 19 on Wyver Lane Pond was sorted. Great work by Tony Carline,  Phil Hoad , Adi Ingram  Bob Large,  Roger Stone and Sandra Hoad. Many hands make light work!

If you would like to participate in future work parties, to maintain and improve our venues, please contact the club directly to express your interest and provide details of availibility, along with any skills and equipment you can provide.

Belper Angling Club Match Dates 2022 – Wyver Lane Pond

The following dates are for a series of regular Sunday fishing matches which BDAC run on Wyver Lane Pond each Spring and Autumn. The 2022 match dates are as follows:

Memorial Matches on Wyver Lane Pond

The Harry Fitton Memorial Match will take place on June 5th 2022.

Spring 2022 – Regular Sunday Match Series Dates

  • March 13th 2022
  • March 27th 2022
  • April 10th 2022
  • April 24th 2022
  • May 8th 2022
  • May 23rd 2022

Autum 2022 – Regular Sunday Match Series Dates

  • September 11th 2022
  • September 25th 2022
  • October 9th 2022
  • October 23rd 2022
  • November 6th 2022
  • November 20th 2022

Belper Angling Club Match Dates 2022 – River Derwent

The following dates are for a series of regular evening fishing matches, along with numerous special memorial matches, which BDAC runs on the River Derwent at Belper between June & December each year. The 2022 match dates are as follows:

River Derwent Memorial Match Dates for 2022:

  • John Mason Memorial Match – Sunday 21st August (fished on Sewerage Works section of River Derwent)
  • Roy Melbourne Memorial Match – Sunday 16th October (fished on top section of River Derwent, behind Wyver Lane Pond)
  • Phil Smith Memorial Match – Sunday 18th December (fished on top section of River Derwent, behind Wyver Lane Pond)
  • Roy Melbourne Memorial Match – Sunday 16th October (fished on top section of River Derwent, behind Wyver Lane Pond)
  • Frank Posiak Memorial Pairs Match – Date and Venue TBC (fished on River Derwent)

River Derwent Regular Monday Evening Match Dates for 2022:

Fished each Monday evening from the start of the river season until the light fades too much to make an evening match viable. Fish from 6pm until 9pm.

  • First Monday evening match: June 20th 2022
  • Last Monday evening match: September 12th 2022

2018 Membership Renewals now due

Happy new year to all of our members; current, past and future!

2018 memberships (permits) are now available from any of our official ticket outlets.ย  These are valid until December 31st 2018.

For information on our current ticket prices and information on how & where you can buy a permit, see our Membership & Day Ticket Infoย page.

Tight lines for 2018 from all at Belper & District Angling Club!

Massive dace & roach bags caught in River Derwent match!

Dace and roach bags caught match fishing on River Derwent

Just before Christmas several club and committee members fished a light-hearted 3-hour match on the River Derwent, just upstream of Belper town centre, and landed some fantastic winter bags of silver fish!

The top 5 anglers weighed in: 11lb 2oz, 10lb 14oz, 9lb, 7lb 2oz and 3lb 14oz, with the predominant species being dace and roach. That is some serious winter sport for any river!

Our club runs a full programme of matches, held throughout the year, and this Christmas Eve river match may become the next addition to our match calendar.

We run a series of short summer evening matches, which often need 16lb+ to win!

If you’d like to sample some of our red-hot, winter river fishing for yourself, or if you’re a match angler who would like to join our club scene, then please consider becoming a member.

SALMON caught from Belper & District AC stretch of the Derwent!

Derbyshire Derwent Salmon caught at Belper - river Derwent game fish capture

A historic, rare and special capture was reported to one of our water bailiffs, recently.  A visiting angler spent a few hours lure fishing whilst visiting the area and had quite a suprise when he hooked and landed a “silver tourist”!

Derbyshire Derwent salmon!

The cock salmon was hooked close to Belper town centre, on a small Fox spinner which was intended for pike & perch. Despite being hooked on 50lb braid, the fight from the fish was of such intensity that it still took 45 minutes to land!

Derbyshire Derwent Salmon caught at Belper - river Derwent game fish
This salmon – caught from the Derbyshire Derwent at Belper in late 2017 by a lure angler – might be the first salmon caught on rod & line in Derbyshire for over a Century! It was safely released, alive.

The lucky angler had purchased one of our discounted Autumn permits, available from October onwards, to take advantage of fishing our stretch of the Derwent.

This salmon capture is highly significant. It may be the first salmon caught on rod & line in Derbyshire in well over a century! Certainly we cannot find any mentions of captures from the Derwent, and earlier in 2017 another cock salmon was found dead at Belper weir, which was the first salmon recorded at Belper for over 100 years!

Belper is only a few miles from the centre of England (Morton parish, Derbyshire) – as far inland and away from the sea as an English town can be. So in order to get here, this salmon has successfully negotiated the Humber estuary and passed through large towns and cities such as Hull, Gainsborough, Newark, Nottingham and Derby. It has overcome numerous weirs – including many formidable ones on the Trent, such as Collingham Weir – and has swum over 140 miles inland, upriver! That is one incredible journey, and we’re pleased to say that the captor released the fish alive and reported that it swam off strongly – hopefully far enough to meet a female at their spawning grounds.

Who knows, the parr this fish helped create may already be hatching in the Derwent…?!

The River Derwent once had a thriving salmon population and this significant capture is yet more evidence that salmon are migrating further up-river and in greater numbers than has been seen for decades.  The whole River Trent catchment is seeing an increase in salmon numbers which is great news for Derbyshire.

Other recent mentions of salmon in the River Derwent:


Further information on the Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar), and salmon conservation in the UK:


Have you spotted or caught a salmon in the Derwent?

Although the above capture is historically rare, recent conservation efforts seem to be slowly increasing the number of salmon travelling upstream in the Trent system, including the River Derwent. If you have any verified sightings or captures of salmon from the river, please send us an email via our contact page.