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.

Andy Bennett lands the “Top 6” BDAC carp in a season!

Belper's Andy Bennett lands the 6 biggest carp in Wyver Lane Pond, in under 5 months!

Andy banks the six largest largest known carp in Wyver Lane Pond – including 3 x 20s!

Our Carp & Night Fishing Officer, Andy Bennett, has been busy either side of the COVID lockdown – putting together an impressive run of fish which includes all six of our largest carp, including our two new “stockies”.

This is not only a tremendous personal achievement for Andy, it also proves our four largest carp remained in the pond during the autumn & winter floods and don’t now reside in the Derwent! Great news for the Club and our members.

Here’s how Andy’s run of specimen carp unfolded…

Between March and July Andy landed Moonscale twice, with a largest weight of exactly 20lb.

Moonscale - Big carp from Belper - carp fishing
Moonscale - Andy Bennett with a specimen Wyver Lane Pond mirror carp

Before March was out, a mirror carp called Half Lin was tripped up by Andy, at 20lb 7oz.

Half Lin - Belper pond specimen carp angling

After the national lockdown put an end to all our fishing for a while, Andy hit the ground running with a 6-fish catch that included Half Tail at 16lb 13oz.

Half Tail - Belper pond specimen carp angling

Next up was the large common we stocked this year – Chester – which Andy caught twice, up to 21lb 9oz, which is 11oz heavier than the weight she was stocked at!

Andy Bennett with Chester - a specimen Wyver Lane Pond common carp, Belper
Andy Bennett with a 20lb Wyver Lane Pond common carp - Chester - at Belper

In mid-June it was the turn of our second newly-stocked fish – the beefy mirror, Shoulders, at 18lb 15oz.

Andy Bennett with Shoulders - a 19lb Wyver Lane Pond carp, Belper
Andy Bennett with Shoulders - a specimen Wyver Lane Pond mirror carp, Belper

The final fish that completed Andy’s impressive full-house was a mirror known as Linda, which he banked at 19lb 10oz.

Andy Bennett with a specimen Wyver Lane Pond carp, Belper
Andy Bennett with a Linda - big carp from Wyver Lane Pond, Belper - carp fishing

Well done that man!

Check out some of our other members’ carp catches in our Carp Gallery.

Wyver Lane Pond receives specimen carp stocking boost

Specimen mirror & common carp stocking Wyver Lane Pond Belper

The Club has fantastic news to share, on behalf of our Night Members, who oversee the carp angling at our Wyver Lane Pond.

In the words of our Carp & Night Fishing Officer, Andy Bennett:

“Well here they are, after 3 years of planning our new fish are finally in their new home, the beautiful mirror at 19lb 6oz and a fantastic common at 20lb 14oz have reached their destination! These are fish some of the night members have been saving up to buy after otters took at least 12 of our beloved fish, then we had a tragic flood last November which could have taken a lot of our carp. With a bit of help from the Club we have achieved something great between us! Thank you to those who donated to our cause.”

Here are some shots taken during the stocking:

Specimen 20lb common carp stocked into Wyver Lane Pond, Belper, March 2020
20lb+ common carp – known as “Chester” – stocked into Wyver Lane Pond, March 2020
Specimen 19lb mirror carp stocked into Wyver Lane Pond, Belper, March 2020
A beautiful, large-shouldered mirror carp – fittingly named “Shoulders” – about to be introduced into our pond at Belper
Specimen 20lb common & mirror carp stocked into Wyver Lane Pond, Belper, March 2020
The pair of specimen carp now swimming in Wyver Lane Pond

We’re sure you’ll agree, these carp – supplied by Frontfish UK – are lovely looking fish with great potential for growth. Hopefully these fish will be a prized target for Belper carpers for years to come.

Take a look at some of our other known carp in our Carp Gallery.

Environment Agency netting of Wyver Lane Pond

A 20lb+ specimen carp netted by the EA from Wyver Lane Pond, Belper AC

This month, the Environment Agency visited our mixed coarse & carp stillwater fishery, Wyver Lane Pond at Belper, to conduct a netting exercise. The purpose of this was to evaluate & health check our fish stocks and to provide valuable insight for any future stockings of the pond.

As we expected, the netting produced a real mixed bag! Carp to over 20lb were caught, as well as thousands of roach, dace, skimmers & perch. There were also a few larger bream (“slabs”), good tench, a few pike… even a Tommy Ruffe!

Netting a fishery is known as a good indicator to the stock levels of a fishery, but it is notoriously difficult and fraught with problems including the net snagging, fish escaping from the net and fish taking refuge around obstructions and other inaccessible areas. Despite this, we recorded a healthy number of fish and several scale samples were taken away to be tested.

Click on the following thumbnails to view pictures from the day, showing the netting process by EA Fisheries Officers and some of the fish caught:

Wyver Lane Pond is our members-only lake, which is open for all annual members to fish during daylight hours. There is also a night fishing ticket available, but numbers of these are very limited. Click here for more information on fishing Wyver Lane Pond.