On the Bank With
Derek “The Don” Ritchie

UKMA were lucky enough to spend four quality days out on the bank with arguably one of the biggest personalities in Carp fishing. Over the years love or loath him, he has become one of the big crowd pullers at the numerous carp shows that we’re all enticed too every year. The angling media has portrayed Derek as a bit of a ‘Peter Pan’ over the years, with his boisterous antics when out on the bank taking centre stage over his actual ability to catch carp. So rather than do the norm, UKMA have decided to let you have a little look behind the scenes, to learn a bit more about the man who is Derek Ritchie and how he has learned to adapted his angling over the years to remain at the top of his game for so long.

Dels Profile

Del’s Top Three Tips

1. Earn your stripes - If you catch a thirty straight away everything smaller will seem insignificant. Work your way up to the bigger fish to reap the pleasures and rewards the sport has to offer.
2. Patience is a virtue - Be prepare to sit and wait for your bites, sometimes carp fishing is all about the waiting but that’s what makes it so addictive.
3. You never know it all – No matter how good an angler you are there will always be some new advice available that can improve your game, never be afraid of taking advice and trying something new.
   

As you can see there is a little bit more to Derek ‘the Don’ Ritchie than you normally get to read about in the magazines. This loyal family man and his family have made many personal sacrifices of the years to accommodate his tireless quest for carp and add to this his endless efforts to interact on the bank or at angling shows with anglers of all ages and you get to realise just how much ‘The Don’ puts back into the sport.      

            
The Session

We arrived at Fenland Fisheries near Earith in Cambridgeshire at around 8am on a warm early May morning, with Willow Lake our home for the next four days looking very carpy. But according to other anglers in attendance the lake was showing slow form for the time of year. With that on our mind we had a look around the lake for any signs of carp activity and eventually Del decided to fish Peg 3; which is an open water swim with a large gravel area at around 45 yards straight out and at 11 o-clock or just to the left of the swim, there is a noted clear area with a large weed bed around it. So with his swim now chosen, it was back to the van and time to get the kit and get ready for what might be ahead.

Day One

Once Del had set up his bivvy, neatly aligned his bank sticks and got his rods all ready for action. He then demonstrated the skills that make him such a successful angler. He took his Marker rod and for the next 30 to 40 minutes he meticulously mapped out his swim finding the two previously mentioned areas and clipping up to spots that he felt held the most potential. His plan was to fish two rods out in open water, one at either end of the gravel area and his left hand rod at the front of a the clear area, critically tight to the weed bed as he felt this would be the most likely place to catch a fish on this rod. The spots were now located; now it was time to set the traps and see how the session would unfold.

Prior to the session I had advised Del that maggots were a total no go because of the huge shoals of rudd that reside in the venue. Now unbeknown to me, two weeks earlier one angler had a superb session feeding large volumes of maggots in the margins, so it came as no surprise when I got verbally beating because he was 100% confident that they would work. So after he had finished with his rain of abuse and banter that I found most enjoyable. The Don eventually chose to fish the Chod on all three rods just to try something slightly different to the proven snowman or single bottom bait presentations that are proven fish catchers on this superb big fish venue.

Around 16.30 (4.30pm) the next phase of his campaign was set into action “getting some grub on the spots to get them havin’ it” as he so eloquently put it. His baiting campaign consisted of Spombing out a mixture of freshly soaked wheat (prepared by yours truely) and various pre-cooked hemp and particles mixes from Essex based particle company Bait Zone. Over the next 20 minutes his Spomb kept crashing around his marker float out on the open water swim introducing what must have been well over 5kg of particles in one continuous effort to attract and hold fish on this spot. On the left hand rod he concentrated on a Cell boillie attack, feeding around 2kg of 10mm bottom baits and scattering of 18’s.

Now it was time to cast the rigs out and get ready for the first night. All three rods where loaded with leaders set up for the Chod. All three rods were baited with Mainline pop ups which included the Cell on a couple of rods and double strength pineapple on the third which have been named “The Wanger” by Mr Ritchie for what reason I have yet to find out. To boost his chances of his hook bait being taken Del also made up some small PVA sticks that incorporating chopped boillies and Mainlines High Impact Activated Fish Mix groundbait, which was then placed on the hook. With rods all now clipped up and cast into position, it was time to sit back have a can of manly apple juice and talk tales of aquatic monsters.

Day Two

I woke up at around 06.30 to find my neighbour was already awake, after the swapping pleasantries, Derek pointed out that although my night had been fruitless, he had sneaked a mid double out at 5.00am and it was in the sack and waiting to be photographed. Not exactly what we wanted but with nobody else on the lake having any joy what so ever this was a pleasing result. I made a quick exit to take care of my morning’s business and returned to the now jubilant Don’s peg to see him playing a fish on his left hand rod and this one was having a proper go. The 3.5lb test curve rods that he was using was finding the going slightly rougher than on the previous fish and rightly so as a stunning  mirror slid into his landing net, and then it happened “COME ON!! ”was the cry, I think he might be happy?

After getting everything ready for the photo’s he carefully lifted the landing net from the water and the fish was looking much bigger than I originally estimated. On first inspection, I estimated a possible low thirty, may be thirty one. We zeroed the scales after wetting the sling and then cautiously placed this stunning old fish inside making sure all fins were flat against the fish’s body. The sling hooked onto the scales and the weigh bar took the strain, we watched as the scales flew round to 36lbs but bounced back to finally settle at a very impressive 35lbs on the button. The Don had done it again with a stunner for the feature camera’s to enjoy. The necessary pictures were taken and the fish was return in perfect working order.

Now not wanting to be outdone, I recast my Mainline Cell and CC Moore Northern Special snowman rig back to the feature which is a submerged bush, on the point on the right hand margin of my swim. At about 9.30am my i-3 alarm sounded the charge of a pretty angry fish heading into no mans land. I instantly grabbed the rod and gave the fish as mush pressure I could and fortunately it turned out into open water, making my life one hell of a lot easier that it could have been if the fish opted to turn right rather than left. After a 5 minute tussle and a bit of weed clearing another stunning old mirror put in a more than welcome visit. She rocked the scales a just 29lbs 12oz and was my first fish from the venue in 2011, Job done!!

So with both of us taking good fish we were feeling quite pleased with ourselves when UK Carp magazines Steve Broad arrived to visit Mr Ritchie to work on a feature during the day.

After a bit of banter and a cup of tea I left them both to do what need to be done and after about 20 minutes I heard Derek’s alarm scream of and to everyone’s surprise a stunning 9lbs 12oz tench decided it wanted to have its picture taken and be a star for a day. This although not a record breaking session by any means was becoming more and more fruitful by the hour and with Steve now located on the edge of the usually un-fished bay near the car park, with Del stalking the fish as they mooched around their normally safe sanctuary, things would only get better.

By 4.30pm Steve work was done for the day and after a can of manly apple juice, he departed to places unknown, no doubt in search of an elusive forty pounder that he had marked as a ‘must catch’ on his travels around the numerous private lakes he has access to (Lucky git) so with Del back in his swim after sneaking out another three twenties, and so the baiting process started again as on the night before. 20 minutes later and the open water mark had been filled up with the addition of about 3 kg of boillies as Del felt this would and should induce more feeding activity on this area that had only produced the first smaller fish of the session. On the left hand rod things stayed the same with the introduction of another 3 kg of 10mm Cell and around 100 x 18mm offerings.

Day Three

Nothing to report over night and the weather gods had finally given us some weather to favour our goals. From the south easterly winds and high pressure of the first two days we were now sitting in a strong north westerly wind with low pressure and broken cloud cover. I had just finished my morning rituals and recast my rods when my snag rod yet again at dead on 9.30am screamed off. This time I had everything locked down and the fish instantly kited out into the open water and relative safety from snags. Once I had the fish under control it decided to have one last look at the snag and I only just kept it from burying me in the snag but its efforts were wasted and she slid into my net weighing in at 28lbs on the dot, job done!!

The day truly went down hill for both Derek and yours truely from this moment on. The weather became a real pain with the wind changing direction every 5 minutes, heavy showers and then bright sunshine; things just seemed to be against us. Then after a re-cast on my left hand rod, I had a screaming take and after having the fish on for only about thirty seconds the fish topped and my hook pulled (not a happy bunny).
Then to rub salt in even more my right hand margin rod on the snag screamed into action for the culprit to bury my rig right in the centre of the snag and smash me to pieces, things were not going to plan. Derek had now returned from another stalk in the fish safe area with only sightings of fish and no catch report.

Yet again Derek started his pre-baiting mission, Spombing out his usual 5kg of particles and boillies to try ands entice the large number of big fish in the lake to start feeding once again. With both of us loaded up on all rods and set for the night, we decided to find comfort in a hot pie and chips kindly delivered by my better half.

After this we were joined by Fenland fishery manager and owner Mike Hawes who joined us in a can of manly apple juice and a general chat about all things fish and fishery related and informative it was as well. By 9.00pm we decided to call it a night and headed of to our relative bank side dwelling to hopefully be woken by the scream of our alarms but to be honest neither of us fancied our chances.

Day Four

At 00:50 I was rudely awoken by a very solid single bleep and the sound of my pod being dragged across gravel, I jumped out of my sleeping bag and grabbed my snag rod to feel a very familiar thudding at the other end, I had connected with one of the resident catfish and I was in a bit of trouble as I could feel my line grating heavily against something pretty solid. Fortunately the cat decided it wanted to play tug of war and swam straight at me and out of the snag. I cranked down fast to come back into contact with the giant slug and after a bit of two steps forward and two steps back routine. A catfish of just over 30lbs slid into my net and guaranteed a visit to the pressure wash for my landing net the following day.

As the sun broke the horizon both Derek and myself landed bream to 8lbs plus but these were not our chosen quarry. We wanted to catch carp, yes we had done OK with both of us landing quality fish but this didn’t demonstrate the full potential of the well stocked carp fishery. Mother Nature had decided to throw up a weather system that Captain Birdseye would have struggled to catch in but putting all that aside. This session with the Don gave me the opportunity to watch a true craftsman at work. His continued efforts to make the fish feed was a joy to watch. I did learn one very important lesson whilst out on the bank during these four days and that was, I never want to here the words “Come On” again!!  (Only joking Del, it was a total pleasure).

This feature was made in association with