Ive been meaning to fish Harlesthorpe Dam in Clowne for a longtime now.  I was pleasantly surpprised when I pulled up, the dam was good sized, large enough for anglers to disperse and the lake not to feel crowed but also small enough to make you feel the like you could catch in every peg. Well kept pegs and comfortable fishing is not usually my thing, especially as I associate it with stocked ponds, but it was nice to find a place that was easily fishable especially on a short evening session after work. 

I didnt really know what to expect. I geared up with a small roach deadbait about a rod length out and fished my standard open ended groundbait feeder close up to the rushes about 25 meters in front of me.
Immediately there was interest in the dead bait

It took half an hour to get the first bite, the quiver tip slowly pulled round after a series of line bites and I lifted into a small skimmer weighing about a pound. From here on in i fed heavily and had a bite almost every cast.  I must have caught betwenn 30 and 40 bream averaging about 2.5lb each. The only other species of fish caught on the feeder rod was a nice crucian carp weighing 1lb 7oz, my biggest crucian.  Im not sure if this fish is a 100% true crucian but it looks pretty close, if i had one concern it would be the size of the tail fin. I haven't caught many crucians so I'm no expert.

I had two takes on the dead bait. One yielded a pike of about 3.5lbs and the other yielded a pike of around 5 or 6lbs.  Both fish put up a good fight considering their sizes.

Aside from fishing I took a rip up to redmires reservoir today, saw a coupe of water voles and accidentally stumbled across a pair of curlew chicks.
Probably shouldn't have touched it but I couldn't resist!