Local River 27-7-14

A few hours and a pint of maggots. This is how all good short sessions on the river usually start.

I should be targeting barbel (I fancy a pb this year), but today I wanted a few bites and see what came along.

So, first peg was 'the bend'. The water level was a little lower than my last visit, so wading across in my wellies was easier as I started running the stick float down. It's a pleasant way to spend half an hour or so - small chub and dace followed along with one better lump, a chub of about two and a half pounds.

After the bend I tried the weir pool. I still couldn't get this to trot properly despite going for a heavier float. I'm going to have to have a think about this. Still a few more fish appeared.

Next up, the dog dip swim. Normally this fished well tight under a tree on the inside as the flow swings in close. But not this time - the fish were out in the middle of the flow and readily taking my loose fed maggots. A few chub and small dace followed with one small roach for good measure.

Then I bypassed my usual swims to head up to the confluence where the stream flows in from the far side. This is a desperate swim - it looks full of fish, but normally a few bleak would be a good result. I fish it on the basis that one day I might pick up a bonus fish. But not today. No, today it was a roach a chuck, not huge fish, but a steady stream of fish to 6oz were easily swung to hand. I lost one fish due to a pike attack - I saw the jack concerned, it was no more than a foot long - but other than that it was uneventful.

So last up was a go at the post swim. Normally this is devoid of bites (although the barbel anglers head for it every time). It was hard work - the flow is well over and that meant an awkward cast and the need for the catapult. I thought I'd feed heavy to see if I could trick a chub. I couldn't. But I did bag a fair few quality roach as well. Not as fast as the previous swim. But very encouraging.

So it looks like there a silver fish all the way through where previous there were none. Happy days.

Catch List:
Roach: 30
Chub: 15
Minnow: 1
Bleak: 5
Dace: 10
Perch: 6

Total weight: 8lb

Local River 20-7-14

I know... it's been a while. I have been fishing, just not had the chance to write up the catches. 

So a quick summary of last Sunday. I decided to try for a good fish or two from the weirpool. For three hours I alternated between trotting maggot and legering a big pellet (30 mins on each). Trotting was hard work - the higher than normal water levels, plus a change in the weir lip has made this difficult. You can catch but you cant really trot properly. It's a shame  :-( One of these days I'm going to take all the pole gear down there... but not today.

Nothing showed on the big pellet, but there were some really good telltale plinks on the line - I suspect I need a longer hooklength. 

Trotting worked after a fashion, although it was mostly perch up to 6oz that showed, although three small barbel put in an appearance aswell along with the usual suspects. 

Final half hour (that may have overrun a little) was further upstream above the playground. The pegs that were traditionally devoid of small fish had recently been producing small roach, and this was true on this visit as well. I assume the fish were washed down the river from the canal in the winter floods - but no complaints here. A good few fish before I bagged a six and a half pound pike that took a fancy to a small perch on the way in. 

Duly landed and released 20 metres downstream, I hung around for a few more fish before heading home. Great bag of small fish. 

Catch list:
Barbel: 3
Perch: 25
Roach: 30
Pike: 1
Gudgeon: 1
Bleak: 5
Chub: 10
Dace: 10
Minnow: 1

Total weight: 12lb