Three trips down the Colne

Ever since Hartleton I've been a bit rough: A horrible, nagging cough that started mid-June has been annoying me somewhat meaning that opportunities to go fishing were limited. However, once I started to feel a little better I snatched a few short sessions on the local river. 

The first trip was on July 19th (I still cant believe I missed the first month of the season!) and although I fancied having a go for some bigger fish, a bit of trotting with maggot was decided upon. Although the first peg (the bend) was low and didn't fish well, every other peg I visited produced fish - lots of fish. In fact I probably caught more fish than most visits I recall, and some fish putting in appearances in unlikely pegs. Although there were no monsters, there were a couple of nice trout and a lot of perch in some of the spots I normally wouldn't look at. In fact the fishing was so good that after three hours I'd only made it half way up the stretch I'd normally cover in this time. This is the joy of summer river fishing when it all comes together. 

Hopefully it bears well for the rest of the season. I finished with 65 fish, lots of roach and perch for a good 10lb. Not bad for three hours. 

The second trip was a week later on July 25th, but this followed torrential rain the day before.I was hoping that most the rain had not yet made it into the water course. I was wrong. I was met with a river in considerably flood, well up and a revolting colour. But since weekend fishing time is limited one has to press on and see what you can do. 

Well? It was difficult. Some pegs made presentation almost impossible in the flow, but by carefully working the various swims I picked up a fish or two. I finished on a mere 15 fish, including a little brownie from the same peg as the week before, but clearly from the photo it's a different fish. And that was the highlight of an otherwise tough morning. 

The third trip on 9th August was planned to be a bit different, the aim was to target the lower weir for a barbel. The plan was to alternate between legering for barbel near the lip of the weir for 30 mins and then trot on maggot for 30 mins, and to keep alternating until I'd had enough. Needless to say the barbel did not play ball, although I managed to pick up about 30 small fish on the maggot along with a handful of respectable perch. A brief look at some other swims (the disabled peg and the post) also produced nothing in the barbel stakes, and before I knew it, it was time to go.