It Seemed Like a Good Idea

If I was really desperate to catch a fish I suppose I could take a couple of pints of maggots down to a local commercial fishery. Instead I decide to fish the River Foss. It's name is derived from the Latin word Fossa, meaning ditch, apparently. It looks like one for a large part of it's length as well, mainly due to it's canalisation in the 18th century.

 Quite why I choose to lure fish a two foot, or less, deep ditch I don't know, especially as it had recently suffered the worst flood that I can remember. Otter predation and pollution have also been a problem. 

My first few casts were under a bridge with a jig head mounted Grass Minnow this produced nowt. I changed to a small shallow diving plug to fish the rather featureless river upstream. My intention was to fish the Grass Minnow near features and the plug along the featureless sections. A few more casts with the plug resulted in a take. I struck and the fish kitted right, in to the bank and then went a bit odd. A piece off water logged wood then surfaced and was quickly subdued.

The next feature, after the bridge, was a couple of eddies in an S-bend next the remains of an old sluice gate. This also produced nowt. Another cast with the plug produced another bit of wood, the remains of the piling at the side of the river, snagged as the lure bumped along the bottom.

 



 














I continued upstream using the same tactics, until lunch time when I tried something different. As I was in a sunny spot just upstream of two weed beds which narrowed the stream causing it to quicken, I put on a 13cm soft 4-Play. Casting it into the narrowed section I then propped the rod against an old pile allowing the lure to flutter about in the current. By tapping the rod butt with my foot, as sat having a sandwich and cup of tea, the lure would swing across the current. This stunning innovation failed to produce as well.

 I continued upstream, to the end of the club stretch and the original canalised section. The only fish I'd seen up to this point were a couple of small shoals of 2-3" something-or-others. As I was stumbling along the bank trying to get into a suitable position to drop the jig into an eddy behind an old reed bed I spooked a duck which crashed in to the water, before taking of. Two bow waves shot downstream out of the eddy. Whether either would have taken my bait I don't know, but clumsiness had ruined the chance to find out.

With no indication that I was going to see any action on this stretch I decided to have a go on a deeper section down stream.

A brisk walk back to the car and I was soon at the down stream section. I decided to use a large plug on this section, an ABU Tormentor in fire tiger with a rattle, as the water was a bit more coloured. Not that this did any good. All too quickly the light began to fade and I decided to set off back to the car before it got too dark as the banks were strewn with flood debris making it somewhat dodgy under foot.

Maggots and a commercial are beginning to look rather inviting, but then would I enjoy it.