Lobs 'n' Loafers

I think most anglers if asked the question - If you can only use one bait for the rest of your life what would it be? - would probably say lob worm. Over the years I've caught most of our native freshwater fish and several sea fish on them. With a change of plans this morning due to the weather going pear shaped at the end of the week, I gathered up a few lobs and set off to the Nidd. The intention was to trot them through the shallower swims for what ever and maybe a barbel.

I must admit I was quiet surprised how clear the river was considering it had been up about a foot on Saturday, but there was a nice bit of flow to it. First trot through produced a very pretty perch in it's full autumn colours. I then bumped a bigger one a couple of trots later. Using a simple loafer and olivette rig I was able to adjust the depth quickly and easily so I could attack the inside first before moving to the deeper channel then up against the far bank tree line. Not that this help in the next couple of swims.

 








The fourth swim of the day seemed to be full of gudgeon, no matter where I ran the float, most of which just grabbed the end of the worm falling off as I swung them in. Several, though, managed to get them hooked on the size eight which proved a interesting diversion for a while. A couple of swims later one of the local otters popped up in front of me with that - betcha can't get a picture of me look. It stared at me long enough for me to get my phone out of my pocket and into camera mode before disappearing. A smaller perch and an 8oz dace came on successive casts, before the gudgeon silliness started again.

 

A couple more swims failed to produce before I spotted a couple of chub in the last swim of the evening. As it was only a foot deep I did consider free-lining before dropping the float down to the olivette and trotting it down like that. Obviously the smaller of the two was first to the bait, a nice bronze fish of 2½lb.

A pleasant days fishing in the autumnal sunshine,  even if the breeze was a bit of a nuisance at times. The only other problem with this time of year, apart from the variable weather, is the astonishing ability of bank side vegetation to snag any loose line.