First 'n of the Year

Back on the Ouse again, today, after my first fish of the year. I plumbed up the first swim. Four foot on the shelf, fourteen feet two foot further out. You know it's deep when the stop knot ends up on the reel. Sprat on the top shelf  up to the overhanging tree. Smelt at the bottom of the shelf. First cast to the overhanging tree ended up with it in the tree, not a good start. A little while later the float at the bottom of the shelf trundled upstream and I was in to what felt like a nice pike. Unfortunately it turned out to be one of the Teflon mouthed varieties and shed the hook as I hauled it over the shelf. To make up for it the float by the tree moved away and I was into a feisty little jack which made it to the net. Hurray!

I then bumped a fish in the next swim. It wasn't till I got to the fifth swim that I had another run. I had to hit it quick as it was heading straight towards the mass of flood debris wrapped round the trailing branches. A little jack which shed the hook as I slipped reaching for the landing net. Just to add to the day my stove developed a leak causing flames every where but where they should be.

 








When scrambling up and down steep muddy banks and slipping around in the mud at the bottom I can understand why some people aren't to fond of river fishing. While it can bother me at the time, It doesn't seem to put me off. What is annoying, though, is fish falling off the hook. I tend to use a single Drennan double when river fishing as I've lost a few fish in the past when the second hook snags on a sunken branch or other debris. I see no reason to change this set up as It's worked very well in the past.