Getting Better and Worse

Down at the river at first light, fishing a bit further upstream then last time. With barely a ripple on the river it looked very peaceful, but the geese and Tucanos put paid to that.

 








I decided to fish both baits at the bottom of the shelf, a lamprey to the right and a smelt to the left. Just as I'd made a cuppa the right hand float moved away and I was into a nice dogged fish. Which at 10lb 9oz and 90cm was the sort of fish I'm after. A little while later the left hand float started bobbing about I wound down the nothing, so gave it a bit of a twitch in the hope something would be coaxed in to grabbing the smelt, but nothing did. Five minutes later it started bobbing about again. This time I connected with some which came adrift very quickly. It didn't feel to be of any size. The right hand float started to do the same thing not long after. This time I got a tiny little pike to the surface before it let go.

Just after ten the left hand float shot under very quickly and I hit something very fast moving which managed to take line against the drag. After a short but hectic fight I had another double on the bank, this time at 10lb 2oz and 88cm. I had a few more of the silly bobbing bites, managing to get a couple of little jacks to the surface, one on each rod before moving swims. It appears I'm not he only one having problems with the little jacks on the Ouse. Bobble TV appear to have had it as well.

I tried a couple more swims in the afternoon, but didn't get any more bites. Talking to a couple of lure anglers I found they'd not seen a thing in the morning, but had had several tiny jacks in the afternoon. This confirmed what a a lot of pike anglers have told me and we'd seen. If the fish are picking up deadbaits they don't generally chase lures and vice versa.

 








As I was descending in to one swim I dislodged a piece of wood and underneath was what looked like a nest. It was about three inches in diameter and two inches deep. Not sure what it was for though. Probably a field mouse?

A quick tip for winter anglers that like a cup of tea. I boil up a flask of water before I leave and use this in the kettle to boil on the bank it makes it a lot quicker and doesn't use as much gas, especially if its windy. By boiling more than you need the excess can be put back in the flask and kept at a reasonable temperature.