Opening Day - 2019

I'm sure most people would have noticed it had basically rained for the first half of June and he rivers were not looking great for the opening day. With this in mind I decoded not to rush out at first light, especially as the rivers had been falling and continued to do so. The first reports I got were just a few minnows and/or gudgeon been caught, but he biggest problem had been accessible swims. By the time I got to the river, mid afternoon, the later was no longer a problem and you could now tell where the bank ended and river started.

 








I had basically decided on tactics before I got to river, given it's colour. A big bit of garlic spam on one rod and a lob worm or two on the other. The only other decision was stationary or mobile. The occasional showers made siting it out in the same swim seem like a good idea. I was surprised, given the state of the river, how many insects were out and about, even a couple of mayfly fluttered past. 

 








Apart from a couple of rattles on the worm rod the first bit of action was to the spam rod. After a bit of debris had dislodged it and pulled it away from the feature I wound in to recast when a pike shot out from under a nearside tree and grabbed the lead. I played it for half a minute before it's teeth cut the line. Why a pike will hang on to something so hard I don't know.

 








The first fish, a gudgeon, was landed after a couple of hours. I gave a astonishingly positive bite on the barbel rods, as did two more later on. All taken on a size six hook and double lob worm! Not what I was hoping form, but not a blank either. Prior to this I was speaking to a couple of anglers who'd been there since first light. One of whom had had a 6lb 2oz chub from his only bite. The other having a smaller one. So they were out and about. Sadly not in my swim. Hardly a magical opening day, but not a blank. While I'd rather have been float fishing, but conditions were against it. Still the rivers are continuing to drop, albeit rather slowly now. Things can only get better, I hope.

 








One nice story I heard today, about opening day. A friend who's a member of a small river syndicate where here is no night fishing decided that, as he was on lates Saturday, he'd sleep in the car in a lay-by near the fishery entrance so as to be there at fist light. It wasn't until 9 o'clock when the other syndicate members gathered for a communal breakfast that somebody rang him to see how he was doing that he woke up. After a hearty breakfast and more than a little bit of mickey-taking, his first cast produced a bite almost immediately. This resulted in the first of two double figure barbel. Both by far the biggest of the day.