Back to the Ure, again, hunting for it's elusive barbel. After a bit of wandering up and down trying to spot fish with out any success I opted for a swim that had a couple of deeper runs in it. One on near the far bank and one under the trees on the near bank. While I fed pellets into the two swims I dropped a worm somewhere in the middle. The lead had only just hit the water when the top wrapped round and came a perch. Casting upstream got a similar result. After half a dozen I abandoned worm and had both rods fishing pellet.
A little while later, and with no sign of action in the meantime, a gentleman stopped an asked how I was doing.
"A few perch"
"Not surprised, it's thick with 'em"
"I've changed to pellet in the hope of a barbel"
"Not been many owt this season, but you've got your baits in the right place. Good luck"
As he left a family of swans started to feed upstream of the the far rod and the dislodged weed started to wrap round the line and shift the lead and bait into a very shallow area. I hauled the rod in and waited while I had spot of lunch. The swans were still feeding and been a nuisance. You'd think being friends of royalty and all they'd have better manners. Remembering I had a tin of Spam in the car I set one rod up for rolling meat and spent a while in the few swims trying that. Nothing showed any interest.
Back to the pellets. After an hour or so I started to get the odd rattle on both rods before the far rod rattled about a bit longer than usual. This resulted in something sold when i struck. A bit more heave and a little chub turned up with the lead covered in weed. At least it wasn't a little perch. Soon after the inside rod lurched over and this time I was into something a bit bigger. After a bit of a kerfuffle near the tree roots I ha a 2lb 13oz chub in the net. Still no barbel though. That proved to be the last bite of the session.
My challenge to myself was to catch a barbel from the "Big Five" Yorkshire rivers during summer and the meteorological ends on Saturday and I'm at work. Looking back I notice that I caught a barbel from the Derwent on the 21st June, the first day of the astronomical summer, followed by barbel from the Wharfe, Ouse and Swale. Therefore I have until the 23rd of September to catch one fromThe Ure. Especially as the meteorological starts on the 1st June, two weeks before the start of the coarse season which cuts it two weeks short. This does mean, however, that I've run out of old names for The Ure.
Was back to The Ure in search of a barbel for the challenge I set myself, but somebody had shown me some pictures of half a dozen large perch he'd caught from the stretch I intended to fish. So, I took the lob worms along with a couple of handfuls of brandlings. He did tell me he'd caught an awful lot of small perch as well so I had a cunning plan, two lobs on a size four. Big bait big fish doesn't really work with perch though. With in moments of casting out the groundbait feeder and chopped worm the tip wrapped round and in came a little perch. It seemed no matter where I cast I was soon into a small perch, most of which whacked the tip of the barbel rod round. By lunch time I'd had at least thirty. I'd lost count at this point. The perch bites slowed down in the afternoon, but still there was a steady procession of them all under half a pound.
In the mean time I'd catapulted a large quantity of pellets into the middle of the river for the barbel. With a mesh bag of pellets going in each cast as well. The only thing similar to a bite was a quick rattle on the third cast. No chub, bream of roach either, which was odd. The last bite, before I packed up, took line from the baitrunner. Anticipating some thing big I cursed as I thought I'd missed it, only to find a little tommy had managed to get it's mouth round a size four hook.
Looks like I may have to decided which summer I'm working to. Astronomical or meteorological summer. I have one more session before the end of the month, lets hope I can find one of The Ure's nomadic barbel then.
Wednesday I continued my hunt for a Ure barbel with a bit of new information. I spent some time casting about with a float rig and a lead trying to find a feature I'd been told about and sure enough, after a hour and half's work I found it. A shallow depression about two thirds of the way across the river. At nine inches deeper than the surrounding river bed it doesn't really show up by counting a lead down. Only by running a float rig though the area did it show, not he easiest thing to do with barges trundling up and down and a slowly falling river.
Having found the hole I tossed a pellet rig out to it with a mesh bag and a lob worm with a groundbait feeder on the top of the shelf near the inside bank. There they sat for a couple of hours, into darkness, with out so much as a twitch. Well so much for the hot tip.
Due to an evening commitment on Thursday I fished match hours, 10 to 4. Fishing the same swim as Wednesday I dropped a lob worm and brown crumb feeder in on top of the shelf again. Before I could cast the second rod the tip rattled and a little perch was swung in. On the second rod, cast to the hole, I was using an 8mm halibut pellet and for the first few casts a mesh bag along with a feeder to get plenty of bait own. About an hour into the session both tips started to rattle. A small chub on the worm and a roach on the pellet. Not long after this the first of the heavy rain showers blew through.
It was well into the afternoon before I got my next bite. The tip on the pellet rod slowly bent over, as if some debris had caught the line, before i jagged about. What I thought was a skimmer turned out to be a rather chunky silver bream of 1lb 8oz, a new PB. Not the barbel I was looking for, but rather pleasing never the less. I then suffered a rather silly half hour of bite offs. First a pike took a liking to the lob worm. Going through the line as it turn away from the landing net. A pike then grab the pellet as I was winding in, having initially looked like it was going for the feeder. It looked a good double figure fish as well. Another, even bigger pike, then grabbed a small chub as I was ready to swing it in. The final fish of the session, a chub of around 2lb, had me all excited as the bite looked for all the world like a classic barbel bite. It even felt like a small barbel initially as it gave a very spirited fight before giving up halfway in.
As I was packing up a couple of anglers had a natter and assured me it was the right swim for barbel, but. That but was the fact the river had been up and down like a yo-yo and hadn't fished very well since the start of the season. Just after I left the river rose three foot in a couple of hours. They'd only managed the odd decent fish, no barbel, in among some reasonable bags of roach. Float fishing had been a waste of time as even when the level had nearly got back to normal it was still pushing through. So, the hunt for a Ure barbel continues.
Down to The Ure again on Thursday for an evening session. I'd had a bit of a tip off about the better barbel swims. Unfortunately, distance and depth are two things anglers seem to be rubbish at. When the say 70 yards or so, they mean 150. Not that things were any better in the hot barbel swim, the chap in there had a couple of raps all evening. The level was back down from the recent spate at a similar level to last weeks session, only clearer.
The tactics for he evening were one rod on feeder fished pellet about a third of the way out and lob worm on the other under a over hanging tree. Despite the gusty downstream wind it was T-shirt evening, initially, as I sat back and waited. It was best part of an hour before I got the first raps on the worm rod eventually connecting with a small perch. Two more followed, getting bigger each time. The next fish initially felt like a decent perch before transmogrifying in to an eel around the pound mark. After a quiet spell a barmpot jack picked up the worm. After a stunning display of aerobatics it shed the hook. In the meantime I'd changed the pellet for a lump of garlic Spam. As I was talking to another angler, who'd popped down to check the water level, the Spam rod buckled over and I lifted into something heavy and fast. Having got the beast turned and starting to make a little headway everything went slack. On retrieval the hook link was frayed and around six inch shorter. The angler I was talking to said he'd suffered similar on several occasions last summer. Various suggestions had been made, pike, huge eels and catfish had all ben mentioned, but nobody has ever seen the culprit. He also said the barbel fishing hadn't ben a prolific this year, which is not what I wanted to hear, and was surprised I'd not taken any small chub as they'd been making a nuisance of themselves this year. I had a couple more raps on the meat od as i got dark. On both occasions a cone or two was missing so I suspect eels.
A slightly more productive session than last time. I think I might try a more roving approach next time, although there are times when I think all this does is allow you to blank in several swims instead of just the one.
One of the problems with arriving between three and four for an evening session is that you arrive at the hottest part of the day. Not that it was a long walk, but you're soon dripping with sweat once you've walked up and down looking for a suitable swim. With the Ure still well up, albeit falling very slowly, choice was limited. Also the fact that this stretch is not heavily fished in summer meant that the lush vegetation was hiding the swims and the edge of the river. Some poking around with a bank-stick was needed. I found a nice looking swim with over hanging trees above and below. A few casts showed there to be quit a depth of water close in and no apparent snags.
As I wasn't specifically targeting barbel as they're not abundant here I had brought some lobs as well as pellets. A groundbait feeder was cast half a dozen times into each spot with either pellets of chopped worm added. An 8mm pellet was dropped downstream and a lob upstream. Nothing much happened for the first hour apart from a couple of rattles on the worm rod then the pellet rod whacked over. I struck into something solid, very solid. I was snagged, where the hell did that come from. As I couldn't feel a fish on the end I gave it a steady pull and retrieved a small bit of twig. After checking everything was OK, nor frays or nicks in the line I chucked it out again. A few minutes later the tip lurched over and this time I was in. A couple of lunges and everything went slack. Everything seemed OK with the end rig, the hook was sharp enough so out it went again.
Not long after a barge passed by the worm rod sprung into life, line been taken from the baitfeeder I struck into a lump of weed. Not long after the same rod bounced about violently, the strike was into nothing even the worm was intact. Not long after the recast the tip rattled about and this time a little gudgeon surfaced, not hooked though, attached to the end of the worm. Obviously it fell off as I swung it in. That was it until about half an hour before dark when I made my first bad cast of the day straight into the upstream tree. Despite my best efforts it broke off just above the feeder. I ummed and ahhed about re-rigging, but after last nights last minute fish I decided it was best to get a bait back in the water. I needn't have bothered. Apart from a couple of rattles on the worm rod nothing else happened. I'd pushed it in dark as I'd remembered my head-torch this time, I'd probably overstayed my welcome as night fishing is not really allowed here. Also I'd left my fleece in the car and was beginning to feel the op in temperature.
It had been an interesting session. I'd got bites at least. I'd not really expected much, it was just a bit of an exploratory session on a stretch I'd not fished for years. The quest continues.
Slight change of plan this week, mainly due to the horrendous weather forecast for Friday. With two of the 'big six' left to catch a barbel from I decide on an afternoon/evening session on the Swale. I could have made life easy for myself by going to one of the noted barbel areas like Topcliffe or Fawdington, but decided to fish one of my old favourites nearer to bottom of the river. The river was still a choccy brown colour following more rain in the dales and slowly rising. Spot on really, apart from the fact it was at that awkward height where you're too high up at the op of the bank, but he flat bit at the bottom is under water. Thankfully there were a couple of swims with flat bits halfway up the bank. One thing all this flooding has done is encourage the silver tourists up the rivers. I saw a couple jumping from the bridge and others while I was fishing. What was once a rare sight now seems to becoming a lot more common.
Tactics for the session were feeder fished pellet under a nearside tree and lob worm in a crease on the far side. The debris that was still coming down effected the inside line a lot more than the far side, but wasn't really much of a problem as it reminded me to refill the feeder. It was a couple of hours before I got my first bite, on the pellet, which I missed. A similar three foot twitch followed next cast. Assuming chub were responsible I shortened the hook link. over the next couple of hours I had several bites like this and kept shortening the hook length until it was around nine inches long. Still missing the unmissable bites I changed the feeder for a lead and the bites stopped. Coincidence or were they grabbing the feeder?
As the sun disappeared over the flood bank I was beginning to think of a blank. As I finished my last cuppa, contemplating packing up as I'd not put the head torch in the kit, the worm rod lurched over. I was in. At first I thought it was a salmonoid as it shot down stream at an amazing speed. I managed to turn it and pump it back towards me. Staying deep it now felt more like a barbel. Having got it level with me it continued upstream. I was now thinking of my first double of the season. With the rod held high I got it up to the surface and it now came to the net with relative ease. Clearly not a double, but hell of a fighter in the current. A quick weigh and a couple of photos the seven and a half pounder was back in the landing net and resting.
With no dusk to speak of it was now dark, but with enough star light to pack up by. Having got the kit to the top of the slippy-slidy I had one last check to see if I'd left anything behind and there, glinting in the light of the phone was the landing net complete with barbel trying to pull it in. Oops. Clearly back up to fighting strength it was released back for somebody else to catch.
Five of he six done I only have the Ure to conquer. Can it be done before the summers over? The Ure is not one of my favourite rivers for fishing and is the only one of the 'big six' I've never caught a double figure barbel from. It seems to be more of a chub river having never really done well for barbel on it. There's a potential seven more sessions available so we'll see.
As I wandered around the garden as it was getting dark, wondering where to fish Friday, I spotted a couple of worms on the lawn which gave me an idea. When it was fully dark I popped back out and managed to gather some quite large lobs off the lawn. I decided to ish the same swim on Friday as I had on Thursday, but with lobs just to see what else may be down there. When I arrived the level had dropped and was now at that awkward level two thirds of the way down the bank. When it's near the top things aren't so bad and when it's at normal levels it's OK, but at this level all that's in front of you is a slippy nettle covered bank that you'll struggle to get back up. The first thing I did was check the landing net would reach the water with out me getting far too close to the edge. One interesting thing was the side stream was now running clear and the main river was still very dirty. This caused some interesting effects as the two didn't seem to want to mix. I only managed one picture that showed this, but not as well as it could.
I dropped a large lob on a size four in the same spot I was fishing Thursday. My intention had been to fish worms in conjunction with brown crumb and chopped worm in a feeder. This presented the next problem, I couldn't reach the river for some water. A wander back up the side stream to a bit of low bank and I filled up a bait box with water. The first cast with the feeder produced a bite with in a minute or so, a rather tatty bream around the three pound mark. The next cast and eel about a pound, my first for a couple or more years. The third cast resulted in a hand sized roach. It then went quiet for quite some time. I put a second rod out, lowering a worm as close as I could to a overhanging willow in the hope a perch may be hiding there. There wasn't , the bait remained untouched all session.
After the lull the roach turned up again. One or two managing to swallow a size four hook which is a right pain. After another lull the bream showed up again. Four in as many casts all of which were rather tatty. The final fish of the day was a jack that bit me off just beyond the landing net. The river had dropped another foot and I was struggling to reach the water with the landing net so called it a day. Not a bad day considering the river level and colour. I was surprised at the lack of chub and perch though I'd hoped the coloured water would have them feeding.
The goal I set myself at the beginning of the season was to catch a barbel from the Derwent, Nidd, Ouse, Swale, Ure and Wharfe in summer. I have a month left and have got halfway with fish from the Derwent, Nidd and Wharfe. Today it was the turn of the Ouse to cough up a barbel. Things looked quite promising as it was about two metres up. One thing I wasn't expecting, but should have known was how coloured it was. When the Swale flash floods it always turns the muddy brown. Today they, though, it looked like somebody had given Swaledale a right good scrub and sent the muck down towards York. That's not to belittle the problems they had in Grinton and Leyburn on Tuesday with the flash flooding.
I managed to get the swim I wanted, peg one at the out flow of the beck where there is a big 'ole. A 22mm halibut pellet wrapped in paste and a mesh bag of broken pellets was dropped downstream in the 'ole and a lump of garlic infused spam was plonked in the crease in front of me. I sat back and waited. The silence broken by a salmoniod jumping in the mouth of the beck and the whining Tucanos and an occasional V-22 Osprey, a strange looking beast. After three and a half hours of waiting the downstream rod tip lurched over and I was in to a hard fighting barbel which strangely headed out into the river instead of the partly submerged trees as I'd expected. After a couple of frights with the submerged bank side vegetation it was in the net. A chunky fish that weighed in at 7lb 15oz. Mission accomplished I'm now two thirds of the way to my goal. A chap upstream of me had had a similar sized fish. These fish, with their slightly odd looking tails, were reckoned to be stockies from Calverton. Stocked at a smaller size though.
The next bite came nearly three hours later. During which time the weather decided to celebrate Yorkshire Day by seing how many season it could fit in an hour or so. Showers, scorching sunshine, clouding over and down pours. As the rod tip stared to rattle around I struck into what felt like a heavy fish that seemed to suddenly go light and came in rather easily before high tailing it into the submerged trees to my right before the hook link parted. It was all rather strange. My feeling is that I'd hooked a small chub, or some thing, and some debris which had dropped off. The fish was then grabbed by a pike.
With errands to run I packed up earlier than I'd wanted to. As I packed up i talked with a chap that had arrived for the evening. He'd had half a dozen fish to double figures as the river rose the previous evening. Not sure what to do Friday as I've not fished the Swale or Ure in flood for a long long time and would rather have a look at normal levels before attempting it.
