Worms, Snotties and Mud

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.