At Least The Weather Was Nice

With the river peaking at 2.7m on Thursday evening and not expected to drop below 2m on Friday I decided to fish the gravel pit again on Friday. I'd hatched a cunning plan, I was going to fish from first light until dark a period of 12 hours. I don't normally fish sessions that long these days, but armed with a new gas canister, a couple of pot noodles and plenty of tea bags I thought I would just about manage to survive. I awoke on Friday to a lot heavier frost than I'd expected. Despite the thick layer of ice on the car windows it wasn't as cold as it looked. Arriving at the pit I found the water  had crept up another  six inches since I was last there. This may be the highest I've seen the water in years. This meant a lot of the bankside debris was now drifting about the water.

I started in the first swim I came to. A trout went out in front and a small roach fished on a paternoster was placed near some tree roots. After an hour or so I moved on to the next swim. I was surprised nobody else had turned up, but it did give me the chance to move to the next swim. In fact nobody else turned up to fish.  This gave me the chance to fish all the nine swims, and blank in them all. I didn't have so much as a dropped run. I tried swapping baits. Smelt, sardine, roach, lamprey, eel, mackerel were all tried. I tried pop up baits. Drifting them about at various depths, when thee was enough breeze o allow the float to move. One lad that had done quite well earlier in the month popped down to see how thing we looking. He told me nobody had caught all week as far a he knew and was thinking of giving it a miss this weekend as the pit had seen a lot of pressure this year.

 

Hopefully the river will have settled by next week and I give that a go. There again I seem to be picking the days pike aren't really feeding, but they're my days off so I have to make the best of it.  The weather was nice for sitting by the water though, so can't complain.

Military Maneuvers

As I had appointments on Friday, Thursday was to be fishing day this week. The recent warm weather and rain had washed the snow melt down the river. Although it did peak on Wednesday it had been expected to continue rising, before falling on Thursday. Given the uncertainty of the river levels and the fact it was going to be wet and windy most of the morning, and I have no great desire to get piss wet through these days plus news that pike were been taken at the clay pit I opted for a day there. There are a couple of spots where you get a good command of the water with plenty of features to go at. I managed to arrive before the rain arrived and got the brolly set up and pegged down before the wind and rain arrived.

I wasn't wholly optimistic when I saw the water as It had a blue green tinge to it as if ice had just melted. This colour was to disappear by lunch time as it turned to it's more normally brownish colour. I'd been reliable informed that pike, mainly jacks, were been taken on small roach or sprat dead-baits suspended around three to four foot under a float, so that's what I set one rod up for. The other was set for the usual float leger tactics with a trout as bait. This was cast over to the far-side ledge. The sprat was allowed to drift over the remains of a weed bed that seemed to be sprouting new growth already. The sprat was recast regularly to allow it to drift different lines. The trout was also moved every hour or so, alternating between a feature and the middle of nowhere.

The rain varied between drizzle and quite heavy downpours. When the noise of the rain wasn't too much I could hear the squaddies on the firing range some three miles away. Mid-morning there was a great deal of chatter from birds in the trees behind me. I couldn't for the life of me identify them as I only got a brief glimpse as the flitted between the branches. I turned back towards the water just in time to see the float above the trout disappearing. Initial contact suggested something decent, but it soon became apparent it was just a small but spirited jack. The fight took far longer than it should as the other float rig had drifted the wrong way and there was danger of a real tangle. I'd left the landing net slightly out of reach as well. Still it had stuck to the hooks and was most welcome even at 62cm.

That had been the last of the trout so a slightly freezer burnt sardine went out. Despite the claims by many that baits should be as fresh as possible, I've done equally as well with old baits that may have been in the freezer over a year. The rain gave up by lunch and the wind eased off but change direction slightly. Occasionally the sun would pop out. I had a wander round dropping the sprat near various bankside features with no luck. For a while military jets were flying over I only saw one through the trees but boy did I hear, and feel, them. The noise really did shake the atmosphere. As I sat preparing a cuppa the float above the sprat bobbed about. Winding down produced nothing. This occurred a couple more times. Just as I was pouring boiling water in the cup the float shot away. I did contact with it but, like last week, it slipped the hook. Instead of my usual double hooks I'd used a single size 6 treble for a change, mainly because it was the only one hook rig I had. I continued on until I struggled to see the floats but nowt else showed. At least I'd landed one this time.

 

Do you ever get the feeling you're doing something wrong as everybody else seems to be having better days. I have no reason to doubt my informant. I have seen him blank more than once so I know he has his of days.

Three Nil

With river having dropped well into it's banks I had a choice of venues. Breaking the ice at the gravel pit or sliding down precipitous icy river banks. I chose the later., mainly because I suspect it'll be on the rise again by next week as things start to thaw out. As I arrived at the empty parking area the was some obvious heat in  the sun despite the fact it was still zero degrees. Three deer were grazing in the distance. It was only when they moved that I realised what they were. Too far away for a phone pic The big coat was strapped to the ruckbag as it wasn't needed on the walk to the river. In fact it wasn't needed all morning.  My plan was to start at the upstream end of the stretch and work my way downstream until lunch, then work back upstream revisiting the swims. I intended to give each swim forty minutes to an hour.

Tactics were a float fished roach near any over hanging trees and a half mackerel over the near side shelf. The ground was rock solid, banksticks were out of the question unless I happened on a half brick or similar. The swims were OK as well, the steps were still flat and been frozen easy enough to get up and down. After forty minutes in the first swim I saw my first pike as it grabbed the roach just as I was about to lift it out of the water. After a few seconds it came adrift. A new bait was cast out and I gave it another thirty minutes, but nothing showed. I suspect it had felt the hooks. Things were rather uneventful as I worked my way through the swims.

After lunch I found the roach bait snagged. Now nine times out of ten the forty five pound braid either bends the hooks or pulls a big branch out. This time it snapped at the knot with remarkable ease. I tied on another rig and stuck the hook on a fence and gave it a good pull. All seemed solid enough, I'd certainly applied more pressure than it took to snap the braid earlier. I did the same with the other rod and all appeared OK. The temperature was now four degrees, but with in half an hour the sun had disappeared, a very chilly breeze had got up and there were a few snow flakes getting blown about.

Eventually I was back at the first swim. As I sat having a cuppa the float started to jiggle about. It took me a little while to realise it was a bite. A strike met with solid resistance then back came the bait. A remarkably intact trout. I'd run out of roach as I'd only put two in the bag for some reason. I decide to stick it out until home time. Twenty minutes later the same thing. This time I didn't get my bait back. I moved the mackerel to the tree I'd got the bites near, but nowt else showed any sign of interest. It was now minus 1 degrees.

At least I'd got some runs even if they didn't stick. I have had good look at the hooks and they seem sharp enough. I've certainly landed pike on far worse. Pike are quite good at falling off hooks, even after you've played them for some time. One thing though, I've got the action cam to work in the cold by plugging it into a power pack which is kept in an inside pocket so doesn't get cold.

At Least It Wasn't Frozen Over

Given the weather forecast, snow showers and a nor'esterly wind giving a wind chill of -5C, I wasn't sure if there be anybody else down at the gravel pit. I was slightly wrong with that prediction. Four pike anglers were already there and a couple of coarse anglers along with a lure angler. This left a limited choice of swims. I plonked myself in one corner and set up the shelter. Once behind that things were not quite as bad. The first of the snow flurries started just as I cast a small roach into the little bay to my left. A popped up trout was rigged on the second rod. This went out near the middle at the bottom of the shelf.

 

There we all sat staring at a selection of pike floats or waving poles about. Another couple of lure anglers visited through the day and had a quick thrash about in the two remaining swims. Part way through the morning a pike was taken opposite me. Towards lunch the pole anglers started to catch the odd small silver. The rest of has nothing what so ever.

I suspect the amount of water that has come in to the pit lately has an effect as I've not seen it at this height for a long long time. I suspect the next trip may well involve breaking ice given the weather forecast.

Too Wet, Too Bright

I was surprised to see four cars parked up at the gravel pit when I arrived. There again, with the local rivers and canals in a sorry state I shouldn't have been. Strangely there was only three anglers, all on the far bank. One of these was a lure angler who left, fish-less, not long after.  I set up in one of the corner swims with a nice row of tree roots. One rod, with a small roach on, was cast as close to the roots as I dare. The other, with a sardine on, was to be cast about the swim to different spots each for an hour or so. It wasn't long before the fist of the rain showers arrived and the brolly needed putting up.

 While I was faffing with the stove to boil some water for a cuppa I heard the slow click of the centre pin. I turned round just in time to see the float pop back up. The roach was totally unmarked, so out it went again. Even if I'd been watching the float I don't think I'd of hooked anything as I'd have given it another few seconds anyway. A bit of oil was injected into the sardine and it was cast near a dead weed bed. Just after lunch the sun came out and for an hour there was quite a bit of warmth in it. Not that it made any difference to the pike fishing. Late in the afternoon the angler opposite had a pike around the 7-8lb mark. This came from the only swim I've never caught a pike from in winter. That turned out to be the only fish of the day.

Fourth trip of the year and only one fish so far. We agreed it has been too wet and today was too bright for pike fishing. The weather isn't looking promising for the next week or so either.