More Maggot Drowning

Thursday morning I decided against letting the computer select a venue for me. Instead I decided on the Ouse, as it's the one local river I'd not yet fished. Besides, I'd heard more than a few reports of some good bags coming to float fished maggots. With a pint and a half of reds purchased I  set off for my preferred late afternoon into evening session. This not only misses the heat of the afternoon, but the traffic as well. It doesn't, though, miss those overnight roadworks that magically spring up. On arriving at the parking spot my choice of swim was simple enough. I just headed across the meadow towards a couple of large trees. On arriving at the river I was between two swims and picked the upstream one.

 

My original intention was to fish two lines. One down the edge and one in the middle. A plumb about over the drop of showed about nine foot of water. This would be fishable with the twelve foot rod I'd brought by mistake. The line on the reel also left a lot to be desired. I'd replaced the line on another reel and attached it to a fourteen foot rod, but failed to attach it to the quiver. The other problem with the twelve footer was it had a rather stiff tip which tends to bounce small fish off. A 3BB alloy stemmed stick float was shotted up shirt button style and a size 16 hook terminated the setup. Six bleak in as many casts and had me thinking I'd be fishing the middle line for the day. A couple of 6-8 oz roach had me continuing with the inside line.

Throughout the session the bleak would come and go from the swim allowing me to catch, dace, chublets, roach and perch. A dozen maggots every cast or so seemed to keep the fish coming. While not a fish a chuck, a steady flow of fish meant I never set up the fifteen footer for the fishing down the middle. Through out the session there was plenty of signs of predator activity with fish scattering all over the place. Every now and then a splash on the far bank gave away the dive of a Kingfisher.

 

The fishing was reminiscent of the works matches I used to fish where a pint or so of maggots could get you a decent weight and maybe a section win. For some people this was the only time they fished and winning wasn't in their minds just a cheap day out on the bank.