More Barbel Fishing For Pike

As the river had risen slightly from Tuesday's rain I thought another go for barbel would be a good idea on Wednesday. Several other anglers appeared to have the same idea as there were several cars parked up when I got to the river. They must have been down the bottom end though as I passed nobody as I wandered along the top section. Two anglers were setting up on the opposite bank just downstream of me.

I choose a swim with a nice slack just upstream and a distinct crease downstream. Cheese paste and a feeder full of crumb was dropped into the slack and Peperami into the crease. The one thing the rain had done was dislodge a lot of debris. To start with it missed my lines. I sat watching a red kite performing acrobatics in the distance. A bit later what I thought to be a rather gaudy robin shot past in to the willow to my right. After several attempts to get a picture of it as it bobbed around the branches I realised it wasn't a robin. The only thing I could think it looked like was a redstart. Later on I got a brief glimpse of a heron as it flow towards the woods.

Eventually I got a bite on the cheese. At first I thought it was some debris that had hit the line, but the clatter of the 'pin told me otherwise. A little jack which bit me off just as I got the net near it. Just after I got a new hook length on and had cast out the meat rod started to bend over. Contact was made with something then all went tight. Moving downstream I managed to free it. Up came a branch and another little jack which shook itself off as it came to the surface. Unlike Tuesdays jack it didn't dislodge the branch for me.

I had intended to stay well into dark but the debris was becoming an increasing menace. I gave up when a very large branch came floating past just. I didn't want to spend my time in the dark pulling weed etc. from the line. Quite why the pike are taking the baits they are I don't know, but my next trip is with a lure rod.

Barbel Fishing For Pike

As I had a couple of days off I spent a bit of time on Sunday contemplating what to fish for and where. Monday and Wednesday afternoons looked decent weather wise. I initial considered pike fishing on Monday, hoping the rivers may get a bit of a flush through from the forecast rain and waking the barbel up. I then decided what with the dry ground and things the rivers wouldn't benefit much from the rain, so decided I'd give barbel fishing a go on Monday. With some recent discussions about cheese paste and a reminder that it used to be a very popular barbel bait around here I'd made up a batch, so that was one bait sorted. My bait bucket also contained some Peperami that was getting on a bit. This had ben doing well over summer apparently. Now I have to say I've never done particularly well  with the stuff. Probably because I put one bit on the hook and then eat the rest.

The meat went down with a hemp filled feeder and the cheese past upstream with a small cage feeder filled with crumb. The meat attracted attention very quickly. After a couple of missed bites the tip rattled about and I was into a small fish, a chub at a guess. Strangely it seemed to get heavier as I reeled it in. Eventually a small pike and a large branch appeared on the surface. The current forced the branch into the dead and dying bankside vegetation. Rather than try and drag the branch through the weed I wandered down stream until I was opposite it. The jack then flicked itself and the hook off the branch. Oh well, saved a bit of faffing about. The sunshine disappeared and the wind and rain turned up. During which I had several bites to meat which couldn't hit despite tying different sized pieces. The cheese though was steadfastly ignored.

After the rain the sun popped out again and I enjoyed a sandwich and cuppa while nothing much happened. I'd swapped the baits around to no effect. Not long after I returned them to the original arrangement I got a couple of sharp tugs on the downstream rod and was into something heavy. A decent barbel I thought, but no, a decent pike rolled on the surface. It didn't really put up the struggle It should have done at this time of year. After a bit of a problem with the net snagging with the pike only half in, I got it to the bank, all 12lb 8oz of it. A rather skinny beast with what looked like and otter bite to it's dorsal fin.

There had been quite a bot of pike activity. Bait fish scattering downstream of me. As somebody came down the far bank looking like he intended to prebait, until he saw me, a swim a pike swirled on the far bank. A bit later a fish shot out of the water in front of me. A couple of anglers who'd been fishing downstream reported pike activity with one taking a jack on pellet. Looked like I'd made the wrong choice. I fished on into dark, but apart from a couple of rattles on the meat caught nothing more. In the half hour between the sun dropping behind the hill and dark the temperature had dropped from 13C to 7C.

Full Tank, Empty Net

Friday I decided to do a spot of feeder fishing on the Derwent using sweetcorn as bait to see what I could pick up in the way of fish. As I had my lunch I looked at Google maps to see what state the roads were in before I set off. For no obvious reason the journey along the main road was going to take 45 minutes instead of the the normal 25. A thirty five minute drive along the back roads saw me at the river with out the frustration of sitting in a traffic queue. Talking to an angler that arrived after me it transpired people were driving 6-8 miles out of the city to sit in a queue to buy petrol at one of the most expensive garages around. Glad I filled up Thursday while at the supermarket.

Talking to anglers as I wandered down the fishery only the odd chub was coming out. I stuck with my plan of feeder fished sweetcorn.  First cast was a tad too close to the snag/feature, but I pulled free intact. I alternated between the middle of the river and the nearside. After an hour I managed to foul hook a minnow. A change to a 6mm pellet didn't seem to do anything either. Eventually I had a good rattling bite on the inside line, but failed to contact with anything. Continuing in to dark failed to make any difference. My first blank of the season.

I was really surprised at the lack of bites. Maggots, meat, pellets, paste used by other anglers had similar results. Not the best start to Autumn. Looking at a oaks Quercus robur around me there were very few acorns on them this year, probably due to the rather dry weather.

Moving Baits Only

Looking at the river gauges the only rivers to show any significant movement from Tuesday's rain were the Derwent and the Nidd. I decided to had to the Nidd, mainly because forthcoming roadworks would mean me having to go the long way round for any rivers in that direction over the next month. Not that there isn't enough road works to contend with already. Unlike last week, it was warm and sunny as I arrived in the car park. Surprisingly there were two cars already there. I have no idea where they were fishing as I didn't see anybody as I headed to one of the deeper but fastish flowing swims. The bright sunshine made me think the shallower swims wouldn't fish well, especially as the water was nearly back to normal level and with very little colour in it.

After an hour in the first swim either trotting or feeder fishing maggots over hemp I hadn't had so much as a chewed maggot so moved to a slightly shallower swim upstream. I got a small gudgeon first cast on float, but nothing else after that. I did manage a couple of chewed maggots on feeder. 

The next swim up was the swim I was in last week. I decided to give it a go despite the bright sunshine. A couple of trots down I was into gudgeon. Every one the same size. After half an hour or so a large perch followed one of the gudgeon in. I put the feeder rod out with a lob worm on and took the opportunity to have a cuppa as I was a tad thirsty. The rod sat there for half an hour with some much as a nod. I transferred the worm to the float rod, but still couldn't get a bite. A change back to maggots resulted in a feisty perch around the pound mark. The next trot down produced a slightly smaller one around twelve ounces or so. 

A few more trots and I started picking up dace around the 4-6oz mark. I'd had a couple of dozen dace by the time it got too dark to see the float.

I fished an hour and a half in the dark on the feeder rod. alternating between maggot and worm on the hook. This produced one missed bite to worm. I'd have thought the bit of rain would have encouraged the barbel to feed, but no. Not in this swim any way. During the darkness there was a lot of noise on the far bank, crunching undergrowth mainly. I assume it was badgers as they don't seem to worry about sneaking up on anything or keeping quiet so as not to attract predators.

 

As I walked back to the car a barn owl swooped through a gap in the trees not a yard from me causing me to start. Another one (the same one?) was perched on the gate as I drove down the lane and only took off when I got out of the car to open the gate.

Thunder and a New PB

Given the weather warning for thunderstorms I kept looking at the rain radar to see what was heading my way. It looked like rain may arrive at tea time, but knowing whether it was going to be a light shower or something far worse was another matter. Sod it I'm going fishing. I head down to the Nidd where the farmer was gathering in his straw bales in. I had maggots, hemp and pellets with me. The intention being to float fish maggots over hemp and if the rain came I'd change to feeder fish pellets.

The first hour was mainly chewed maggots and the odd tiny dace along with the constant buzzing of bees as they take the last of the pollen from the Himalayan balsam. Occasionally  a seed pod would explode scattering seeds everywhere and triggering others seed pods to explode. 

Steadily the thunder got louder and louder. A look at the rain radar showed something horrible heading my way. As it got closer it looked like I may be on the edge of it. Even so the rain was really heavy and my light weight summer brolly isn't as waterproof as it could be. While the rain came down I chucked the feeder rod out with a 8mm pellet as bait. Not expecting much to happen I partook of a sandwich and cuppa. The heavy rain brought down a lot of willow leaves so when it eased off I stuck with the feeder but with a couple of maggots on the hook. This produced some real rattling bites on the barbel rod and resulted in several decent dace and the odd chublet.

After the worst of the leaf debris had past I went back on the float and rather than the dace I was expecting I was straight into gudgeon. One dace did show up just before everything went quiet. As I contemplated going back on the feeder I got a couple of strange bites where the float shot sideways across the water, but I didn't contact anything. Continuing with the float I got a bite right at the bottom of the swim and was clearly into something reasonable. At firsts it felt like a chub, but then it suddenly had a turn of speed which made me think a pike had grabbed what ever I'd hooked. As I turned it I felt the unmistakable head shaking of a perch and clearly a good one at that. After a little while and an attempt to get into the weeds under my feet it was in the net. It didn't look quite as big as it had fought, but it did feel heavy. At 3lb 1oz and 43cm it was a new PB, for this country, and my first 3lber.

I had a few more trots down, but the fading light and cloud cover was making the float very hard to see. While I could still see the rod tip I put the feeder out with a couple of maggots on. Just into dark, as the drizzle started, the rod hooped over and I was into what was clearly a barbel. Strangely it made no attempt to head for the snags but stuck resolutely to the bottom of the the river. After a brief battle, and the usual palaver near the net I had a barbel around the 4-5lb mark on the bank.

As I had no desire to be packing up in the rain I decoded to end the session there. The next problem was getting out of the swim. The precipitous bank I'd come down in the dry was now rally greasy with only nettles or thistles to hang on to. With the aid of the trusty storm pole I managed to get out and up the flood bank using the old two steps forward, one step back technique. The walk back to the car in the light drizzle and mist seemed a lot longer than the third of a mile it was.

Not a bad session at all, even with out the new PB. The river at this point still has a reasonable bit of water in it. I have seen it a lot lower.  I reckon if I'd fished at the other end of the fishery I'd have missed the heavy downpour as the farm track quickly turned dry with no water in the potholes like earlier.

Swale Barbel Float Fishing Fiasco Type Thing

As I got the kit out of the car I was reliably informed by a passer-by that there had been quite a few barbel out over the weekend. Well that's jinxed my day I thought to myself. Unlike some stretches there was still a reasonable amount of water in the river. As I'd remembered the waders this time I headed for the same swim as last week. I'd brought a selection of baits along with the usual pellets I'd also got bread, hemp and luncheon meat. As the feeder rod was already rigged up I decided to chuck that out first, while I got the float rod set up. A 12mm pellet as hook bait and a few pellets in the feeder to provide a scent trail.  I'd only just got the action cam set up when the tip whacked over in typical barbel style. After a brief battle a nice fish around the 4-5lb mark was in the net. When I checked the camera to see if was framed OK I discovered I'd forgotten to delete the old files from the SD card so nothing much had been recorded.

At least there was a barbel in the swim and there may well be more. My plan was to fish either bread, pellets or meat on the hook and feed hemp. By wading I would be able to get more control over the float and trot further down the swim. I opted for the 13' JW Young Specimen trotter and a Grice & Young D'Or reel with 10lb Mono and an 8lb hook length to a size 10 Gripz hook for the bread or meat. A size 12 with a band was to be used with the pellet. This was supported by a 4.5g Chubber float. Despite fishing the float through at the speed of the current, fishing it over depth and holding back and all sorts in between I couldn't buy a bite on the float. When It got too dark to see the float I chucked the feeder rig our again and got a bite almost straight away. A similar sized fish to the last one, but putting up more of a struggle. As I went to land it it dived under the net and snagged to hook in the mesh. As I struggled to manoeuvre the net under it all I did was successfully unhook it.

Quite why the barbel aren't taking a moving bait I have no idea. In the past I've caught more barbel on the float from the Swale than any other river.

As I left I came across another angler leaving. He'd had a barbel last thing and a few chub. In the car park I talked to another angler who'd had the one barbel.  He told me he'd had very little success feeding hemp and that maggot or caster had been the best bait this season. For him any way.