Barbel Weather, Not Pike Weather

I had got my pike gear ready, but the weather suggested other ideas. It looked like the river would be rising Thursday in Friday. This was correct, but the river would start falling early Friday morning and continue to fall into the evening. There would still be an extra metre of water in the river so the barbel may be feeding. Much to my surprise the parking spot was empty when I got there. I realised as I got to the bank that I may have been better on the far bank as the strong wind was blowing straight at me. If it rained there was know way a brolly would be any good. Due to the lack of bridges hereabouts it would be a half-hour drive to the far bank so I decided to stick it out.

I decided to keep things simple. A matchbox sized piece of meat on a straight lead out in the middle and a worm on a straight lead on the inside by the overhanging trees. As I was setting up the action cam a swan came drifting down the river. At first I thought it was injured as it was resting it's head on it's body. As I pointed the camera at it it's head popped up and it gave out a plaintive squeak which lead me to believe it may have been one of this years cygnets that's been kicked out. It then went back to sleep again, which seemed a bit daft given the speed of the current. As it woke up again and started to swim back upstream the cob appeared round the corner and quickly shooed it away. They really can be quite vicious getting rid of their young.

I swapped the baits about occasionally, but only ended up with the odd chewed worm. just after lunch the weather took a turn for the worse. Driving rain and a strong wind made life a tad unpleasant. It even managed to lift one of the rods out of the rod rests. As I was making an afternoon cuppa the meat rood out in the middle lurched over and the baitrunner started to spin.I was into something reasonable. Unfortunately, having hauled it back upstream, it lodged itself in a snag in front of me. The snag most be a new one for this year as it wasn't there last year. Having tried the big heave from various angles with out success I left it five minutes with slack line. With no movement I went for the straight pull. The hook-length snapped like cotton. The last 3-4" was very badly abraded. I don't think I'd of landed the fish even if I'd got it out. The barbless hook should be easy enough for it to dislodge.

Not long after I'd recast the rod, again with a matchbox sized lump of meat, the tip started to nod about. I lifted into something none to big which I then thought had come adrift. It was not until I got it nearly to the bank that a little barbel around the pound mark decided to put on a bit of a show. At least I'd got my target species. Not long after the sun put in a n appearance allowing the trees to show there autumn colours. Apart from the odd rattle on the worm rod not much else happened. I stayed just into dark, but my usual skill of leaving the head torch behind meant staying longer wasn't a good idea. I found the torch under the car seat next day.

I was surprised when I got home at the number and sizes of frogs hoping about the garden. despite several attempts I only managed to photograph one of them.

Autumn Barbeling in Autumn

My original intention for today was to go pike fishing. Then I remembered that I'd chopped up all the old wire traces, I'm trying to tidy up a bit, and needed to make some new ones. As the barbel kit was still set up I decide to have another go for them. Unlike the last outing the weather was decidedly autumnal. The bit of heat in the sun, when it got through the clouds, just about made up for the chill breeze. There was also the occasional bit of drizzle thrown in as well. There was only one other angler when I got to the river. As I wandered along trying to decide which swim to fish I had the bright idea of fishing a swim that's never produced a barbel for me. Given that very few barbel have been coming out and the usual swim weren't producing it seemed a reasonable gamble.

I plonked a largish piece of meat and hemp feeder as close to the tree roots, on my left, as I dare with out snagging. On the upstream rod I had a worm and a plain lead which I was going to try various spots in the hope of picking up something. Somewhere behind the trees the buzzards were active judging by their squawks. When I did see them for a short while it looked like parents chasing their young away. This was confirmed by a man with binoculars who'd been watching them the day before. He also told me the red kite I'd seen previously had been chased away by the buzzards. The fishing was slow. In fact totally bite free until the middle of the afternoon when I wound in a tommy on the worm rod. I didn't even know it was hooked I just thought I had a load of crap on the line as usual.

The only other thing of note was a RAF A400 that came trundling past just as I was thinking it had been quiet on the aircraft front. The RAF do seem to like fly down the valley.

Talking to the only other  angler we agreed that it had generally been crap down here this autumn, apart from a brief period when the water rose. Time to get the pike kit sorted me thinks.

Summer Barbeling in Autumn

I was surprised to arrive at the parking spot Friday morning to find no other vehicles there. There was one in the other club's car park. With everybody wanting a bit of water in the river I'd expected it to be busy(ish). I know it had been rising on Wednesday and steadily falling since early Thursday, but it was at a nice level Friday. With the river being about 3'-4' up there were a couple of swims that I knew fished well at this height. With no angler s about I headed for the nearest one. Unless you know the river it's not an obvious swim when the rivers flooded. The upstream rod is cast about 2' from the visible reeds, much closer and you are in the weeds. The downstream rod is cast across the river and allowed to swing downstream where it usually settles in a crease.

My original intention had been to use 22mm pellets on one rod and a big lump of meat on the other, but the only hook-lengths I had for pellets were for either 8 or 12mm. A 12mm pellet was dropped upstream with a feeder full of 4 and 6mm pellets. The 4mm ones drift out of the feeder and the 6mm stay put but slowly break down creating a scent trail. I was still faffing about setting the other rod up when the tip sprung back and the line headed quickly downstream. No need to strike. Just pick the rod up and let it arch over. Clearly not a monster, it put up a fair old scrap in the fast flowing water. A tidy little beast around the 5lb mark. I'd misplaced my phone mount so the photos had to be tale using the time honoured precariously perched phone technique.

With a lump of well matured peppered luncheon meat the size of a matchbox on the meat screw and a feeder full of hemp I finally got the other rod out. I did notice as I opened the tin that the best before date was November 2009, one of two tins hiding in the bottom of may rodent proof bait container. I'd also had to remove the woolly and was sat in a T-shirt as it really was rather warm.

About an hour after the first fish the meat rod indicated a bite but I contacted with nothing. Probably chub or debris. Just as I got that rod wound in the upstream rod started to bounce about and I was into something. After a bit of a battle another barbel similar size to the first was in the net. Again a tidy looking fish. This one decided to do the lying upside down in the net trick as it was rested. Eventually it righted it's self. Another 10 minutes and it was trying to drag the net into the river. I gave it another 10 minutes before releasing it.

 

An hour later and the meat rod lurched over. This time I was in and it was clearly a lot bigger than the previous fish. After a protracted battle it was in the net. My guess was that it was pushing double figures. 9lb 7oz it turned out to be. I'd also forgotten to debarb the hook so had to resort to forceps to remove it. As this fish was resting in the net the upstream rod went over and I was into another fish. At first it felt like another barbel, but it seemed to be in midstream. Sadly the line parted. Judging by the coils at the end of the hook length it looked like it had snapped in the middle of the knotless knot. An odd place for it to give. It my have been a pike as I'd heard a couple of reports of them picking up pellets and as we know they also like Peperami and cheese paste.

 

That was it for the day. I fished on for the afternoon, but apart from something having a chew on the luncheon meat there were no more fish. Due to other commitments I couldn't fish into dark. I was quite happy with the day, especially as the chap on the opposite bank hadn't had a thing by the time I left.

Not a bad day o be out with the unseasonably hot weather. We should really be sat out in big coats at this time of year.

First Day Of The Pike Season

Although the first of October is the unofficial start of the pike fishing season it wasn't my intention to go piking today. After the previous two sessions after barbel and/or chub when all I hooked was pike I thought it would be remiss of me not to give it a go. Armed with a lure rod I had a quick session along the same stretch. All looked promising when a small jack followed my eel lure on the third cast. A couple of casts later it grabbed the tail of the lure, no where near the hooks. A couple more casts and I lost the lure in the most annoying way. I managed to release it from the snag only for it to snag in something else even more solid. Despite pulling from different angles the line eventually parted.

Apart form hauling a lot of dead and dying weed out nothing else happened until I got to the swim I got the 12lb 8oz pike from on Monday. First cast and I was into a jack which with a spot of acrobatics throw the hooks next to the bank. At least I'd hooked one. Several more swim and lures later and that was it.

I must admit I was full of optimism, but a couple of attacks and one hooked if not landed isn't that bad. There was a distinct lack of fish activity. On the previous sessions there had been quite a few signs of fish and more than one obvious sign of pike feeding.