A Quicky On The Navigation

 Had chance for a couple of hours on the navigation so chucked a few bits in the car and off I went. As I wandered towards the locks a few small fish scattered which must be a good sign. A small shad in a roach like pattern was tossed out along the wall where the fish had scattered. A couple of casts later and I was in to a small jack and not the perch I was expecting. Still it was good fun on the light set up. Another fifteen minutes of casting about produced the odd hit but no contacts.

Suspecting it was little perch I changed to the ultra-light set up and a two inch shad. This two produced hits but no contacts. A change to a one inch shad on too larger hook, as it was the smallest I had, found me hitting about one in three of the rattles. Little hand size perch were all that seemed to be about. You had to fish within a foot of the wall to get hits. Anywhere else produced nothing.

By the time it was time to go I'd had seventeen of the little beasties. A somewhat frustrating session with the tail nipping. I think drop-shotting would have done better, but I didn't have any of the relevant bits in the bag. I've now added them to the bag along with the smaller sized jigs, just in case.

Second Day Of The Yorkshire Trout Season 2023

 Second day of the trout season and peek at the river gauges showed the head waters to be dropping. As the others fancied a walk I offered to taxi them to somewhere nearby. The only problem with Sundays in touristy areas is the Sunday drivers who seem to be completely baffled by single track roads and passing places. They seem to think everybody else should use the passing place but not them, unless they want a picnic. Thankfully there was still some space at the parking spot. It was noticeably colder up here. The river had dropped and while it still had a bit of a peaty tinge to it didn't look bad. While having a cuppa I got set up. I was just going to fish spiders so set up the classic triumvirate of Waterhen Bloa, Partridge and Orange, and Snipe and Purple.

Having found my way into the field I was a bit puzzled as to how you got to the river as there was a barbedwire fence between me and the river.Waders and barbed wire are not a good combination. Eventually I spotted a gate and was on the river bank. The wading staff proved it's worth navigating through the tree roots. My preferred method is to fish upstream, but the trees weren't going to make it easy so I settled for up and across. This makes it relatively easy to sort of spey-cast the flies back upstream. The third or fourth cast and the tip of the fly line jagged in the current and a strike had me into a little fish of 6-8" which came adrift when I caught the rod tip in the branch above me. It had taken the bloa on the point. I had a few more casts in the area before moving on. I worked my way back upstream towards the car.

After a spot of lunch and a brief flurry of sleet I headed further upstream. with a euro nymph setup. This didn't last long as all it seemed to do was get snagged between the stones even though it wasn't heavily weighted. I changed back to the spider rig and with a bit more room was able to fished directly upstream. After half an hour I had my second take of the day but lost it when the little beastie jumped. A little bit further on I got another take which was hooked and lost almost immediately. Next cast I was in again. Again it slipped the hook when I lost my footing fumbling for the landing-net. Luckily I was stood in only a couple of inches of water so only ended up with a sore bum rather than a soaking. Not long after the alarm on the phone went which meant I had to be off to pick the others up. 

No trout to the net but at least I'd hooked some so I'm taking that as a win. Back at the car I watched a Grey Wagtail for a while. for a bird with an obvious yellow underside it's not well named. It has as much yellow as the Yellow Wagtail. It may also be time for a set of waders with a zipper. Either that or don't have a big mug of tea before fishing.

First Day Of The Yorkshire Trout Season 2023

 The 25th, the first day of the trout season in some parts of Yorkshire nearly always disappoints and today was no different. The rivers had been up and down since before the end of the coarse season, the rivers had started to drop here and there. This morning, though, the dales rivers were rising again so I wasn't going to trail up there not sure what state the rivers would be in. The couple of local rivers available to me were a bit on the high side for my liking but I'd been told that they were coloured  but not a muddy colour. So that's where I headed. 

The first river I visited had about a foot or so of visibility. I worked my way along with a spider set up to start with. A Williams favourite on the point, a snipe & purple on the middle dropper and a bloa on the top dropper. This produced nothing in among the showers. I changed to a small jig lure on a euro style set up on the way back up, again nothing showed.

Having failed on the first river I headed to the second. As I sat in the car having lunch a group of people came wandering up the lane with some alpacas. I do hope they got back before the rain turned torrential. I had two setups ready for this slightly larger river. The euro lure setup and a heavier rod with a large single lure on. In between showers I chucked these things about. In one deep hole I did get what I think was a take on the euro setup, but despite changes to the lure couldn't get it to have a second go. Late on, before another downpour arrived. I had what looked like one of the escapee rainbows follow a lure a couple of times. Again changes to the lure didn't get it to take. As I was packing up I saw a barn owl flying along the hedge row. So not the start I always hope for but I tried and there's plenty more of the season to go.

That's All Folks

 Last day of the coarse fishing season on rivers and they're all in flood. The Ouse was still rising rather quickly and after yesterday I didn't really fancy it. So the Derwent it was. I'd spent a short time yesterday evening sorting the barbel gear out and rooted around in the bait bin and fridge for some bait. I had halibut pellets and paste, garlic spam, luncheon meat, and cheese paste. I'd also gathered up a collect of 90g plus leads and similar weight feeders.

Arriving at the empty parking spot it looked like I'd have the whole section to my self. Not that I needed it as Looking at the water level I knew where I'd be fishing. There are a couple of swims I've found work in flood conditions and one of them didn't require a decent down a slippy bank. The only problem was the very cold wind blowing into my right lug 'ole. This was soon rectified by using the brolly as a windbreak. The swim had two nice creases. One upstream and the other down. In the upstream crease I plonked a 90g feeder three quarters full of halibut pellets and an 12mm one as bait. Down stream I started with a 100g lead and a gobstopper size halibut pellet. I bit of halibut putty was placed in the lead as well. My intention, if I wasn't catching, was to cycle through the hook baits on the downstream rod.

Just before lunch a couple of mink came bouncing along the far bank before vanishing into the woods. The buzzards could also be heard behind the trees. By mid-afternoon I'd cycled through the baits and was back on the big pellet and had changed to a big 120g feeder three-quarters full of smaller pellets soaked in halibut juice. On cue the rain arrived, not too heavy but cold and unpleasant none the less. After half an hour the rain had stopped but the temperature was dropping noticeably. I'd resigned my self to a third blank in a row and decided it was time to go. I brought the upstream rod in first and having sorted that out and taken the brolly down the sun came out. There was no heat in it though. As I walked up to the down stream rod the tip bent slowly over. Thinking it was more debris on the line I just started winding in. Half way back the debris moved out into the main current. 'Twas a fish. A bit more pressure and came back into the slack. As usual with barbel the moment I showed it the net it made another attempt at freedom but a bit of bullying soon had it in the net. A chubby beats of 7lb 3oz. A reasonable way to end the season I thought. I could see no point in continuing, I'd caught what I was after so mission accomplished.

I'm quite pleased with the result, it seems a reasonable way to finish. What really surprised me though, apart from the mink, was that no other anglers has shown up. Previous years when I've fished the last day here there's a few turn up mid-afternoon to tea time. Eleven days until the trout season on the rivers. So it's fluff chucking and stillwater fishing for three months.

Penultimate Day Of The Season

The river had risen a lot higher than expected when I looked at the gauge this morning. It was at the height I expected in the afternoon and didn't look like it was going to ease off. My mate was just setting off when I rang him. As he said "It's easier to give up than get started." Despite misplacing himself he still arrived at the same time as me. Our first thought when we saw the river was that we should have brought worms and not dead-baits. Still there were plenty of slacks in evidence so we picked the first two and got underway.

I'd just finished plumbing the depth when my mate shouted frantically. I whipped down to his swim to find him trying to keep a decent jack out of the semi-submerged tree and get his snagged landing net out of the tree roots and brambles. I untangled the net and soon a feisty 5-6lb jack was on the bank. Apparently it had taken the roach on the drop. This gave us some hope.

We gave each swim about 45 minutes before leap frogging along the swims. As I walked past him in his second swim the float shot away and this time it was a lot smaller fish about half the size that had taken a smelt. Like me he was using up whatever he had in the freezer. Buoyed up we continued along the bank but had had no more as it came up to lunch time. We were now both in front of a couple of large slacks/eddies and get two rods out. We stayed here a bit longer while we had lunch. Wind had got stronger and gustier so you had to make sure everything was nailed down.

The only other anglers we saw all day arrived on the opposite bank just after lunch. One of them was obviously well sheltered as he managed to get a brolly up, something we couldn't do. It would have been nice as the periods of rain were getting longer and heavier. We slowly worked our way back fishing the swims the other had fished on the way down. By the time we got back to the top of the section the river had risen a metre and showed no sign of slowing.

Two fish to my mate and nowt to me was not what I really wanted but under the circumstances was better than we'd thought possible at the start of the day. What to do for the final day I don't know. I'm thinking a spot of barbeling may be on the cards, but I'll wait until the morning to make a descension.

Not Long Now

 'Tis nearly the end of the coarse fish season on rivers and the snow melt is heading towards me. With this in mind and my lack of success with pike on lures, not that I'd tried much, I headed out with a lure rod and a selection of lures. I was heading for a spot I'd not fished for years. According to the gauges it had risen a foot but had levelled out so shouldn't be too bad. The most disturbing thing was the lack of vehicles in the parking spot. Last weekend of the season and no anglers. At least I'd have the place to my self. 

For the best part of two hours I flung baits about. Along the bottom, in the slacks, under the bridge, in the whirlpool, around the lock gates. Nothing. Natural colours, lurid colours, baits with rattles, baits with out. A cuppa and a ponder were called for. The only bait I'd not tried was a spinner bait, but I'd forgot to put them in the bag. After the cuppa I decided to give it another go, but concentrate on the most likely looking spots and run different baits through them. After half an hour a little jack followed a glide bait in a couple of times but didn't attack. I tried a shad  but the failed to elicit a response. In the next swim I got a very savage thump on the glade bait but failed to contact with anything. Next cast the same. Clearly a fish hitting it. I tried nearly all the baits I had but couldn't elicit another take.

Just as I was thinking of calling it a day the shad I was using came to a sudden halt. It was the first really solid snag of the day so it was out with the bit of broom handle and a really good heave to free it. Having got it free I was unwinding the line from the bit of broom handle when it suddenly tightened up. If I'd had my wits about me I'd of struck then, but I got the line of the broom handle and grabbed the rod and started winding. I did feel the fish but a shake of the head and it was off. I probably wouldn't have stayed on given two points on the treble had been bent out. That rig will need a new hook even though I could bend it back to shape the points had been folded over. I only had a half an hour before I had to go and apart from braking a hook point on another snag that was it. Oh well, too more days to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Roads Closed

 With the river up a foot or so I headed to an area I knew would have a few slacks. Unfortunately I'd forgotten the road was closed so I headed further downstream to an area that may have a few slacks. As it was there were very few as the river was just at that awkward height and it had coloured up far than I'd expected. I did find a few small ones that were close together so plonked myself in the middle of them so I could alternate between them.

First thing I did was drop some bits of oil soaked fish bits around the swims. I started with a small 4" rainbow trout on a paternoster rig close to the bank in the small slacks and a piece of eel injected with oil ledgered in the middle. I moved about between the swims for the best part of the day with out any sign of a fish. Before I moved I ran a lure through the swim a few times. A only had a couple of large shads with me that had been fitted with rattles.

Around three as I was making a cuppa the float bobbed about and shot away. The strike made contact with a twig. Had there been a fish or had the twig dragged the float away. It seemed a bit too fast for a twig to me. Out went another little trout. Half an hour later, just as I'd finished my cuppa, the float was away again. This time there was clearly a fish on the end. It made one half hearted run for some nearby tree roots then gave up. Once in the net it came back to life again, but settled down on the bank. A 90cm fish of 8lb 11oz with quite a few bits of damage to it. I was surprised at the weight as it really didn't look that heavy.

That was the lot for the day and given the state of the river I was quite pleased. Others out on the bank didn't seem to have fared well apart from one chap that had had a few roach and a decent perch trotting maggots.