Return To The Trout

 I still hadn't made my mind up where to go fishing on Thursday. I had a quick shufti though the river gauges and noticed a couple of the trout rivers had had a bit of a lift from the rain earlier in the week. I decide a trip up the valley of cheese may be a good idea. I checked the weather and seemed it would be a nice, if somewhat draughty, day. What didn't occur to me was that I would be trying to fly fish an easterly flowing river in a strong westerly.  At various points I passed signs proclaiming some road or other would be close from some point or other at some time or other. How you're supposed to read these signs on a sixty MPH road I don't know I suppose I could have made a nuisance of myself and slowed right down and annoyed everybody behind me. Besides there had been several signs claiming the were no white lines. There were plenty of very bright, newly painted white lines. So were the signs even relevant any more. It transpired the road was closed, but I knew the road that they claimed only went to a village in fact went very close to where I wanted to be. I eventually arrived late late afternoon and was surprised to see a couple of anglers fishing my club stretch. They would be the first I'd seen. A natter with one, Paul, found they they were staying nearby for three days as they weren't from these parts and that they'd had three fish between them in the morning. They'd struggled in the wind though.

I ventured Up to the top of the stretch as I thought it may be more sheltered. With the river nearly six inches up and falling it looked a lot healthier than last time I'd fished. I rigged up a duo and fished the faster water in some of the more sheltered spots for a while with no bites. I then tried some of the smother glides but didn't get an signs of fish. I worked my way back towards the car but things didn't get any better. A change of tactics were called for. As the wind had dropped a bit I decided to fish a couple of spiders through the faster riffles. Getting them to turn over was a bit tricky at times. One spot fishing downstream produced a couple of takes but I failed to connect properly. This is always a problem when fishing downstream. Near the bottom of the stretch and back to fishing upstream I  got a good solid take and a very nice 14" wild brown trout was in the net after a bit of acrobatics. No photo though as it jumped clear of the floating net while I was faffing with the phone. Wet hands and touch screens don't always cooperate. Another fish was lost not long after, throwing the hook as it cartwheeled about.

I thought I'd do a lot better after the river had lifted a bit. There was very little hatching apart from the odd small upright. I didn't see any fish rise at all. The two chaps fishing earlier had seen a couple of fish jump but that was it. It wasn't until I got home I realised that I hadn't taken many photos for some reason.

Seventh Day Fifth Session Of The 2023 River Season

 As I climbed over the stile-of-doom for the final session of the opening week I pondered whether it was a good idea to only have light trotting gear with me on a renowned barbel water. I also knew I may have a bit of a problem finding a swim suited to light float gear as most people fish for barbel. The first accessible swim I found was about two and a half foot deep and in the bright sunshine was seemingly devoid of anything but minnows. I chucked a few handfuls of hemp in with the intention of fishing it on my way back.

After negotiating a couple more stiles I found a nice looking swim on the end of a bend. With seven foot of water at the end of the fifteen foot rod it seemed an ideal place for a bit of not trying very hard to catch fish on the float. A 4 № 4 stick float shotted down with № 6 shot a trotted through nicely. Loose feeding hemp and maggots. I was soon getting chewed maggots. Moving the tell-tail shot closer to the hook and the first out was a small bleak. The pattern for the day was soon set as small bleak, dace, roach, and chublets were occasionally caught. I managed top get a steady rate by gradually shallowing the rig until it was about three from the bottom. This also vastly reduced the problem of chewed maggots. I didn't bother with photos of the fish as I, and you, don't really need any more photos of little tiddlers. I'd not brought the keepnet with me for some reason, either.

Occasionally I'd increase the depth to fish along the bottom but this just resulted in unmissable bites that I could hit and chewed maggots. I did try hemp on the hook a few times but nothing was interested. Some seventy one fish  landed and none needing the landing net. No pike bothering me. It had been a pleasant afternoon/evening. But I did fancy a go in the shallow swim. There seemed to be a few larger fish in it when I got there. They looked like chub around the pound mark. A few maggots tossed in seemed to attract their attention. A change of rig to a one swan loafer shotted with  five BB shot and a size fourteen hook with three maggots on was soon trotting down the run. One thing that was noticeable was how cold the water was. Stood in the shallows my feet could feel the cold through my wellies. Just before the float reached the weed where the chub were it dipped under and out came a little gudgeon. My first of the season. I could no longer see the occasional flash of the chub, so tossed a few more maggots in and climbed up the bank for a better view. No sign of them. I sat and waited, cup of tea in hand. Catapulting more maggots into the swim, but they failed to return.

I didn't want to be too late setting back home as there was going to be several road closures on my route and I didn't fancy spending time traipsing round the diversions. Also there is a nasty steep little climb back to the car. It had been I nice way to spend the opening week, trotting for whatever. No real complications. No rush to catch, just take it as it comes along. For the rest of the season I'll be trying to catch a barbel from all the Yorkshire rivers to which they are endemic. I'd also like a double on float.

Sixth Day Fourth Session Of The 2023 River Season

 The most exciting part of yesterday's fishing expedition was finding the river. The Dunesfordes are dead end villages. I'd never fished this section before so wasn't quite sure where I was going The sat nav seemed to get confused as you're never sure whether you're on public or private roads. Eventually, after missing a turn hidden behind the apex of a bend and driving into the wrong field I spotted the club sign on a gate. The track through the fields down to the river wasn't as obvious as I'd hoped so I got out and had a wander. It was more obvious on foot than from the car. Eventually I got my way to the river bank despite the apathetic sheep that seemed to be in no hurry to get out of my way. Must be something to do with the solstice.

The river was much as expected. Some 40 yards wide and 2 to 3 fathoms deep. Even though it was some 6" up on normal summer levels there was still very little flow. A brief natter with the only other angler there made me wonder why I'd bothered. He was struggling for bites and had only a couple of small dace for a couple of hours fishing. He said that the all over the place gusty breeze made presentation hard work. There weren't a lot of swims that were easily accessible so I just plumped  for one near where I'd come to a halt in the car.

I set up two rigs.  A 3g slim bolo at 13' for 3 rod lengths out. and a 5g slider rig at 15' for the middle of the river. Hemp and maggots for the inside line and groundbait and maggots for the middle of the river. The middle line was the first to produce with a tiny roach on double maggot. Bites were hard to come by though. A bleak was next up from the middle of the river. I then changed to the inside and had a couple of dace. I then got my hopes up when I got a 6-8oz chub. No more bites were forthcoming so I went out to the middle again and had a slightly larger chub. For the rest of the session I just picked up the odd dace here and there. The other chap left before me and had had a dozen or so small roach and dace. I ended up with 15 fish, 1 roach, 1 bleak, 2 chub, and 11 dace.

Not the most productive day but I wasn't pestered by pike for a change. People tell me this is a winter venue but i know good bags can be had in summer.

Fifth Day Third Session Of The 2023 River Season

 Tuesday morning it rained from breakfast to the middle of the afternoon. Although not particularly heavy the drains didn't cope with it well especially in the countryside where huge puddles had developed. This combined with multiple road closures, inaccurate council information and a myriad of diversion signs, meant it was nearly four before I got to the river. Nobody else had been down to this stretch as there was no sign of any of the swims, just shoulder high herbage. It was at this point I realised the thing that had been nagging me since the start of the season was that I'd forgotten to put the machete in the rod bag. Luckily a trample and a good thrashing with a storm pole created a bijou little swim.

Plumbing around it soon became apparent that  there was a good bit of weed and other snags on the inside. The centre seemed to give a good run, a seven foot or so, so I upped the float from a 6 № 4 to a 4BB alloy stick. That's what Drennan call it, but to me it's a slim bodied avon. Shotted with size six shot.The lighter float was OK but in the gusty downstream breeze I'd have better control. The rest of the setup was the same as Tuesday. Fortuitously a couple of reflections on the water were ideal targets for the loose feed. The downstream one for hemp and the one opposite for maggots.

The first half consisted of unmissable bites and chewed maggots. A lot of fiddling with the shotting pattern ensued before the bites became hittable. Basically I ended up with a bulk at half depth and the rest strung out below with a № 9  Stotz on the hook length. I also found the bites were better fishing six inches off bottom rather than on the bottom. For the next hour or so I caught small bleak, minnows, roach, and dace. It then went quite for a while, but increasing the depth so the bait was tripping bottom resulted in three hand size roach in among some large bleak.

Bites had generally slowed down by this point. I'd been feeding hemp every other cast and maggots every cast so up the hemp to every cast. This seemed to do the trick as the little dace turned up again. Then some large 6-8oz chub turned up. Unfortunately I lost several when they bolted in to the snags. I got the rig back each time, normally with a twig and not the fish attached to the hook. A perch then attached it's self to the hook only to be snatched inches from the landing net by a pike. I played it for a while before the pike let go. There was barely any damage to the perch due to it's really tough skin and scales.

I continued on but there seemed to be quite a few pike active as bait fish were scattering at various points in the river. I did manage a couple more chub before one was grabbed by a pike. Again I played it for a while before the pike let go. Chub aren't as tough as perch and this one had a nasty scar. My shiny new keepnet then suffered a couple of pike attacks. I was then bitten off by a little cucumber of a thing that grabbed the double maggots as I wound in. 

That was enough of a hint for me to pack up. I'd fished for four and half hours for fifty seven fish. Don't know what the weight was as I'd misplaced my scales. I found them on top of the car when I got back! Bait fish were still scattering as I packed up, so I think continuing would have been futile. I released the fish further upstream, the only other point I could easily reach the river. Up to that point it had been a nice session with out trying to hard. Just trotting a float and waiting for it to go under really is rather enjoyable.

Inspecting the new keepnet this morning it showed no sign of any damage. How long it will survive before  a pike rips a hole in it I don't know. One can live in hope as these things, like everything else, are not cheap. The machete has been loaded into the rod bag, although I probably won't need it again. 

Today's trip is still in the planning stages. I can't make my mind up where to go basically.

Fourth Day Second Session Of The 2023 River Season

 Monday's session took place on a larger deeper slower river. By deeper I mean ten foot deeper at fourteen foot. I set up two rods. One with a 5g Bolo float and the other with a big stick. The rods were fifteen foot Greys Toreon with Daiwa 120M reels. ).16mm reel line and 0.120mm hook lengths with Drennan carbon match hooks in size 16 completed the set up. For bait I'd intend to fish maggot over hemp, but had forgotten to put he hemp in the bag so loose fed maggots it was.

Things didn't get of to a flying start when the first fish turned out to be a minnow. The next fish a while later was a bleak. On the next trot down I hooked a small perch which shot up stream faster than I could wind. The big swirl as I lifted it out showed why. It was being hunted by a pike. Things then went quiet for the best part of an hour. I alternated between the big stick and the bolo. The big stick rig produced a couple of minnows.

I continued to feed but only at every other cast. I missed the next bite as I was busy watching a barn owl quartering the field opposite. I wound in to find something of a reasonable size on the end. After a bit of a spirited fight a perch of 1lb 10oz was in the net. At no point in the fight did it feel like a perch. No head shakes, just sheer speed. Things then went quiet again.

Another hour or so passed before I started to get bites on the big stick rig. For the next hour and a half there was a steady flow of fish. Dace, bleak, roach, and the occasional chublet came in. You didn't know what the next bite would be from. They were all in the same area though, roughly where I expected the loose feed to hit the river bed. It then went quiet again. As I was running low on bait I called it a day. A total of forty six fish for 5lb 8oz, although nearly a third of that weight was the big perch. You can see why match anglers often set up an inside line for the odd perch like that.

Opening Day Of The 2023 River Season

 The main worry for the start of the season was the temperatures and lack of rain. The levels weren't the lowest I've seen and I had it on good authority the the water temperature had been hovering around 14 ℃, so things weren't too bad. While I didn't get down to the river until mid-afternoon some had been down there ready for 00:00 hours. Personally I don't find early mornings on rivers to be that productive. As usual for the first week or so of the season I was just going to be trotting maggots over hemp for whatever comes along.

By the time I'd got to the swim, kicking up clouds of grass pollen on the way my hay fever had kicked in. I tossed out some hemp and maggots over a largish area and boiled up the kettle for a cuppa waiting for my nose to stop streaming. It's not easy tackle up in that condition. Once things had settled I setup the, now, 13' 6" float rod with centrepin. 0.14mm mainline and a 0.10mm hook length with a B560 size 16 hook. A 4 №4 alloy stemmed stick float shotted shirt button style with № 6 shot. A quick plumb and a few runs through with no bait on to get the depth and we were underway.

 

The first fish of the season was a dace taken on the third trot through to double maggot. I soon got into a rhythm. A few grains of hemp downstream, some maggots in front of me, cast. While the dace were of a reasonable size there was clearly some smaller fish in the swim as chewed maggots often came back. These turned out to be bleak when I managed to hit the bites. Things went quite steadily with fish coming in a regular intervals. Dace in the main with the odd chublet, roach, and bleak. With a simple counter app on the phone I'd had 48 fish in two and half hours. Then the pike showed up. I'd managed to get one fish out of the water before it snaffled it, but the next was grabbed some way down the swim and I got bitten off. I took this as a hint to have a cuppa and sandwich. I did keep the feed going in while I had my repast.

Re-rigged and back in action the dace were still present. After a couple of fish I latched onto something a tad heavier which slowly trundled towards the semi-submerged dead tree. With out doubt a barbel and the 0.10mm hooklength was not going to stop it getting there. I upped the hooklength to 0.12mm and continued on. A few more dace and the odd bleak followed, but a lot more chewed maggots also occurred. Strangely single maggot hardly got any bites.

Everything went quiet for a while which I suspected may be a pike in the swim. Next fish up, though, was another barbel. This one was kind enough to stay out of the snags. Initially it came towards me quite easily before making a 20 yard dash downstream. Slowly I cranked it back before it did the same thing again.I managed to crank it back then it just sat in the current just upstream of me. It then circled round a few times. each time I got it closer to the net. When it finally got close enough I made a bit of a hash of getting it in the net, but it let me have a second go. A fish around the 5½-6lb. I wanted to unhook it in the water but couldn't reach it as the mud next to the bank was thick and deep as I'd found out earlier. A bit of a rest, on to the mat, unhooked, and photographed took very little time. A further rest in the net, which it didn't seem to need and all was OK.

 A couple more roach followed but things ha gone very quiet. Around 20:30 I hooked another barbel that shot straight into the overhanging trees opposite and smashed me up. I pondered getting the heavy trotting gear out but decided to call it day. It had been pleasant enough with some 74 fish and the barbel. I'd enjoyed my bit of stick and 'pin fishing for whatever. The barbel being a bonus. A bit more water obviously won't go amiss and we're being threatened with thunderstorms on Sunday, and some light rain/drizzle through next week. Hopefully this will come to pass.

Trout And Other Fishes

 Last Thursday I had a bit of a wander  along a stretch I'd not fished for a long time. I only had an hour. I'd set up a duo rig for a bit of searching about if nothing was showing. As I got to where the public footpath deviates from the route I needed to take there was a hare apparently pointing me in the right direction. The section was far shorter than I remembered and I was soon at the bottom of it. There appeared to be a couple of fish rising on the far bank under the trees. I flicked the rig out into the river to start to cast and the klinkhammer shot away and in came a dace. I tried again and same thing, as dace had grabbed the nymph. Looking down from the top of the bank there was a very large shoal of them.

I cast over top the far bank and again the klinkhammer shot under. This time, though, it was a small grayling. I moved upstream and had another cast over to the faster current on the far bank and got another grayling. The slow current on the inside appeared to be full of dace and the faster current on the outside grayling. A I wandered up I had a few more casts. If I got a bit it was either a dace or grayling. All the same size like peas in a pod. I moved up to one of the faster riffles. This was full of ravenous minnows either try to sink the klink or devouring the nymph. The wind then got up and made a nuisance of its self. If it was blowing down stream the fly got dragged along faster than the current and if it was blowing upstream the fly line was held stationary in the slow current. This made fishing the far bank nay on impossible. Anyway time was up.

As I wandered down the stretch on Sunday there was the usual black stuff flittering about, along with the occasional Yellow May. Waders probably weren't the best idea in the heat but the wind was only light so I should be able to get a decent drift.  Near the bottom of the stretch I spotted two, possibly three, 10-12" trout apparently feeding in the shadows near an over hanging branch. They weren't rising but were darting about grab something or other just below the surface.   I set up a duo rig like last time only this time I put on a yellow klinkhammer. It took three casts to get the drift right but right it was. A larger trout of some 18" porpoised grabbed the klink and was away. The overhanging branch must have trailed well into the river as the line was going round it as the fish fled down stream. Sinking the rod tip caused the line to come loose and also the fish. Poo, or words to that effect.

I waited a bit but the other trout didn't return. A bit further up another trout was spotted in the shadows and first cast the nymph was grabbed. A spirited fight and a bit of leaping and my new floating landing nets was christened. A trout of 10" or so. A similar scenario played out a few minutes later this time with a slightly bigger trout. When i released it it sat for a while before launching it's self straight towards the bank and beaching it's self. It didn't make that mistake second time. It was a long release on the next two trout. One took the dry the other the nymph.

It was quite a while before I saw any more fish activity, apart from the parr leaping out of the water. It's surprising how far these little 4-6" beasties can get above the water. I was also surprised I hadn't hooked any. Given the heat I was about to give up when I spotted a fish of a similar size to the others casually swimming upstream in the middle of the river. I dropped the flies ahead of it and it slunk away before rising up to inspect the klink. It continued upstream, as did the klink. It must have grabbed the nymph as it exploded when I struck. Despite keeping the rod low it leapt about all over the place and was an absolute bugger to net, but net it I did. The biggest of the day at 12".

With lots of small grayling, some large shoals of dace and plenty of par about things are looking quite good for the river. A light flush through would be nice with the thunderstorms about. I also noticed a awful lot of pin fry in the margins. How many of these will survive I don't know. Many of the them will end up fattening the trout up. On the way back to the cat I noticed a kingfisher staring into what can only be described as a puddle. It shot away as I approached. Watching the puddle I could see a few 3-4" either dace or chub. I assume they'd ended up there when the river last flooded. A passer-by asked what I was looking at and when I pointed out the fish they suggested I could rescue them with my net. I suggested they were probably best left where they were to feed the kingfishers or what ever. They said they'd never have thought of that and that maybe things like that were supposed to happen to give the youngsters a fighting chance. The opening day of the coarse fish season is soon so I'll see you all then and tight lines to you all.