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.