An Incomplete Guide To Short Range Feeder Fishing

 I set out early Tuesday morning in the hope of avoiding the worst of the hot muggy day. It had been my intention the float fish along the edge of a swim I'd fished before. This was not to be though. A bit of plumbing after running the Deeper through the swim showed it to be five foot deep before dropping to seven and a half foot very quickly before rising to six foot equally quickly. I'd accidentality landed the feeder in the hole which had got me a fair few fish last time. It was about four foot from the bank and a couple of rod lengths downstream. So out with the feeder rod and a 30g blackcap. Double maggot as usual. First fish up was a gudgeon. This was soon followed by the inevitable minnow.

There was then a bit of a lull before the next bite. A bit of a rattle then the tip pulled over looking for all the world like a bream bite. The strike showed otherwise. Clearly a perch from the thump, thump, thump. A nice one at that. Over the next forty minutes eight more followed. Most over the pound mark and most with a mouth full of maggots. One smaller fish had a different mouthful in the shape of a small fry and a 4" skinned bullhead.

After the run of perch it again went quiet. I took the opportunity to have a breakfast cuppa. During this time there wasn't a single rattle to the tip. I did, however, nearly end up in the river one one of the chair legs disappeared into a hole. I had to carefully rearrange the seat after that.  After a recast I nearly got the rod ripped out of the rod rest. All I ended up with though was a scale and a couple of chewed maggots. The next cast the rod was still in my hand and the feeder hadn't hit bottom when the rod wrenched over. A bit of a frantic battle ensued for a minute or so before a jack pike came thrashing to the surface. Neatly hooked in the scissors it must have taken the maggots on the drop.

After another lull the bites came thick and fast. I think I hit one in four. There was all sorts down there. You didn't know what was coming up next. Roach, dace, chub, gudgeon all put in an appearance over the next hour or so. Mainly small fish which accounted for the poor hook up rate. I suppose a smaller hook and a single maggot may have solved this problem but I was getting enough fish anyway.

By now the heat was getting a bit much for. I'm not a hot weather person, but sweat dripping down you while you're sat still is a bit silly. I cast out again but something was a bit odd. The feeder never hit the bottom but the line had gone slack. Winding in a came into contact with something in front of me which continued up stream. It felt a bit bigger than everything bar the pike. Eventually I got it to the surface and found I was into another jack. This proved to be a little bugger at the net. Four times it jumped out before I got it on the bank. I did think of packing up then but had a few last casts with the remainder of the maggots. I got bites the moment the feeder hit the bottom. Bleak a shoal of bleak had moved in. Now was the time to pack up. I wasn't faffing about trying to catch beak on a feeder rod.

It wasn't a bad mornings fishing especially as I haven't done particularly well early morning on rivers. Normal evening had been better. I may have to try mornings more often.