A Tad Nippy

For the first time since spring I had to scrape ice off the car window. I even packed the big coat, though I ended up not needing it. Arriving at the car park I found two other cars there and a couple of carp anglers. By the time I'd got set up in a swim near the island the sun had poked through and it was looking like a nice autumn day.

The usual float rigs were to be used. A small trout was dropped a rod length or so out where the pike tend to patrol. A large smelt was dropped in a deeper hole near the end of the island that had produced pike in the past. The was quite a green tinge to the water still and it got more intense to my right which was down wind. The first run came after an hour to the smelt. A little scrapper of a jack at 74cm. I also got my bait back which is a plus, so out it went again.

Another hour passed before the float on the inside moved away. As I stuck the other float moved off. I grabbed that rod and struck and felt a bit of resistance then nothing. Dropping that rod I retrieved the little jack of 68cm on the other.  I didn't have any more large smelt so put out a small mackerel instead. Another little trout was dropped on the inside.

Another hour passed before I got another run. Again it was the inside float that moved away, but this time I failed to contact with anything. There appeared to be no teeth marks on the bait either. As I had lunch the was a sudden influx of anglers. The number triple in half an hour. I've not seen that many on here for a long long time. It did mean, though, that the swim I was going to move to after lunch was now taken, so I stopped put. Mid afternoon the float near the island moved towards me. I wound down to the fish and struck into what felt like another small fish. As I got it near the bank it woke up and set of with a fast run straight into the other rig. This made quite a mess but I managed to chin it with out too much fuss. A fish of 80cm, around 7-8lb I reckoned.

As I went to return it gave a final thrash and drew blood. This made untangling the rigs a bit problematic, but I managed. I didn't realise how much blood had oozed out but the braid was well soaked in it. Whether this would attract the pike I didn't know. It may have repelled them as I didn't have another run. Still three fish out of a possible five isn't so bad.

The Right Wellies - Clay Pit 2

When I arrived at the clay pit a gentleman was already there struggling with the combination lock. I had a wrestle with it but it seemed awful stiff and was very uncooperative. There had been an email about people tampering with the lock so he assumed that's what it was. After a couple of attempts he decided that even if we managed to get in getting out was a higher priority and he didn't fancy being stuck behind the gate, so off he went else where. While I pondered what to do I had another go. A gent walking his dog told me you had to press the shackle into the lock while turning the numbers. Sure enough this worked although the lock still seemed a bit iffy. Never the less I decided to venture in. Especially as I had the correct wellies and had remembered the liquidised bread.

 

Having got in and the gate locked again I set off round the lake with a lure rod. I managed a couple of half hearted follows from jacks but I only had three or four casts in each swim before moving on. One noticeable thing was the lack of fish activity. Nothing topping, no carp splashing about. The two follows were in swims that looked very pikey. Lily pads. Norfolk Reed, and a fallen tree being very inviting. Set up in the first swim I'd had a follow in. A large smelt dropped next to the fallen tree and a small trout suspend under a float near the lily pad. A handful of liquidised bread tossed out near the float to attract any bait fish.

After an hour or so with nothing to show, despite moving the baits about I contemplated moving, but it was rather close to luncheon. Move then have lunch or have lunch then move. I decided on the former. No sooner had I got my Katsu Curry ready when the trout float, now next to the Norfolk Reeds, moved away. Striking into the run a small branch popped out of the water. Thankfully the lunatic little jack shook it off. It fought all the way to the net and for some time after. Another little trout went out, back next to the lily pad and i carried on with lunch. I'd just finished when the float shot under the lilies. I struck but the bait had been dropped. Staring at the float with annoyance it shot off again. This time I connected. Another small looney jack thrashed about the swim before being netted.

Having had a cuppa I moved swims. This one had a larger lily pad and a fair bit of Norfolk reed for the pike to hide in. The same baits were used and moved about the features at regular intervals but nothing more showed. I had another wander with the lure rod to no avail. Just before I considered departing a carp angler arrived. A point disappointed that I'd seen no carp activity. He did give me some info on another venue I'd been regularly told had no pike. He'd also lubricated the lock which as I found out made life a lot easier.

First couple of pike of the new season, even if not big were welcome. Especially as they were  from a venue I'd not pike fished before.

Plans A to C

 My original plan was to fish the Brick Ponds, but I'd been told they were still rather coloured from the run-off . Plan B was to fish the Estate Lake , but I don't have the combination for the lock yet. I'm sure there's somebody I could get in touch with while I await my card, but there was nobody at the pit as I drove past so I opted for Plan C.

 

As I unloaded the car I was greeted by a robin. As the liquidised bread was handy  I sprinkled a some about for it. That would be the last I saw of it. I headed round to the far side and set up the rods. A trout to the right by an overhanging tree and a small half mackerel to the left under an overhanging tree.

Just as I got a cuppa made the left hand float trundled away. I lively little jack was contacted with that decided to show off it's acrobatic skills under the rod tip. I didn't want to net it as one of the hooks was flapping about. Strangely it was hooked on the upper hook that was in the tail of the bait. A tidy little fish of 66cm.

The mackerel was replaced with half a small herring and the head part chopped up and chucked around the swim. I spent the rest of the day moving the baits about the swim or being showered with birch twigs being blown down in the wind. Staying until dark didn't bring any more runs. A couple of maggot drowners popped down for a short while but didn't appear to catch.

Mid afternoon there had been a might crack somewhere over to my right. This turned out to be a dead tree about 9" in diameter which had fallen over the path. The phone camera decided an arty shot was needed. Not sure what went wrong as the flash fired. I managed to move the tree out of the way easy enough. Four out of four so far this season. I'll have to go elsewhere for my next session as I don't want to push my luck at the pit.

Three Out Of Three Thanks To A Friend

New Year's day and I was heading towards the pit half expecting it to be busy. If it was I had an alternative. To my surprise there was nobody there. No anglers, no ice, and most surprising of all no robins. I had half a mind to fish the far side, but lacking conviction I opted for my favourite corner swim. A small spotty in the tiny bay and half a small mackerel under the overhanging branch. A bit of liquidised bread around each float and a bit on the bank for the robins that still hadn't appeared.

I moved the baits every half hour or so as you have a large area available to you from this spot when it's not iced over. Just before lunch I gave the baits a bit of a stab with the knife and moved them back to their original positions while I had my lunch.

With no bites forthcoming I contemplated moving to the other side. By the time I'd finished contemplating another pike angler had materialised on the far side. I decided to stop put and just cast a bait further out towards the middle and keep one in the shallows near me. Half past three and the robins turned up and stated feeding on the breadcrumbs. Don't know what had kept them, perhaps they'd taken my advice and got a decent job. As I tried to get a picture of the paler one the float out in the middle slowly moved away. After quite a hectic fight I had what looked to be a familiar fish in the net. It was the same fish as last Tuesday but now five ounces heavier. Oh well, a blank saver at least.

A sardine replaced the missing mackerel and I fished into dark but nothing more was forth coming.  Three out of three but two different fish. The other pike angler didn't appear to catch anything.

First Proper Pike Session of the Season

 With the weather being somewhat variable, by variable I mean drizzle, light rain, heavy rain, I decided to stay close to home so popped down to the local gravel pit. I was rather surprised when I got there to see nobody else about. I wasn't early arriving just after nine. I( was even more surprised to see it hadn't filled up since summer, being about two foot down. The final surprise was the ice. I'd not expected any ice at all as it hadn't been particularly cold for a while. A couple of swims were not fully frozen and one had a couple of good spots free of ice. The other only having the one. The more open swim was one of my favourites so I opted for that.

The ice wasn't that thick at all close in so shouldn't prove to be much of a problem. I was soon joined by a robin as is usual here. I had brought some liquidised bread so sprinkled a bit on the ground. The robin didn't look impressed I think they prefer maggots. never the less it tucked into the bread popping back through out the day.

I bit of plumbing about showed both spots to about three and a half foot deep. One in a little bay and the other near an over hanging tree. The float were set so the bottom shot just touched bottom. I'd not looked to see what baits I had in the freezer bags. first out was a slightly freezer burnt headless sardine which went in to the bay. next out was a small rainbow trout which went out under the over hanging branches. I tossed out some of the liquidised bread as well in the hope it would attract some bait fish.

 

After half an hour the float in the bay bobbed and shot away a couple of foot before popping back up. I contacted with nothing as expected. I'm convinced bites like that are either liners or tiny jacks. On this occasion I think it was a liner as there were no marks on the sardine at all. A couple of hours, just after the rain had started, later the trout bait was away. I didn't really strike as the fish was moving away from me. After  a brief but hectic tussle in the shallow water I had a nice looking tubby pike in the net. It was in near perfect nick. This surprised me as the pike in here get some hammer and some end up quite tatty. At 88cm and 11lb 1oz it was a good start and very welcome.

There was no more action until three when the rain stopped. I'd decided to move to the other swims there was now quite a large clear area in front of it. I wound in the sardine and dropped it in the margin. As I wound the trout in I saw the tip of the other rod whip over. I grabbed the rod and felt  some thing small on the end. A tiny little jack had firm hold of the end of the sardine but had missed the hook. The sardine came adrift and the jack shot away with it's prize.

I fished the other corner swim until I could no longer see the floats but failed to elicit any action. Still a double was I nice start to my pike campaign proper.

The Angler That Went Out In The Cold

 As I didn't want to travel far, given the current weather conditions, chub fishing seemed the best idea. I made up a batch of liquidised bread and got a couple of balls of cheese paste from the freezer the night before. Unfortunately I left the paste in the garage where it proceeded to not thaw out. A quick wave of the old micros soon sorted that problem though. The car thermometer said -4 is I set off and -3 when I arrived at the river.

I had a wander about on arrival to see what swims would be accessible. A couple could be got in and out of safely so I opted for one of these. It also happens to be a swim that produces the odd very large chub, and I could get the rod rest in.  Things didn't get off to a great start when I found my two piece feeder rod was now a three piece. Thankfully the barbel rod I'd also brought was intact. Not ideal as even with the softer top it wouldn't be as sensitive as the feeder rod.

The intention was to alternate between flake and cheese paste with liquidised bread in the feeder.  After a few casts I had my first bite, a real three foot twitch. Something felt heavy on the end of the line before it all went slack. I don't know what managed to shed a size four hook, but it had. A couple of casts later a small pike shot from under the bank and took a lunge at the feeder. Somehow I managed to foul hook it somewhere amidships. It managed to shake itself free while I was reaching for the badly placed landing net. The final piece of action of the morning occurred not long after when the rod tip started to tremble. Thinking it was debris on the line I wound in to find a small, 6oz, chublet on the hook. Annoyingly it managed to flip itself off the hook as I went to lift it from the water.

After a Pot Noodle I tried a swim upstream of the one I was fishing. Fifteen minutes on flake, fifteen on paste then back to the original swim to do the same. While I was in one swim I left a little pile of liquidised bread in the other for the robins to feed on. This caused a bit of commotion at times when two or three would fly in, but never when I had the camera pointed at the bread.

By three the temperature was starting to drop. With nothing to show for my efforts I packed up at half past as it was now cold enough for gloves. Besides I didn't want to be on an icy river bank when it got dark.

Last Day Of The River Fishing Season 2022

Quite why I still participate in this  ritual of fishing the last day of the season I don't really know. It never amounts to much fishing wise, but like any other fishing day there's always a chance of something special. I had been sort of undecided what to do and where to go.  A couple of good reports from the Derwent suggested there was still some chub to be had despite it still been a good 18" up. I was surprised when I got there to find myself alone. I assumed everybody had had their fill over the weekend. It was a cold but sunny start to the day making it quite pleasant to be out. A silly gusty swirling wind was the only thing spoiling it. The wind made float fishing very hard work. I'd brought a float rod a feeder rod with me, along with bread for flake, cheese paste, and liquidised bread. I should have had some worms with m as well, but had managed to lave them at home.

I started with the feeder, alternating between flake and cheese paste. This produced just the one bite, a real three foot twitch which resulted in nothing. When the wind dropped I had a run through with the float. The next couple of swims failed to produce anything despite spending a couple of hours in each. The fourth swim, somewhat slower than the previous three produce a few rattles on flake before  a good steady pull of the tip to cheese paste. Fifteen minutes later same  thing, but still no contact. I tried trotting a pea size piece of cheese paste, but to no avail. Back on the feeder with a marble size bit of paste the tip went over again. A slow steady pull like debris hitting the line. This time though I contacted with some which felt a bit odd like a small foul hooked chub. When it surfaced it turned out to be a reasonable size bream around the 5-6lb mark. This was the first one I'd caught from the Derwent in over ten years. Half an hour later I had another, but managed to bump it off near the net. Despite plenty of feed going in that was it.

Talking to another angler there were plenty fishing down stream but not a lot coming out. As I left there was one other angler fishing a swim I'd blanked in earlier and another after a last river pike. Not the greatest day. Not that I expected much. A rare Derwent bream as  a blank saver is a bad way to end the season.

 

Bread And Cheese

The sun had put in an early appearance as I drive towards the river past the heavily frosted fields. Thankfully it was still low enough to be behind the trees and hedges and not straight in eyes. I don't know how cold it had been but the normally soggy muddy path had frozen solid making walking a lot easier. Judging by the lack of cars it appeared I was the first one there.The first swim I selected was one the deeper ones, around 11'-12'. Like last week I alternated between flake and cheese paste on a feeder rig with liquidised bread. The set up is simple enough. 8lb mainline with a ledger bead for the feeder. A 3-4" twizzled boom at the end. A size 8 hook on a 5lb hook length around 18" attached to the mainline loop to loop. Quite quickly I had a chublet around 8oz or so on cheese paste. After which I sat for another couple of hours for one more bite.

The next swim was around half the depth of the previous one and again I had a fish quite quickly on cheese paste, a chub around the pound mark. I then got a series of rattles on the tip that eventually resulted in an 8oz roach. Like before there was then an hour and a half's quiet. Quite from the fish but the military seemed to be happy making a noise with their jets. Not really sure why there was so much activity. Unless they think the Russians are going to invade the priory. The final swim was the same one as last week and again this produced a chublet early on to cheese paste. and a reasonable dace on flake.

There was quite a bit of bird song but I'm really not very good at identifying birds from their song. I did see three cormorants flying overhead, and a buzzard getting harassed by a couple of gulls.

All the bites, apart from the dace, came on cheese paste today. Last week I didn't get anything on cheese paste. I retired before it got dark as the sunshine and rising temperatures had defrosted the top of the mud and it was now very greasy under foot. I really didn't fancy making my way through the woods in the dark as the path through there is bad enough in daylight. Bit of a hard day. Another angler after chub blanked. Not sure if the pike angler caught either.

Deep Frozen Chub

Nearly all week I'd been in two minds, chub or pike, pike or chub. In the end I opted for a spot of chub fish, after all I'd made up some cheese paste ages ago and chub were turning up in a local river. Nothing big but it should be better than my recent pike trips. As the weather forecast was for a rather chilly , and windy, start I decided to arrive at a reasonably civilised hour. 

Armed with just a float rod and a feeder rod I had a bit of a wander about before settling on a known swim with the intention of moving if it didn't produce. I started on the feeder as the chill downstream breeze wasn't conducive to trotting. Bait was to be flake or cheese paste with liquidised bread in the feeder. 

Having cast in I turned round to put the big coat back on and the rod wrapped round and I was in. After a brief struggle a small chub was in the net. I'm pretty sure it was colder than the water it had come from. Over the next hour three more graced the net. Each getting bigger. By letter out a couple of metres of line after the feeder had settled none of the bites was as ferocious as the first. Nor did I get any missed bites either. I then had a quiet period before getting another. two more graced the net as the wind got stronger and colder making bite detection a bit problematic. Strangely, despite alternating between the two, the cheese pate didn't produce a single fish.

Seven chub, the largest two a tad over four pound isn't too bad. I may have got more had I moved swims. Or I may have managed to avoid them. Who knows. The buzzards put on a couple of flying displays, but filming them with a phone doesn't really work. They just look like a dot moving about. A kestrel also landed on a tree opposite. Not something I've seen very often. Normally I only see them hovering and/or stooping.