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.

The River Has Risen

It does seem to be far to warm for piking at the moment, but I was all set. While checking the river levels, on Thursday, I noted that the upper Wharfe was rising. From past experience this would arrive at my favoured barbel spot on Friday morning.  Sure enough checking the river levels Friday morning and it was rising. So barbel fishing it was. The river was, as expected, up by about 6-8" and carrying a bit of colour. Not too coloured though as I could see the bottom about a foot or so down. There didn't seem to be too many leafs coming down either.

By now it had warmed up quite a bit and by the time I got to the swim I was mafted. There didn't appear to be need of the fleece and  bib 'n' brace. The sun kept popping out from behind the clouds as well. I did have the gumption to bring the clip ons with me as I would be sat on the northern back so face straight into the sun when it appeared. A big lump of meat was dropped under an overhanging tree downstream. I decided to see if a 120g feeder would hold bottom in the far bank gully. As the feeder got about two thirds the way across I was dazzled by the sun as it appeared from behind the clouds and lost tack of the feeder. The dull thud as it hit the far bank let me know where it had landed. A quick tug and it was in the water. It held for a few minutes before the debris slowly started to drag it downstream. Looking into the river with the polarizing lenses I could see the problem. For every leaf floating along the  surface a dozen were drifting along under water. It looked like both rods would be fishing the inside line. One downstream, one upstream.

As I sat waiting for a bite I got the impression I was been watched. Looking round I could see know one, but the impression still lingered. I then saw the reflection on the water and looking up a red kite was hovering in the breeze that got up. By the time I'd got my phone for a photo it had dropped over the flood bank and disappeared towards the trees. This spooked a couple of pheasant. I had to recast every 20-30 minutes to clear the leafs from the line which wasn't too bad, but because of the breeze that had sprung up more leafs were floating down on the surface as well. The baits were now lasting about ten minutes before been dragged away, so I had a wander about looking at other swims to see it any had less leafs floating down. I found one that didn't have any on the surface and which was a nice 3-4' deep gully on the inside. No sooner had I got the rods out when a great raft of leafs came drifting down. Thy had been piled up behind a partial sunken branch, but the weight must have got too much and pushed the broken branch to one side. One rod nearly got dragged in as I was winding the other in. I sat and had my lunch hoping the leafs would clear, but with the branch out of the way they were just getting funnelled down the inside.

By now the river had peaked and was starting to drop very slowly. I considered packing up as it all looked a bit futile and given I was the only one fishing it was clear other appeared to have known better. I had another wander about and found a swim with a large slack in it. I decided I'd give it a go. While I was sorting my self out after the move a very pale looking heron flew along the far bank. I took me quite a while, staring at it, to realise it was in fact an Egret just as it disappeared behind the trees. This is the first one I've seen up here which was quite pleasing.

I dropped a pellet into a crease down stream and meat into the same crease upstream. As i prepared  a cuppa the pellet o buckled over and the baitrunner clicked away. After a spirited fight in which the fish attempted to pass me and swim upstream like a big barbel I had one of 6lb 9oz in the net. Mission accomplished. With darkness arriving so early and suddenly at the moment I thought that would do. so started to pack up. When I opened the feeder to remove the pellet debris I found a little minnow inside, so I'd caught two fish.

I wish I'd remembered about the big slack earlier as I think it may have produced more. Still mission accomplished.

Last Bit Of Barbeling ( Maybe)

In my infinite wisdom I decided to have another go for barbel, this time on the Ure. I haven't had one from this year and with there still bong some colour in the river I thought they might feed. The weather was a bit suspect. It drizzled all the way there then stopped. It then drizzled as I walked the half mile to the swim, before stopping while I got set up. It then drizzled on and off through the day.

Sadly I managed to avoid attracting any attention from any fish. I did see a kingfisher flashing up and down a few times. While everything looked quite good with only the minimum of debris drifting down, nothing was attracted to either pellet, meat, or cheese paste.

As there's no fishing after dark, and the drizzle had stopped, I packed up just after 4pm. This lead to another problem. Instead of the usual 40 minutes to get home it took nearly an hour.  There's only really two routes home. One was blocked with a crash and so the other has excess traffic on it.

Not Many Fireworks By The River

The morning of bonfire night and I had ice to scrape off the car windows for the first time this winter. With water pouring off the Moors and the Derwent rising I thought it might be a good idea to have another barbel session. I was surprised how much water was in the river when I got there. It was a good foot or more higher than I'd expected, but a rather nice peaty colour. I went to my favourite flood water swim that I'd done well in last time it was flooded. In the next swim were the only other anglers there at this time. The pair of them were pike fishing, or rather catching leaves with dead baits. The amount of sunken debris coming down was going to be a problem. Still it was now a nice sunny day.

Baits to start with were to be the flood water classics of lob worm and meat. In this case a lump of Netto's finest 15 year old Chopped Pork and Ham. Amazing what you find in the back of cupboards. The worm was to be hair rigged and dropped upstream. I'd found a 70g lead held bottom well, until the debris had piled up on the line. The meat was cut in to six large pieces and hair rigged to a size 4 hook. This went out into the middle with a 120g lead, the largest I had. Again it had to be recast regularly as the debris built up on the line.

By lunch time with nothing to show for my efforts I changed to pellet on the worm rod and a 90g feeder three quarters full of pellets. The pike anglers had given up. The debris seemed to ease off in the afternoon and the meat rod could;d stay out longer and not get dragged out of the fast water. Mid afternoon as the temperature started to drop the meat rod whacked over. I contacted with nothing, but a good half of the meat was missing. Just be fore four the pellet rod rattled a few times before lurching over. A very spirited fight from what turned out to be a fish around the 3lb mark ensued. The fast current certainly gives these smaller fish some extra spirit.

That was it for the day. I stayed just into darkness. I'm no great fan of night fishing especially on a slippy bank next to a bitterly cold flooded river.

I think there was just too much water in the river for it to fish well. one metre up seems to be the sweet spot. Still it was nice to catch the intended quarry despite the debris coming down.

Barbel Weather, Not Pike Weather

I had got my pike gear ready, but the weather suggested other ideas. It looked like the river would be rising Thursday in Friday. This was correct, but the river would start falling early Friday morning and continue to fall into the evening. There would still be an extra metre of water in the river so the barbel may be feeding. Much to my surprise the parking spot was empty when I got there. I realised as I got to the bank that I may have been better on the far bank as the strong wind was blowing straight at me. If it rained there was know way a brolly would be any good. Due to the lack of bridges hereabouts it would be a half-hour drive to the far bank so I decided to stick it out.

I decided to keep things simple. A matchbox sized piece of meat on a straight lead out in the middle and a worm on a straight lead on the inside by the overhanging trees. As I was setting up the action cam a swan came drifting down the river. At first I thought it was injured as it was resting it's head on it's body. As I pointed the camera at it it's head popped up and it gave out a plaintive squeak which lead me to believe it may have been one of this years cygnets that's been kicked out. It then went back to sleep again, which seemed a bit daft given the speed of the current. As it woke up again and started to swim back upstream the cob appeared round the corner and quickly shooed it away. They really can be quite vicious getting rid of their young.

I swapped the baits about occasionally, but only ended up with the odd chewed worm. just after lunch the weather took a turn for the worse. Driving rain and a strong wind made life a tad unpleasant. It even managed to lift one of the rods out of the rod rests. As I was making an afternoon cuppa the meat rood out in the middle lurched over and the baitrunner started to spin.I was into something reasonable. Unfortunately, having hauled it back upstream, it lodged itself in a snag in front of me. The snag most be a new one for this year as it wasn't there last year. Having tried the big heave from various angles with out success I left it five minutes with slack line. With no movement I went for the straight pull. The hook-length snapped like cotton. The last 3-4" was very badly abraded. I don't think I'd of landed the fish even if I'd got it out. The barbless hook should be easy enough for it to dislodge.

Not long after I'd recast the rod, again with a matchbox sized lump of meat, the tip started to nod about. I lifted into something none to big which I then thought had come adrift. It was not until I got it nearly to the bank that a little barbel around the pound mark decided to put on a bit of a show. At least I'd got my target species. Not long after the sun put in a n appearance allowing the trees to show there autumn colours. Apart from the odd rattle on the worm rod not much else happened. I stayed just into dark, but my usual skill of leaving the head torch behind meant staying longer wasn't a good idea. I found the torch under the car seat next day.

I was surprised when I got home at the number and sizes of frogs hoping about the garden. despite several attempts I only managed to photograph one of them.

Autumn Barbeling in Autumn

My original intention for today was to go pike fishing. Then I remembered that I'd chopped up all the old wire traces, I'm trying to tidy up a bit, and needed to make some new ones. As the barbel kit was still set up I decide to have another go for them. Unlike the last outing the weather was decidedly autumnal. The bit of heat in the sun, when it got through the clouds, just about made up for the chill breeze. There was also the occasional bit of drizzle thrown in as well. There was only one other angler when I got to the river. As I wandered along trying to decide which swim to fish I had the bright idea of fishing a swim that's never produced a barbel for me. Given that very few barbel have been coming out and the usual swim weren't producing it seemed a reasonable gamble.

I plonked a largish piece of meat and hemp feeder as close to the tree roots, on my left, as I dare with out snagging. On the upstream rod I had a worm and a plain lead which I was going to try various spots in the hope of picking up something. Somewhere behind the trees the buzzards were active judging by their squawks. When I did see them for a short while it looked like parents chasing their young away. This was confirmed by a man with binoculars who'd been watching them the day before. He also told me the red kite I'd seen previously had been chased away by the buzzards. The fishing was slow. In fact totally bite free until the middle of the afternoon when I wound in a tommy on the worm rod. I didn't even know it was hooked I just thought I had a load of crap on the line as usual.

The only other thing of note was a RAF A400 that came trundling past just as I was thinking it had been quiet on the aircraft front. The RAF do seem to like fly down the valley.

Talking to the only other  angler we agreed that it had generally been crap down here this autumn, apart from a brief period when the water rose. Time to get the pike kit sorted me thinks.

Summer Barbeling in Autumn

I was surprised to arrive at the parking spot Friday morning to find no other vehicles there. There was one in the other club's car park. With everybody wanting a bit of water in the river I'd expected it to be busy(ish). I know it had been rising on Wednesday and steadily falling since early Thursday, but it was at a nice level Friday. With the river being about 3'-4' up there were a couple of swims that I knew fished well at this height. With no angler s about I headed for the nearest one. Unless you know the river it's not an obvious swim when the rivers flooded. The upstream rod is cast about 2' from the visible reeds, much closer and you are in the weeds. The downstream rod is cast across the river and allowed to swing downstream where it usually settles in a crease.

My original intention had been to use 22mm pellets on one rod and a big lump of meat on the other, but the only hook-lengths I had for pellets were for either 8 or 12mm. A 12mm pellet was dropped upstream with a feeder full of 4 and 6mm pellets. The 4mm ones drift out of the feeder and the 6mm stay put but slowly break down creating a scent trail. I was still faffing about setting the other rod up when the tip sprung back and the line headed quickly downstream. No need to strike. Just pick the rod up and let it arch over. Clearly not a monster, it put up a fair old scrap in the fast flowing water. A tidy little beast around the 5lb mark. I'd misplaced my phone mount so the photos had to be tale using the time honoured precariously perched phone technique.

With a lump of well matured peppered luncheon meat the size of a matchbox on the meat screw and a feeder full of hemp I finally got the other rod out. I did notice as I opened the tin that the best before date was November 2009, one of two tins hiding in the bottom of may rodent proof bait container. I'd also had to remove the woolly and was sat in a T-shirt as it really was rather warm.

About an hour after the first fish the meat rod indicated a bite but I contacted with nothing. Probably chub or debris. Just as I got that rod wound in the upstream rod started to bounce about and I was into something. After a bit of a battle another barbel similar size to the first was in the net. Again a tidy looking fish. This one decided to do the lying upside down in the net trick as it was rested. Eventually it righted it's self. Another 10 minutes and it was trying to drag the net into the river. I gave it another 10 minutes before releasing it.

 

An hour later and the meat rod lurched over. This time I was in and it was clearly a lot bigger than the previous fish. After a protracted battle it was in the net. My guess was that it was pushing double figures. 9lb 7oz it turned out to be. I'd also forgotten to debarb the hook so had to resort to forceps to remove it. As this fish was resting in the net the upstream rod went over and I was into another fish. At first it felt like another barbel, but it seemed to be in midstream. Sadly the line parted. Judging by the coils at the end of the hook length it looked like it had snapped in the middle of the knotless knot. An odd place for it to give. It my have been a pike as I'd heard a couple of reports of them picking up pellets and as we know they also like Peperami and cheese paste.

 

That was it for the day. I fished on for the afternoon, but apart from something having a chew on the luncheon meat there were no more fish. Due to other commitments I couldn't fish into dark. I was quite happy with the day, especially as the chap on the opposite bank hadn't had a thing by the time I left.

Not a bad day o be out with the unseasonably hot weather. We should really be sat out in big coats at this time of year.

Swale Barbel Float Fishing Fiasco Type Thing

As I got the kit out of the car I was reliably informed by a passer-by that there had been quite a few barbel out over the weekend. Well that's jinxed my day I thought to myself. Unlike some stretches there was still a reasonable amount of water in the river. As I'd remembered the waders this time I headed for the same swim as last week. I'd brought a selection of baits along with the usual pellets I'd also got bread, hemp and luncheon meat. As the feeder rod was already rigged up I decided to chuck that out first, while I got the float rod set up. A 12mm pellet as hook bait and a few pellets in the feeder to provide a scent trail.  I'd only just got the action cam set up when the tip whacked over in typical barbel style. After a brief battle a nice fish around the 4-5lb mark was in the net. When I checked the camera to see if was framed OK I discovered I'd forgotten to delete the old files from the SD card so nothing much had been recorded.

At least there was a barbel in the swim and there may well be more. My plan was to fish either bread, pellets or meat on the hook and feed hemp. By wading I would be able to get more control over the float and trot further down the swim. I opted for the 13' JW Young Specimen trotter and a Grice & Young D'Or reel with 10lb Mono and an 8lb hook length to a size 10 Gripz hook for the bread or meat. A size 12 with a band was to be used with the pellet. This was supported by a 4.5g Chubber float. Despite fishing the float through at the speed of the current, fishing it over depth and holding back and all sorts in between I couldn't buy a bite on the float. When It got too dark to see the float I chucked the feeder rig our again and got a bite almost straight away. A similar sized fish to the last one, but putting up more of a struggle. As I went to land it it dived under the net and snagged to hook in the mesh. As I struggled to manoeuvre the net under it all I did was successfully unhook it.

Quite why the barbel aren't taking a moving bait I have no idea. In the past I've caught more barbel on the float from the Swale than any other river.

As I left I came across another angler leaving. He'd had a barbel last thing and a few chub. In the car park I talked to another angler who'd had the one barbel.  He told me he'd had very little success feeding hemp and that maggot or caster had been the best bait this season. For him any way.