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.

Trust, But Be Careful Of Whom You Trust

I'd originally intended to fish further up the Ouse instead of just outside the city, but I ended up a lot further up on one of the tributaries of a tributary. I'd fished here last summer and had problems with pike ripping the keepnet apart. Of cause this probably menat there wouldn't be any pike about in winter. The first couple of swims I plumbed up in turned out to be snag ridden hell holes. The next swim was the one I'd fished last time I was here. A float Ledger rig with a small trout was dropped just over the drop-off in the slack created by an over hanging willow. A ledgered piece of lamprey was chucked three quarters of the way across into the fast flow where one would normally fish for barbel.

No sooner had I got the kettle on than the drop-off dropped against the bankstick with a satisfying ping. Winding down I stuck into something solid that shot away downstream in the fast current taking line against the drag. I gave it a bit of stick and it was soon level with me but decided to behave like a barbel and continued upstream again taking line against the drag.  It then gave up in classic pike fashion and was soon in the net. A nice tidy beastie of 103cm and 14lb 11oz. It was also one of the most cooperative pike I've had in a while when on the bank. This was a godsend as it's a rather steep and slippy bank. Thankfully the kettle hadn't boiled dry and there was still enough water in it for a cuppa.

My last piece of lamprey was tossed out into the current again but a little further downstream. Half an hour later the drop-off dropped off again. I wound down to nothing, no weight at all. Realising the fish most be swimming towards me I wound frantically when suddenly the rod lurched over and I was in contact with a real headbanger of a fish. Slowly I managed to get it to head back towards me when I got that sickening feeling as felt the hook(s) lose their hold only to stick again. Another session of head banging and everything went slack. A check of the hooks showed them to be nice and sharp. I can only assume the pike had hold of the bait and was initially determined to keep hold of it. With no lamprey left a smelt was tossed back out into the current.

 Having finished lunch the float started to bob about before heading  towards the roots of the over hanging willow. Contact was made with a small and rather lethargic little jack of 80cm. Another trout was dropped into the same spot and half an hour later the float started to drift downstream. A strike and another serious headbanger. This time though it was only on for a few seconds before letting go of the bait. I tried trotting a small trout in various spots but nothing more was forthcoming. Four runs two lost isn't great but I'd had a couple on the bank so can't complain especially as it was the first time I'd pike fished there.

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.

Ain't Chasing No Pellet

With a bit of fresh water flowing through the rivers I decided to have another go at float fishing for barbel, on the Swale. Even though there was only three inches or so of extra water the river looked a bit healthier than it had. In order to avoid the minnows I'd decided to fish pellets. Again I'd forgotten to bring the waders which would limit the number of swims available due to the overhanging trees. The swim I picked was near the top of the stretch and one I'd looked at before, but never thought it looked right. The little bit of extra water had changed it though. A nice run around four foot deep following a shallow riffle. A few trots through showed that it was just over four foot to start with, shallowing slightly in the middle then dropping to four and a half foot over the later part. By using an under-shotted chubber float I was able to keep the banded pellet on the bottom with out the float been constantly dragged under.

Third trot down with a bait I was in to a reasonable sized something that managed to snag itself up a couple of times, but constant pressure got it free. It turned out to be a lovely bronze chevin around the three and half pound mark.  There then followed several foul hooked dinky little chub/dace yearlings that appeared to have a liking for 8mm pellets.

Nothing more happened for the next hour despite a steady flow of pellets going in. While I had a sarnie and cuppa I chucked the feeder rod out with a 12mmm pellet on. Before I could even start my sarnie the rod was hooped over and I was into what felt like a barbel, which came adrift after about a minute. Having eaten the sarnie I was just waiting for the tea to brew when the rod went over again. Again it felt like a barbel which, apart form the usual shenanigans around the net, came in quite fuss free. A bit bigger than the chub it showed there were barbel in the swim right where I judged the pellets would be washed down to.

Having finished my cuppa I continued trotting until the light prevented me seeing the float. Although it was far from dark the low light and rippling water just seemed to obscure the float no matter what colour I used. Back out went the feeder rod and after a little while the tip started to rattle about. Even though it wasn't a classic barbel bite a little barbel around the two pound mark  was soon wound in. That was it despite staying an hour into dark.

It was nice to know there was barbel in the swim, but why they won't take moving baits some days I don't know.

Swale Meet Again

With recent heavy rains here and there I hoped that the Swale had coloured up a bit. As it happens it hadn't, it was still clear and low. The water had cooled though. It has to be said this section is not the best for float fishing. Most of the swims are bordered by trees pushing out over the water. Being quite shallow though wading could overcome this, if only I'd put them in the car.  Still trotting for barbel with maggots was what I was going to do, so that's what I did. I suppose I could have tried wet wading, but  with the temp of the water and the fact it was a cool breezy evening I didn't think I'd last long at it.

The first trotable (is that a word?) swim I found was a nice fast section after a shallow section. Rigged up with a 4.5g loafer and size 14 hook I was quickly into little chublets and even smaller dace. After an hour or so a couple of hungry pike showed up. A little jack that popped out of a slack chasing the double red maggots, but the fish. Just after it seemed to give up a larger pike appeared and had several goes at fish I was bringing in. After a while it too gave up, but the swim was now dead. I gave it another half hour but didn't even get so much as a chewed maggot.

I moved to the swim I fished last time I was here. There was no sign of any chub for me to frighten this time. The swim seemed to be full of gudgeon when I good get a good run down the swim. There seemed to be a lot of twigs and weed in it now. Shallowing up to avoid the debris resulted in chewed maggots and tiny dace/chublets occasionally.  After an hour I moved on.

The final swim was awash with minnows. I was about to give up when I bumped what felt like a decent fish off. I took to chucking maggots in by the handful to see if I could feed the minnows off. This seemed to work as I got less and less chewed maggots. By now it was starting to drizzle again. I'd been lucky with the rain or lack of it, just the occasional drizzle. By now it was getting dark, an hour early. Retiring seemed a good idea, especially as I thought I'd heard thunder in the distance. I got back to the car as the wind got up and the heavens opened.

The drive home was fun. The heavy rain and gusts of wind had brought a lot of debris down out of the trees, some of it quite big. I had to sop a couple of times to drag branches off the road. As the rain eased a new problem in the shape of a diversion appeared. Thankfully the signage was quite good but I got a bit disorientated as these were roads I'd hardly ever been down. Finally I arrived at the main road and the rest of the drive was uneventful. If we could just have a bit of heavy rain in the right place and raise the river levels a bit the barbel might come on the feed.

Frightening Chub

Tuesday morning the computer suggested a trip to the Swale. Arriving late afternoon I was surprised how few pegs had been used considering it's a popular barbel fishery. Wandering through the long grass, aggravating my hay fever, I found a shallow 3' swim I fancied. A look further downstream, just in case, I spotted some chub in a swim of similar depth. Catapulting out some hemp didn't have the effect I was hoping for. The chub slowly slunk away. Catapulting maggots in didn't bring them back so I returned to the previous swim.

Setting up with a 3.3g loafer and a 2.9 hook length to a size 16 hook I again tossed in some hemp followed by maggots. The first few trots produced chewed maggots so I dropped to and 18 hook and single maggot. Eventually, after some heavy feeding the chewed maggots nearly stopped and a few small roach started to come to hand. After an hour so, with a couple of dozen fish caught, a pike decided to eat and grabbed a roach I was reeling in before spitting it out. It then dropped down to the roach shoal scattering them every where. I fished on for another half hour with out a bite.

With no bites forthcoming I moved to the swim I'd frightened the chub from. Feeding maggots only I fished until I could no longer see the float with only one a have been a fish, may have been a stick to show for it. Talking to another angler, who'd been fish another clubs water upstream, as i walked back. He said that it had been rather patchy and a bit of rain was needed.

I maybe should have fished deeper water, but you just never know with fishing. The peg upstream could have been chock a block for all I know. I'd caught and as I'm not after anything in particular, just enjoying some float fishing, I'm not bothered.