The Trout Hunt Continues

Friday's weather forecast didn't look great for trout fishing. Sunny with the slight possibility of a bit of cloud in the afternoon. It was, however a warm day with no need of a fleece. As is usual for this time of year the river was devoid of fly life, so I went with the heavy metal as I worked my  way upstream. Apart from a couple of tugs in one swim the only bites I got were from twigs and other debris. ON the way back down stream I changed to streamers.  Fishing them as close as I could to the tree roots. This seemed to result in me spending as much time retrieving them from the roots when they got snagged as I did fishing them. There was only one time I didn't get the lure back, as the water was too deep for me to reach it. The one and only fish I saw was a little jack that followed for a couple of yards.

 
With nothing doing I changed venues to one of the tributaries. I was undecided about tactics. Lure or nymph. As I opened the fly box two of the small, size 12, woolly bugger jig flies fell out. I selected the white one. I fished it through the small deep holes in this tiny little river. At some points it's nearly as deep as it is wide, and it never really gets wide. I reached a glide that has produced trout in the past to dry fly. I flicked the fly downstream while I pulled some line off the reel ready to cast. As I went to cast something hit the fly and a grayling was lifted out of the water. Quickly netted and released I had another go. I let the lure sink  before giving it a tug and was in again. At first it felt like a trout, but the unmistakeable flash of a grayling told me otherwise. A bit bigger than the last. I decided to move on as grayling are out of season and there appeared to be a shoal of them down there. That was it though, no more fish decided to bother me on the short stretch I fished.

My trout season has not got off to a flying start. One blank, a pike, and two grayling. I think I'll have to head up to the Dales or the Moors if I want a trout.

A 'Churn' of Butterbur

For the life of me I couldn't find the folding trout net this Friday morning. With the high banks of my intended destination it's telescopic handle was needed. The scoop net wouldn't cut it. I grabbed a landing net head and a telescopic bank stick instead. What I didn't grab, though, was the six weight rod and the box of streamers. My intention was to fish heavy nymphs on one rod and streamers on the other if the fish weren't rising. In fact I didn't expect them to be rising just yet.

The first thing I did when I got to the river was have a look to see if the Butterbur were still there. I'd had problems identifying them previously, but a chance conversation on Twitter had given me their name. They're a bit of a confusing plant as the flowers appear first then they grow huge leaves after the flowers die. Sure enough there was a large patch of them. I wonder if the collective term for them is a 'Churn'. If not it, it ought to be.

I spent most of the morning fishing heavy nymphs to no avail, apart from a few sticks. The weather was reasonably warm and sunny, but there was no sign of anything hatching nor any fish rising. Early afternoon there were a few patchy rises of what I thought were Grannom, but, apparently there is another sedge that looks a lot like it and hatches earlier. I spent a bout twenty minutes trying to get a picture of one, but they wouldn't settle. Just as I'd given up I spotted one on the lading net and managed a rather indifferent photo of it before it flow off. The hatch was quickly over. Not help by a heavy sharp shower.

After a spot to eat I moved to another stretch. By now a cool breeze had sprung up. After a while with the heavy nymphs again I decided to have a go with some small lures despite only having the weight four with me. Been a ten footer though it wasn't as unpleasant as my previous attempt with a seven foot rod. After half an hour with my preferred white lure I changed to a black version. Second cast I hooked into  what I thought was a good trout. When I got a glimpse of it though it looked suspiciously like a pike. When I picked up the landing net then mesh was snagged round the wing-nut. While I untangled it the jack managed to get under a snag in front of me. After a great deal of heaving from different directions and poking the rod tip into the snag I did manage to land it. I then had to fumble about for the forceps. These were in a pocket and hadn't been attached to a zinger yet. It is only my second trout trip after tidying everything up so things will take a while to get back to normal. The little beastie then flipped back into the river as I went to put it back in the net to release it. At least it didn't damage my fingers. Quite how the leader hadn't been bitten through I don't know. There wasn't even any sign of damage on it.

I did intend to give it another fifteen minutes or so, but it started to hail, so I took that as a sign and packed up.  I had checked to Sand martin site, but there was no sign of them yet.

The Day After The Start Of The Trout Close Season

I don't often fish the opening day of the trout season as the rivers I have access to aren't that great until April or even May. With the current restrictions the choice was even more limited. At a push a couple could be called local, but my twenty mile or sub thirty minute limit all that was left was the beck. With nothing to do, sort of, I decided to give it a go for a couple of hours or so. The garden can wait a day or two. My problem with trouting at this time of year is the fact I associate it with blossom on trees, warm(ish) weather and clear water. I also really enjoy dry fly above all else, even to the point where I'll fish it knowing chucking a nymph about would produce and this is not dry fly time at all.

As I wandered to the downstream end of the stretch I was surprised to find the woods had be thinned out. A lot of the dodgy alien confers had been removed which should give a bit more light to the beck. Areas of bramble had also been removed allowing some iris to, which were just poking through, to get some light. The floods of autumn and winter had clearly reshaped the bed of the beck and made the banks some what steeper to the point of been sheer. As I paddle about it was clear that areas that used to be gravel were now covered in silt and previously silty areas were now gravel. This won't have done the sparse weed growth any good. At this end of the beck its was just starting to make a comeback. From the tracks in the mud it also looked like an otter had been for a trip upstream. There did get to a point where I saw no more so maybe it only got so far up before returning to the main river.

I spent the time fishing flicking a small gold head PTN into likely looking lies. Apart from a couple of gudgeon and some fry fish wee rather thin on the ground. This didn't really surprise me. I don't often catch here until end of April in to May. While having a cuppa and pondering what to do the sun came out. This made things look somewhat less desolate. Rooting through the fly box I came across a couple of little dog nobbler, wooly bugger style jig flies. I decided to try pulling the through some of the deeper pools on the next stretch. It soon became clear that casting these things with their heavy tungsten bead was not the same as flicking a brass beaded PTN on a short line. A seven foot weight four isn't really the tool for the job, or it could be my casting, or both. Roll casting the little heavy weight didn't really work as the thing anchored itself rather to well. The weight was needed though to get down into the depths of these holes. Some of them are four to five foot deep. It was fun though, even if all that was caught was the occasional twig both in the water and above.

It was a pleasant couple of hours or so. Interesting to see the changes the beck and what had stayed the same. I might give it another go in the next couple of days with a U/L lure rod and some little jigs. The only problem with that is that the garden really needs a bit of work. I'm sure I can fit both in if I try. The day ended on a rather silly note. As I went to get in the car I dropped the key which landed in among the adjustment rail and some cabling for the seat belt sensor. I could just reach it from above, but couldn't grip it and get my hand back out. Poking around under the seat from behind I could raise it, but couldn't get my other hand to it. If only my arms were a couple of inches longer. Eventually I managed to nudge it so it dropped under the rail where I could get hold of it and get on my way.

So, That's It Then

The coarse fishing season for rivers finished on Sunday 14th. As I couldn't get the weekend off today was supposed to be my last session on the rivers. The weather gods had other ideas as the river started to rise on Wednesday and topped out today, Friday, at just over 3m. Although I'm now glad I didn't get the weekend off and can use the days at some other point I wasn't pleased at not finishing on a river. I don't know why though as  the last day is generally a damp squib.

 

After a bit of dithering this morning I decided to pop down to the local gravel pit for a spot of piking. As I arrived at the parking spot the heavens opened so I sat in the car for half an hour waiting for it to die down. There were already four anglers there, all pike fishing. As two anglers left around lunch time another one arrived. The grand total for the day was two dropped runs and a follow on a lure between the lot of us. Which just about sums the season up.

This has not been the best of pike seasons for most of us. The anglers I've talked to have had one or two good sessions, but an awful lot of blanks. Some of us just seem to be out on the wrong days.  Where I fished on Tuesday produced a few pike on Wednesday, including a couple of doubles.

 

Lets hope the weather settles in time for the 25th and the start of the trout season. I've got a couple of new rods sat ready and waiting, along with some full fly boxes.

Heads It Is

I'd been unsure where to go on Wednesday, but I'd heard rumours of a few pike coming out near the Nidd mouth. Nothing big, but pike none the less. The only thing was they were taken early morning apparently. So there I was just after first light hurling a big mackerel head into the large eddy. I'd opted for ledger rigs as it's an awkward spot to float fish, also because I was going to use a popped up sardine on the other rod and a vertical line near a popped up bait is just asking for trouble.

It was an hour before I got my first run, on the mackerel head.  No contact was made with a fish. I thought the large bait my be a problem if there was a few jacks about, but hoped it may sort out a bigger fish. An hour later another run but this time contact was made and a spirited jack of 78cm was soon netted. So much for the big bait theory. It had quite a few leeches on it. I would have thought with spawning imminent they would be of the bottom and on the prowl. 

The other half of the mackerel went out. A while later a few bait fish scattered so I had a go with the lure rod. After a few casts contact was made with a fish of similar size. As the net was a few yards away the other side of the chair I opted to chin it, as I grab the leader the fish thrashed in the shallow water and unhooked it's self. This is why a prefer a net. As I'd forgotten to plug the external power into the camera the battery had run down some time early so none of this drama was videoed. I'm really not very good with this camera lark.

A while later I had one of those really annoying incidents. The rig had snagged. I did manage to pull it free only for it to snag again. Again I pulled it free and again it snagged. The third attempted unfortunately resulted in a break. I don't know hat mes is down there, but the last couple of feet of the braid was in a very sorry state. I chopped four foot off and re-rigged. Out went another mackerel head. A lot of people have no faith in the heads so don't fish them, but I've done quite well with them in the past. The cunning ruse with the popped up sardine failed to work despite persisting with it all day. Two other pike were taken, that I saw. One by one of the Bobble TV chaps, and a small jack by somebody lure fishing for perch.

 

This is another of the pike hotspots that seems to have deteriorated over the past few years. Quite why I don't know. The general consensus seems to be the excessive floods of the last few years. The end of the river season will soon be on us and the weather looks like it's taking a turn for the worse. Wind and rain, a combination I loathe. I'll just play it by ear and if there's a break in the weather I'll be out again. I have no real desire to get piss wet through or blown away these days.

Somebody Catches a Fish

Even as late as Friday morning I still hadn't decided where to fish, or how to fish. I had thought of taking one pike rod and a ledger rod and maybe some lobs and/or cheese paste. In he end I decide to head upstream of the city and only took the pike rods as the cheese paste was still in the freezer and would take until lunch time, at least, to defrost. I can't say I was filled with enthusiasm when I got to the river, something just didn't feel right. I had a wander well up the length with the intention of fishing a few swims as I made my way back to the car. Still the sun was shining.

A paternostered roach was dropped in blow the upstream tree and a float-ledgered half mackerel over the shelf. A young swan popped over to say hello whilst in the second swim of the day. By the time I got to the fourth swim the sun had disappeared and black clouds were gathering. I decided to move to the fifth swim before it started to rain. It had a nice flat area where I could get the brolly up and prepare some lunch if the rain became persistent. Of course the rain/ hail/sleet started as I wandered along the bank.

Unbeknown to me there was another angler in the next swim. After the rain he popped round for a chat. He'd just taken up river fishing late last year. Just in time for the floods.  After a couple of changes of swim he did catch a nice pristine chub on feeder maggot, his first river fish since November. This cheered both of us up and despite not catching myself made the day worth while, especially as I sort of recommended the swim.

 

The close season is creeping up. I have a few days off so hopefully will be able to redeem the year which has not been great so far.

At Least The Weather Was Nice

With the river peaking at 2.7m on Thursday evening and not expected to drop below 2m on Friday I decided to fish the gravel pit again on Friday. I'd hatched a cunning plan, I was going to fish from first light until dark a period of 12 hours. I don't normally fish sessions that long these days, but armed with a new gas canister, a couple of pot noodles and plenty of tea bags I thought I would just about manage to survive. I awoke on Friday to a lot heavier frost than I'd expected. Despite the thick layer of ice on the car windows it wasn't as cold as it looked. Arriving at the pit I found the water  had crept up another  six inches since I was last there. This may be the highest I've seen the water in years. This meant a lot of the bankside debris was now drifting about the water.

I started in the first swim I came to. A trout went out in front and a small roach fished on a paternoster was placed near some tree roots. After an hour or so I moved on to the next swim. I was surprised nobody else had turned up, but it did give me the chance to move to the next swim. In fact nobody else turned up to fish.  This gave me the chance to fish all the nine swims, and blank in them all. I didn't have so much as a dropped run. I tried swapping baits. Smelt, sardine, roach, lamprey, eel, mackerel were all tried. I tried pop up baits. Drifting them about at various depths, when thee was enough breeze o allow the float to move. One lad that had done quite well earlier in the month popped down to see how thing we looking. He told me nobody had caught all week as far a he knew and was thinking of giving it a miss this weekend as the pit had seen a lot of pressure this year.

 

Hopefully the river will have settled by next week and I give that a go. There again I seem to be picking the days pike aren't really feeding, but they're my days off so I have to make the best of it.  The weather was nice for sitting by the water though, so can't complain.