Lucky, Lucky Perch

Managed to get a bit earlier start today, not that it mattered in the end. I was going to use the same tactics as yesterday, trotting lobs, but in swims I'd not fished in a long time. Arriving at the river I was greeted bay the tapping of a woodpecker. I assume it was a woodpecker as I couldn't see it despite the fact I was sure which tree it was in. This was soon drowned out by the noise of RAF jets preparing to land. The rather pleasant, but bright conditions didn't bode well.

The first swim had plenty of small fish topping, but nothing was interested in my lob worm. I did, however, manage to catch several pebbles. The swim shallowed slightly before deepening again and if I didn't check the float quite right to swing the bait up the hook would occasion snag an empty larva case stuck on  a pebble

Four more swims failed to produce before a jack grabbed the worm as I retrieved. It was the usual, play it for a minute before it bit me off. The sixth swim produced four small perch before a larger one took the bait, only to be grabbed by a good double pike. After three or four good runs everything went slack. Thinking I'd been bitten off I wound in slowly only to realise the perch was still on. Just as I was bat to net it the pike appeared again and grabbed it again. This time it just circled around just out of landing net range with the perch across it's jaws before letting go again. Much to my surprise the perch was still alive and not that badly damaged. After resting it in the landing net I took it with me to the next swim and released it there, just in case the hungry pike was still around.

Nothing more bothered my bait before it was time to leave. While it may not have been a productive day fish wise I did find some nice swims with one or two interesting features that should be worth a bit more time spent in them.

This little beastie was sat waiting to get in when I got home. I persuaded it that it would be better hiding in the leaf litter under the shrubs rather than in a nice warm house.

Lobs 'n' Loafers

I think most anglers if asked the question - If you can only use one bait for the rest of your life what would it be? - would probably say lob worm. Over the years I've caught most of our native freshwater fish and several sea fish on them. With a change of plans this morning due to the weather going pear shaped at the end of the week, I gathered up a few lobs and set off to the Nidd. The intention was to trot them through the shallower swims for what ever and maybe a barbel.

I must admit I was quiet surprised how clear the river was considering it had been up about a foot on Saturday, but there was a nice bit of flow to it. First trot through produced a very pretty perch in it's full autumn colours. I then bumped a bigger one a couple of trots later. Using a simple loafer and olivette rig I was able to adjust the depth quickly and easily so I could attack the inside first before moving to the deeper channel then up against the far bank tree line. Not that this help in the next couple of swims.

 








The fourth swim of the day seemed to be full of gudgeon, no matter where I ran the float, most of which just grabbed the end of the worm falling off as I swung them in. Several, though, managed to get them hooked on the size eight which proved a interesting diversion for a while. A couple of swims later one of the local otters popped up in front of me with that - betcha can't get a picture of me look. It stared at me long enough for me to get my phone out of my pocket and into camera mode before disappearing. A smaller perch and an 8oz dace came on successive casts, before the gudgeon silliness started again.

 

A couple more swims failed to produce before I spotted a couple of chub in the last swim of the evening. As it was only a foot deep I did consider free-lining before dropping the float down to the olivette and trotting it down like that. Obviously the smaller of the two was first to the bait, a nice bronze fish of 2½lb.

A pleasant days fishing in the autumnal sunshine,  even if the breeze was a bit of a nuisance at times. The only other problem with this time of year, apart from the variable weather, is the astonishing ability of bank side vegetation to snag any loose line.

T'other End

The plan for today, as mentioned in the previous blog, was to fish the deeper swims on this section of the Nidd. A plan that didn't go quite as expected. The drizzle, that started as I arrived, didn't help. I selected two swims both bout 9 foot deep with the usual 30-40 minutes in each. After 40 minutes the first had only produced a few drowned leaves to both float and feeder. Things were not looking good. The second swim produced a couple of bites on the feeder and the usual leaves. This went on well into the afternoon.

 








I had pondered moving to a third swim, but the drizzle had now turned to rain so I decided to stop put in the firsts swim. Eventually it start to produce the odd roach to float fished maggot over hemp and casters. The roach varied between tiny and very tiny. Not sure how many I caught, but it kept me amused for nearly an hour. A break in the rain seemed like a good excuse to pack up as I hate packing up while it's raining.

 








Hopefully there'll be enough rain to give the river another flush through and get the current back up to normal speed, then the barbel may be back in their usual haunts.

Wrong End

First trip out for a while, I decided to head to the Nidd. In the tackle shop it was suggested that the lower swims may be better at this time of year as I bought my bait. I'd already made my mind up though, I was going to give the shallower swims at the top end a go. Don't know if this was a wise move or not, but it wasn't the best fishing I'd had on there. As I made my way up a couple of otters were porpoising along ahead of me. Whether this put the kibosh on things I don't know, but after 40 minutes I hadn't had owt but a couple of chewed maggots and a burst caster in the first swim. The second swim produced a perch and a gudgeon on float fished maggot before I got snagged.

 








 The third swim produced a couple of bleak to feeder fished maggot while I but a new lighter hook length on with a smaller hook. Winding in the feeder it was grabbed by a jack and bitten off. I ummed and ahhed  about staying in the swim, but decided to have a few trots through and after a few more bleak had a dozen hand size roach before things went quiet. All the time I'd been watched by a deer, on the far bank, that only moved off when three red kites came swooping past. After a couple more gudgeon I latched on to a rather cooperative barbel, that is 'till it got near the net. It turned and shot straight under the far bank tree roots. A couple of perch on feedered maggot finished the day.

Whether I have done any better at the bottom end I don't know, but we'll find out tomorrow.

It Comes Into Its Own In Autumn

"It comes into its own in autumn." I was told in the tackle shop, as I confirmed I was going to the Derwent again. It's a phrase I've heard many times over the years and to be honest I've rarely found it to be true. The river seems to manage to be a pain in the arse no matter what time of year I fish it and today proved the point. Even the cattle that came down for a look weren't impressed.

 








As I wandered upstream towards a swim with some nice overhanging trees. A couple of swans fallowed me, the first I've seen this year. The swifts/swallows/martins (I can never remember how to tell the apart) were taking a last drink before heading south. There seemed to be a bit more water passing through, judging by the speed of he debris floating past.

Setting up a 4g bolo for the 11' deep swim, along with a feeder set up seemed to be the best option. Feeding hemp and caster along with a few grains of corn via a dropper along the tree line I was straight into minnows, minnows and more minnows. On two occasions I managed to hook two on the same hook! Sweet corn on the hook had the float bobbing about all over the place as the minnows played volleyball with it. The feeder rod fared no better with the tip bouncing about non-stop. After 30 minutes of this i decided on a move.

The new swim was slightly deeper. Fed in the same manner as previous it produced a couple of bleak before the minnows moved in.   Though not as bad as previous with the bleak getting a look in occasionally, it was still annoying. A solid bite while fishing the feeder resulted in a length of ironmongery. How does an inanimate object tug the tip round? A little roach turned up in among the minnows and bleak so I stuck it out a bit longer, but no more showed. Time for a third swim.

 This was the same swim I'd fished the previous week and had so much pike trouble in. Today, though, it appeared to be pike free as I took a steady flow of dace, roach, gudgeon and the occasional minnow, but no perch. This changed with a bit of feeder fished corn which resulted in a perch of around 8oz and nothing more. I continued on with maggot or caster on the float as I was taking a fish every other trot. I kept trying corn on the hook and eventually got a bite which after a bit of a struggle tuned out to be a rather lean, battle scared jack. The first sighting of a pike all session. With only 30 mins of light remaining I stuck with the corn and was rewarded with a nice perch of 2lb 1oz. With no more bites showing and not having a torch with me I called it a day.

 

Not the spectacular sport 'It comes into its own in autumn' would have you believe, but there is something rather pleasant about taking a steady flow of fish on the float, even if they are rather small.

Thomas (Tommy) Ruffe

Normal service appears to have returned on the weather front. T-shirt then fleece time, raining long enough to get the brolly up before it stops and all in an hour. While I don't like sitting under a brolly, especially when float fishing, I'd be willing to put up with it at the moment. While the river level is holding quite well, the flow appears to be slowing. Although the rain really needs to be up on the moors, as rain in the Vale of York does precious little except keep the dust down.

 








Plumbing up showed there to be nearly 12' 6' of water trundling along sedately. I set up a 4g+ avon, as the bolo floats had wandered from the tackle box, with a 3g olivette and a few locking shot 18" from the 9" hook length. A feeder rod was also set up. Bait for the day was to be hemp, caster, maggot, and sweet corn. The first few trots down produced the occasional gudgeon to maggot, but nothing to caster or corn. After a quiet spell I picked up a small perch on the feeder rod. This was grabbed by a little jack Which tenaciously hung on to it right up to the net before letting go. Surprisingly this was to be my only encounter with a pike during this session.

 








 

 








After this encounter I picked up a tommy, my first of the season, on the float rod, before a few more gudgeon. Alternating between feeder and float I managed to extract gudgeon, bleak, chub, roach, minnows and the occasional perch the largest of which, at 2lb 4oz, came to corn while the rest were all on maggot.

 








The fishing was very erratic with the fish never settling. I'm assuming it was the perch activity that caused this. Strangely no dace showed up.
 











This maggot drowning, fishing for owt that bites has been rathr good fun, but soon I'll be back to chucking lures and dead fish about for predators.

Bullheads and Bizarreness

It was a somewhat curtailed session on the Derwent this week, but interesting nonetheless. Bait for the day was, hemp, caster and maggot. There was supposed to be sweetcorn as well, but it failed to find it's way into my bag. The 15' float rod was rigged with a 4g bolo float at 12'. A feeder rod was also set up.











Feeding caster upstream of myself and the hemp down stream with maggot on the hook started catching roach after 15 minutes or so before the minnows moved in. A change to casters on the hook resulted in crushed casters and no fish. I had grabbed a bunch of elderberries  on the way to the swim, one of the few decent bunches on the tree. The hot dry summer has clearly been a problem for the elders around here. The few decent bunches had very few fruit on them and the other were either very small or shrivelled up. Another half dozen, slightly better roach were taken on the berries before everything went quiet. I would have tried hemp on the hook, but as they were somewhat overcooked they didn't make good hook-bait. A change to feeder fished maggot produced bleak, minnows, the occasional gudgeon and chublet. Also a bullhead, a fish I've not had in a while. After 40 minutes of this I decided to try a swim a fellow angler had told me about.

He'd told me he had been given a right run-a-round by some fish, loosing them in the tree roots or near side weed before going on to take some nice roach and perch. Using the same float statics as the earlier swim I took a couple of small dace before suffering the same fate. The fish just crashed about the swim before diving under the far bank trees and not coming back. A few trots later I took a small perch before striking into nothing. On retrieving the rig the hook was missing, bitten off about three inches above the hook. I step the hook length up from 3.3lb to 5.5lb and the hook from an 18 to a heavy gauge 16. After a series of missed bites I again latched onto some lunatic fish which had me all over the swim before crashing through the weeds in front of me. Everything went slack and as I lifted the rig out I felt a bit of a wriggle on the end of the line.  A gudgeon was attached to the hook, none the worse for wear apart form a few scales missing. The hook length had  a little nick a couple of inches above the hook. After 15 minutes of silly bites  and chewed maggots I dropped back to the lighter rig  which produced half a dozen hard fighting perch to just shy of 2lb. A phone call then curtailed the fishing.
















The lost fish were a bit strange. They didn't feel heavy, just fast. I assume they were jack pike as the chub or barbel tend to just plod about and feel heavy and perch normally give that distinctive head shaking sort of fight.