Can I Lick Your Float

Due to family illnesses, of the non COVID variety,  I haven't been able to fish as often lately. With Saturday of, though, I was able to get out. Following a conversation on Friday I decide to head to where they'd been fishing. They'd had some nice catches of roach on Wednesday. One lad had 17lb and the other two had bags of 12lb of roach. All three had also had attention from pike as well.

Standard float ledger rigs were used. One rigged with a sardine and one a roach. I fished six classic pike swims, nice slow water behind trees, for about 30-40 minutes each with nothing to show. In the seventh swim I changed the sorry looking sardine for a piece of lamprey. After half an hour a small jack swam in close to the bank. In an attempt to have a blank saver I moved the roach into the area.

It sat there for quite a while being ignored by the jack. I wound it in slowly so as to have it suspended in the water. The jack had other ideas and attacked the float instead. I took the weight off and lowered the stop knot so the bait was about two foot deep and allowed it to drift about in the little eddy.  Again the jack floated up to have a look at the float, before a considerably large pike shot in and nearly hit the bank. Neither fish showed any interest in the roach though.

 

The pike had been feeding elsewhere. A couple of anglers that came past reported a 15, 12 and a jack. They showed me pictures and the 15 was a big fish with a large head that looked like it could easily make 20. The 12 was a more normal looking long thin river type pike.

First Cast Jinx

With the local river fining down and not too many leafs drifting down it I decided to give it a go with light lures. Despite the fact this little river is only 15 minutes walk from the house I haven't fished it much in recent years.  Armed with the minimum of kit I was soon sliding about on the very muddy bank.

 

I clipped on a small Fire Tiger 4Play that seems quite popular with both perch and jack pike.I tossed it out just to check it was running properly as I'd replaced the hooks on it. All looked good so I sped it up a bit and was shocked when a reasonable looking perch hit it right under the rod tip. A bit big for swinging out I had to knock the anti-reverse off to give some line in order to net it. I nice looking fish of 0.97lb. Not bad considering I'd really started fishing as such.

 

I slowly headed downstream towards the city centre with out much success apart from the odd branch and bits of weed. As I got further down the leafs started to become a problem. As it was a bit deeper here I changed to a noisier little crank bait that I've no idea what it's called. It did however, attract the attention of a jack around the 3-4lb mark. Again, it was taken right under the rod tip. With only the wire trace beyond the rod tip and standing on a bank three foot up there was some serious thrashing about before the hooks were spat out.  I continued down to the next bridge by which time it was dark. There's no dusk now, it's either light or dark.

I'd covered one mile of river for the two fish. I'll give it another go later when there are less leafs about as they made it hard work.

First Dropped Run Of The PIke Season

With the rivers still a tad high, though running off, I decided to head to a local gravel pit for a spot of pike fishing. As the pike normally feed there around lunch time and again in the evening I headed out into the fog mid-morning. The number of cars with no lights on was somewhat frightening with visibility lees than 100 yards and occasionally down to 50 yards. I arrived at the pit, with out any mishaps, to find the place empty. Despite the amount of rain recently the level was very low, a good 18" to 2' down on what would be expected to be it's normal winter level. This meant a couple of the better swims wouldn't be worth fishing as they don't produce when it's this low. I opted for a corner swim where there are two drop offs that the pike generally patrol.

Tidying fishing tackle bags is always a mistake, something always goes missing in the process. This time it was rod rest heads. A couple of appropriate sticks were pressed in to service. After a bit of plumbing about a float fished trout was  cast to the right hand drop of. I then dropped a float fished roach over the nearer left hand drop off. I thought at first I hadn't cast it far enough as the float didn't settle properly, but then it moved towards me.  A rather scruffy and skinny 67cm jack was soon to hand having put up precious little in the way of a fight. It looked like it had been rather badly handled recently. Just after I released it another angler came down. He went on to take a couple of dozen roach to a pound with out any been attacked by pike, which is most unusual.

 

Early in the afternoon the sun had burnt through the fog and made to place look quite pleasant. The float fished roach moved off, but I contacted with noting. Just as I returned it the trout moved off at quite a rate, This time I contacted with something quite solid that put up quite a fight for it's size. A nice tidy fish of 8lb 10oz. Just after this another angler dropped in who appeared to catch a few in the short time he was here.

 

That was it for the day. The expected evening feeding session failed to materialise. Taking with somebody the next day it seems that the pike have taken to feeding early morning and lunch time now. Not a bad start to the pike season. The rivers are back within their banks now and should be fishable next week.

 

Music while typing provided by: Downtown Soulville with Mr. Fine Wine

Defeated By The Derwent

Friday saw me back at the Derwent. Quite why I don't know, as the reports hadn't been good. The river was the colour of stewed tea, about a foot up and not rushing through too quickly.  As I set off along the bank it started to rain, which solved the problem of where to fish. The long walk was out, so I settled for one of the less inconsistent swims. In any conditions the barbel normally come from the middle of the river and upstream is a nice slack that once produce two five pound chub, but normally produces nothing. The pellet rod went in downstream and the double lob worm set up went in the slack. I recast at regular intervals to get a few pellets in to the swim and chopped worm and ground bait into the slack.

The first bite came to the pellet rod. Whatever was on the end felt a bit odd as it swung into the nearside weeds. Rather than just heave I could wander downstream and pull form the opposite angle. Out popped a stick from the weeds. Whether there'd been a fish on initially I don't know. It did feel a bit like a fish. I then had three real rattling bites on the worm rod that resulted in nothing more than a chewed worm. Following one of the afternoon's short sharp showers I was lucky enough to see a double rainbow.

As afternoon moved into evening the amount of debris the downstream feeder picked up started to become a nuisance. While there was nothing much on the surface there seemed to be a lot of sunken leaves drifting down in the current. Another angler walk past with nothing to report in the way of fish, but had given up because of the debris. I was going to fish on in to dark, but the debris problem just got worse dragging the feeder into the nearside weeds. I tried the pellet rod in the upstream slack for half an hour before giving up.

Music while typing provide by: Foot Stompin' Podcast

Ure Double

As I looked at the river levels today, Friday, it was a slightly confused picture, but the Ure was rising steadily. Of course by the time I got there it had started to drop. It was however running through at a fair rate of knots and the first few swims didn't look too inviting. I eventually found one that had a nice crease downstream and a good slack behind a tree upstream. Equally importantly it had a flat bit of bank within three foot of the water, rather than been perched a lot higher up the bank. The double worm rod, along with a groundbait feeder with chopped worm, was dropped in to the slack. The pellet rod went downstream in to the crease.

As I reached round for the action cam the pellet rod wrapped round and I was in to a solid fish which clung to the bottom as I hauled it back upstream. A good heave got it to the surface and in to the net in one go. No faffing about under the rod tip avoiding the net. A nice barbel of 6lb 6oz. As I was releasing it from it's rest in the landing net the rod went over again. This one came upstream a bit easier, but did the usual barbel tactic of dashing about under the rod tip before giving up. Nearly a pound lighter at 5lb 7oz it had, unlike the first, managed to take line against the drag. 

Surprisingly that was it for the day. Two barbel in the first half hour, they normally aren't that quick to show up. I stayed quite a while into dark, but didn't get another bite. The worms remained untouched as well. Aren't the slacks supposed to be full of fish when the river is up and tanking through.

Music while typing provided by: Downtown Soulville with Mr. Fine Wine

The Derwent Skull

When I got down to the Derwent on Friday it wasn't too far up but tanking through. The only problem with not to far up was that it meant a lot of swims were not accessible in that I'd be too high up the bank. I did eventually find a swim closer to the river with a nice slack. The only thing to be aware of was it actually solid ground as looks can be deceptive. Reeds and other bankside vegetation can get flattened in a flood and hide the edge of the the river. A bit of poking with the old storm pole showed it to be solid. 

 

 

It was to be the usual pellet and feeder along with double lob worm.. The feeder was dropped downstream close to the bank and the worm into the slack behind the tree upstream. It wasn't long before the tip of the worm rod was bending further than it should under the weight of dead leaves. After a few more casts it became apparent the slack was just full of debris, so the worms went out into the middle of the river. I cast both rods to different spots for about thirty minutes at a time despite my confidence nothing fish shaped wanted to know.

I did however bring in a small skull of a long dead beastie neatly hooked on a size four and double lob worm. No idea what it belongs to and photographing it is problematic as it now a dark brown colour, presumably from been in the river for a long time. Anybody any idea what it was when it was alive.

Barbeling on the Ouse

It's oft claimed that angling is good for your mental health. This may be the case, but I do wonder about  angler's mentality at times as I trudged along the muddy bank with the drizzle turning to rain. For a change the car park had a few cars in it so the first few swim were taken and due to height of the river several were unfishable. I ended up half way along the stretch  and as the rain was getting heavier I put the brolly up and had a cuppa. I hate setting up in the rain. Once it had stopped I rearranged myself as shuffle my feet about had made the bank even greasier. The river really was at an awkward height and dropping very slowly. 

 

The usual tactics were employed. Pellet and feeder under the downstream  willow and double lob worm legered upstream about a third of the way across in a crease. There they sat while I watched the crows and seagulls harassing each other in the sunshine. A heron flew upstream while a cormorant flew upstream. Late in the afternoon the worm rod started to bounce about. I struck into nothing, all that had happened was the worms been stolen. A passing dog walker informed me that nobody else had caught.

As it started to get dark the temp started to drop. At this point I realised I hadn't got my big coat, I hoped I hadn't left on the roof of the car or something equally silly. Thankfully the chill wind had dropped, so it wasn't too bad. As it approached the Nautical Sunset I decided it was time to pack up. Just as I picked up the worm rod the pellet rod wrapped over and I was in to something very heavy. After moving it a couple of yards everything went considerably lighter. I assumed it was debris that had come off, when all hell broke loose. Whatever it was had gone into lunatic mode. It was all over the place. I was quite astonished it didn't get tangled with the other line. Switching the head torch on I could get the feeder to the surface, but the fish just refused to come up to the surface. Eventually something splashed about on the surface, but I couldn't find, or see, the landing net. The batteries had gone in the headtorch, so once again I was faffing about on a dark cloudy night trying to land a fish while struggling to see the landing net and the fish. At the same time the bank was getting greasier and greasier as I shuffled about trying to find the net handle. Eventually, the the aid of the phone torch,  I spotted it hiding in the nettles. With the phone perched on the seat there was enough light in the right place to see both the fish and landing net to get the beast in.

 

The fun of dealing with the fish on a greasy bank with a badly nettled hand and a torch that rarely shone it's light in the right direction was like something from a Laurel and Hardy film. Much to my surprise nothing, including me, ended up in the river. A quick weigh had the fish at 6¾lb. Packing up was a bit of fun as well, but all worth it in the end. 

 

Music while typing provided by : Punky!