Barbel Fishing?

 Despite the recent lift in the river the reports I'd heard hadn't shown any increase in barbel coming out. In fact there hadn't been an increase in anything coming out. Talking to a couple of anglers as I wandered along the bank things hadn't been great. The river was now only a few inches up and clearing. I did start to think I should be on the other bank as I looked for a swim until I spotted one that had been a problem from the other bank. From this bank I could swing the bait under a branch to a overhanging tree. From the far bank it involved going down stream. Casting across and moving back upstream as the bank was too high to land fish opposite the overhanging tree. It also meant using a very heavy feeder as it was easy to dislodge a light feeder when moving back upstream.

 

The rigs were my usual. A blockend feeder filled with 6mm and 4mm pellets. The 4mm would drift out and the 6mm would stay in the feeder breaking up and leaving a scent trail, in theory. A 22mm pellet was on the down stream rod to the overhanging tree. On the upstream rig a 12mm pellet was used. This was dropped about six foot from the bank at the edge of the weeds. Apart from a bit of a rattle on the upstream rod nothing much happened for the first three hours.

In a rather predictable manner the down stream rod lurched over just as I was pouring boiling water into the mug for a cuppa. I have know idea what it was as it was gone by the time I'd put everything safely down. Swinging the rig back in I miss timed it a bit and wrapped the whole lot around the branch. Nothing to do but pull for a break. While I was re-rigging the upstream rod started to bounce about. This time I did connect with something that put a decent bend in the rod. A chub of 4lb 7oz. Strangely, for a chub, it had made no attempt to dive into the weeds on the inside.

I'd just got both rods back out when the downstream rod slowly bent over. I thought it was another chub initially but it soon gave up and a bream around the 2lb mark came to the surface. Just as I got it in the net the upstream rod bounced about again. This was definitely a barbel as it tore of upstream only for the hook to pull.

After a mad twenty minutes I now had time for my rather lukewarm cuppa. I had a couple more rattles on the upstream rod. One while I was watching a mouse darting about the undergrowth before it ventured out for a short while. The bream had been a bit of a surprise as I've caught very few from this river and never more than one at any time. I fished on until dark but everything went quiet. No fish topping, nothing.

 Like everybody else I wonder where the barbel have got to. It could be like the old days when the barbel rarely showed until August. We shall see as persistence pays on here.

Killing Time On The Navigation

Found myself in the vicinity of the navigation with a couple of hours to a kill and a bit of tackle in the car. I only had a small box with a few lures in and there was a steel trace on the line for some reason. No mono so the steel trace, though not ideal, would have to do. I did think of removing the clip from the trace and tying it direct to the braid but I'm not too keen on braid straight to the lure.

First lure out of the little box was a blade lure, and excellent search lure. This produced a small perch after a couple of casts. This was quickly followed by another before it went quiet despite wandering quite a distance.

By now I was I was in a area with a lot of weed near the edge with lots of little perch about. A change to a little white shad quickly produced a small perch. While several were happy to follow it to the bank, or even stare at it while I jigged it about no more attacked it. A change to a small green tube got similar results until one took a lunge at it and was hooked. A blue sparkly shad had similar results again but this time two took a like to it.

The only other lure in the little box was a small Salmo hornet which I hadn't bothered with so far as it isn't the easiest to fish in the small areas around the weed. Now, though, I was at a point where the channel narrowed and I was able to to cast long the out side of the weeds. This made for some fun sport. Although not particularly big I was able to catch quite a few perch with some very solid hits at times which had me thinking I was into a larger fish. A couple of dozen fish and as many hits again so passed the time.

An entertaining couple of hours once i fathomed which lure they preferred. I not sure why there was so little enthusiasm for the other lures, maybe the Hornet made a lot more noise.

Wavy Weeds And Lost Lambs

 I decided to give the trout a rest and head down to the river for a spot of barbel fishing. There were far more cars than expected on the verges, but most of the anglers seemed to be gathered close to the entrance so there would be plenty of space further down. From what I could gather there didn't seem to have been much barbel action but I was fishing into the evening so wasn't too worried.

After a bit of casting around in my chosen swim checking for snags I chucked in about half a pint of 4mm and 6mm halibut pellets to the downstream swim. This was to be fished with a 22mm pellet and a swimfeeder loaded with the smaller pellets. The upstream rod was the same but with a 12mm pellet. After only twenty minutes the downstream rod buckled over and I was in to what felt like a smallish fish that was quickly brought under control. A fish around the 5lb mark with a recently damaged dorsal fin.

I wasn't sure if a fish this early was a good sign or not. I continued to chuck more pellets in at intervals. Apart from a minnow that got stuck in a feeder that was it for the session. I did have a couple of rattles on the upstream rod but I suspect they were liners.

At one point a couple of lambs sated to bleat persistently and their mother would occasionally reply. Whether the the lambs expected their mother to come to them or what I don't know but eventually the did reunite.

I didn't stay until dark as the evening turned rather chilly and I'd left my fleece in the car. Apart from one all the cars parked up where different to the ones that were there when i arrived. I did see one chap make the long walk from the bottom of the stretch to retrieve a couple of fleeces from a car. I caught my target species so can't complain but I did expect there to be more action.

More Yoredale Trout

 The number of times I'd passed over the little river in Yoredale and thought it may be a good idea to give it a ago, but then forgot is rather silly. Thursday I remembered, prompted by a video I'd watched. The last time I'd fished it was last century when a day ticket was £6, Thursday it was £12. Wandering along it's banks it was very much, and nothing like, I remembered it. While it's general appearance through the wooded valley had very much remained the same, the boulder strewn river bed had obviously been shifted about.

Rod choice is always a problem on rivers like this. The overhanging trees dictate a short rod. While the more open areas a longer rod has it's advantages. I compromised at eight foot which turned out to be two foot too long or two foot too short depending where I was. I wandered along the path intent on getting away from the area near the entrance as I thought it would have been heavily fished. I didn't get as far as intended before I spotted three or four trout cruising about and rising to something. Apart for the black stuff the only other fly life were some small sedge. After a few cast with a small deer hair sedge it became apparent this wasn't what the were eating. A change to a deer hair emerger had the desired effect but the takes were very fast and I had trouble hitting them. Eventually I made contact with a fish that didn't seem to want to remain in the river and splashed about all over before managing to release it's self. This put the rest of the fish down. While I was playing it a few mayfly fluttered past.

I wandered a lot further up eventually spotting some more trout bellow a fast riffle, The showed very little interest in the DHE so on went a Dynamite Harry type fly. These are quite buoyant and would handle the riffled water well. This proved to be the case when, after a few casts, I was in again. A lovely little fish around the eight inch mark. A larger fish then started to rise to the left of the riffle. On the first cast I didn't mend the line fast enough and the fly got dragged away very quickly. The next couple of casts ended up in two different trees. One behind me and one above the trout. Both were low enough to retrieve the fly but this put pay to the swim.

I tried various spots as I moved upstream managing to hook a couple of smaller fish that came adrift when I grabbed the leader. A bit further up I spotted a couple more trout in the tail of a riffle. The first cast snagged the tree behind me. The second fell a bit short, but the smaller of the two tout turned and grabbed it. Another nice fish of eleven inches or so. The other, larger, trout shot past me as I played the first. By now it was getting rather dark under the trees and the fly was getting hard to see. Also I wasn't sure how far I'd wandered, so I headed back to towards the car. I sat above a long smooth glide for a while watching some small trout moving about. As it was a bit brighter here I had a go for them They didn't like the Dynamite Harry  and as they were only just breaking the surface I put on a plume fly. This resulted in a couple of minnows, so I put on the larger DHE which the trout came up and inspected before drifting away. A change to a size 22 IOBO resulted in more minnows. As the light was now fading I made my way back to the car. By the time I had changed it was lighting up time dark.

 

I think it may be worth another go down there. Now I've remembered where the paths are I should be able to get further upstream bit quicker. We'll have to see what the rain and thunder do this weekend.

Return To The Trout

 I still hadn't made my mind up where to go fishing on Thursday. I had a quick shufti though the river gauges and noticed a couple of the trout rivers had had a bit of a lift from the rain earlier in the week. I decide a trip up the valley of cheese may be a good idea. I checked the weather and seemed it would be a nice, if somewhat draughty, day. What didn't occur to me was that I would be trying to fly fish an easterly flowing river in a strong westerly.  At various points I passed signs proclaiming some road or other would be close from some point or other at some time or other. How you're supposed to read these signs on a sixty MPH road I don't know I suppose I could have made a nuisance of myself and slowed right down and annoyed everybody behind me. Besides there had been several signs claiming the were no white lines. There were plenty of very bright, newly painted white lines. So were the signs even relevant any more. It transpired the road was closed, but I knew the road that they claimed only went to a village in fact went very close to where I wanted to be. I eventually arrived late late afternoon and was surprised to see a couple of anglers fishing my club stretch. They would be the first I'd seen. A natter with one, Paul, found they they were staying nearby for three days as they weren't from these parts and that they'd had three fish between them in the morning. They'd struggled in the wind though.

I ventured Up to the top of the stretch as I thought it may be more sheltered. With the river nearly six inches up and falling it looked a lot healthier than last time I'd fished. I rigged up a duo and fished the faster water in some of the more sheltered spots for a while with no bites. I then tried some of the smother glides but didn't get an signs of fish. I worked my way back towards the car but things didn't get any better. A change of tactics were called for. As the wind had dropped a bit I decided to fish a couple of spiders through the faster riffles. Getting them to turn over was a bit tricky at times. One spot fishing downstream produced a couple of takes but I failed to connect properly. This is always a problem when fishing downstream. Near the bottom of the stretch and back to fishing upstream I  got a good solid take and a very nice 14" wild brown trout was in the net after a bit of acrobatics. No photo though as it jumped clear of the floating net while I was faffing with the phone. Wet hands and touch screens don't always cooperate. Another fish was lost not long after, throwing the hook as it cartwheeled about.

I thought I'd do a lot better after the river had lifted a bit. There was very little hatching apart from the odd small upright. I didn't see any fish rise at all. The two chaps fishing earlier had seen a couple of fish jump but that was it. It wasn't until I got home I realised that I hadn't taken many photos for some reason.

Seventh Day Fifth Session Of The 2023 River Season

 As I climbed over the stile-of-doom for the final session of the opening week I pondered whether it was a good idea to only have light trotting gear with me on a renowned barbel water. I also knew I may have a bit of a problem finding a swim suited to light float gear as most people fish for barbel. The first accessible swim I found was about two and a half foot deep and in the bright sunshine was seemingly devoid of anything but minnows. I chucked a few handfuls of hemp in with the intention of fishing it on my way back.

After negotiating a couple more stiles I found a nice looking swim on the end of a bend. With seven foot of water at the end of the fifteen foot rod it seemed an ideal place for a bit of not trying very hard to catch fish on the float. A 4 № 4 stick float shotted down with № 6 shot a trotted through nicely. Loose feeding hemp and maggots. I was soon getting chewed maggots. Moving the tell-tail shot closer to the hook and the first out was a small bleak. The pattern for the day was soon set as small bleak, dace, roach, and chublets were occasionally caught. I managed top get a steady rate by gradually shallowing the rig until it was about three from the bottom. This also vastly reduced the problem of chewed maggots. I didn't bother with photos of the fish as I, and you, don't really need any more photos of little tiddlers. I'd not brought the keepnet with me for some reason, either.

Occasionally I'd increase the depth to fish along the bottom but this just resulted in unmissable bites that I could hit and chewed maggots. I did try hemp on the hook a few times but nothing was interested. Some seventy one fish  landed and none needing the landing net. No pike bothering me. It had been a pleasant afternoon/evening. But I did fancy a go in the shallow swim. There seemed to be a few larger fish in it when I got there. They looked like chub around the pound mark. A few maggots tossed in seemed to attract their attention. A change of rig to a one swan loafer shotted with  five BB shot and a size fourteen hook with three maggots on was soon trotting down the run. One thing that was noticeable was how cold the water was. Stood in the shallows my feet could feel the cold through my wellies. Just before the float reached the weed where the chub were it dipped under and out came a little gudgeon. My first of the season. I could no longer see the occasional flash of the chub, so tossed a few more maggots in and climbed up the bank for a better view. No sign of them. I sat and waited, cup of tea in hand. Catapulting more maggots into the swim, but they failed to return.

I didn't want to be too late setting back home as there was going to be several road closures on my route and I didn't fancy spending time traipsing round the diversions. Also there is a nasty steep little climb back to the car. It had been I nice way to spend the opening week, trotting for whatever. No real complications. No rush to catch, just take it as it comes along. For the rest of the season I'll be trying to catch a barbel from all the Yorkshire rivers to which they are endemic. I'd also like a double on float.

Sixth Day Fourth Session Of The 2023 River Season

 The most exciting part of yesterday's fishing expedition was finding the river. The Dunesfordes are dead end villages. I'd never fished this section before so wasn't quite sure where I was going The sat nav seemed to get confused as you're never sure whether you're on public or private roads. Eventually, after missing a turn hidden behind the apex of a bend and driving into the wrong field I spotted the club sign on a gate. The track through the fields down to the river wasn't as obvious as I'd hoped so I got out and had a wander. It was more obvious on foot than from the car. Eventually I got my way to the river bank despite the apathetic sheep that seemed to be in no hurry to get out of my way. Must be something to do with the solstice.

The river was much as expected. Some 40 yards wide and 2 to 3 fathoms deep. Even though it was some 6" up on normal summer levels there was still very little flow. A brief natter with the only other angler there made me wonder why I'd bothered. He was struggling for bites and had only a couple of small dace for a couple of hours fishing. He said that the all over the place gusty breeze made presentation hard work. There weren't a lot of swims that were easily accessible so I just plumped  for one near where I'd come to a halt in the car.

I set up two rigs.  A 3g slim bolo at 13' for 3 rod lengths out. and a 5g slider rig at 15' for the middle of the river. Hemp and maggots for the inside line and groundbait and maggots for the middle of the river. The middle line was the first to produce with a tiny roach on double maggot. Bites were hard to come by though. A bleak was next up from the middle of the river. I then changed to the inside and had a couple of dace. I then got my hopes up when I got a 6-8oz chub. No more bites were forthcoming so I went out to the middle again and had a slightly larger chub. For the rest of the session I just picked up the odd dace here and there. The other chap left before me and had had a dozen or so small roach and dace. I ended up with 15 fish, 1 roach, 1 bleak, 2 chub, and 11 dace.

Not the most productive day but I wasn't pestered by pike for a change. People tell me this is a winter venue but i know good bags can be had in summer.