The morning started badly with constant rain at 6am & guess what it carried on till I arrived at my favourite parking space & met Dan a few minutes later.
The weather was the first topic of conversation as we unloaded the gear, the forecast was grim but with limited bank time before the river season finished we braved the elements & by 3pm when we packed up I'm so glad we did.
We struggled to set up & keep all our gear dry but in the end with 2 umbrellas it was quite comfortable as the rain got harder.
We started off trickling maggots in, 5 or so every cast as Dan & i fished the stick float, we set up with Dan to left & me to right of the same large swim & slowly the small roach appeared, interspersed with the odd bleak & baby perch.
The roach came thick & fast with a few nice fish to 8oz but as the bites became less frequent & change of bait to hemp or bread punch kept the bites coming.
Around 9am as Dan & I discussed the significant size of the roach shoal, Mark i.e. "Mr Johnny come lately" strolled along with his Brighton beach deck chair & no umbrella, running the risk of a soaking. He set up 2 the right hand of our swim & proceeded to catch some nice perch & roach 2 around 8oz.
This diminutive river is stuffed with silvers this winter, the level has been as high as I've ever seen it yet the flow as been slow & steady, obviously a perfect home for some roach & perch without being washed downstream every few days.
It's been my savour this winter when every other river in my local area has been unfishable most of the winter.
It was bite a cast fun 4 a few hours & the keepnet was filling up nicely, yet the big old 2lb redfins that I know have been caught here this winter (unfortunately not by me, but i witnessed first hand)
Dan gave the maggot feeder a bash, to try & get through to the bigger fish that we agreed would probably be hard on the bottom but that produced even less bites.
As we thought about another change of tack a huge splash downstream caught our attention & Mark could wait no more & nicked one of my treble traces & flicked out a chunky roach on a big float rig.
He trotted his livebait down for 20mins with no avail & just as I remarked to Dan "I'm surprised nothing as had that roach so far"
Predictably... Bang the float sails away & mark gives it 5 seconds, then tightens up & strikes hard 3 or 4 times to set the razor sharp trebles, I did expect a 60lb yellow fin tuna to surface from his overzealous strike but I can't really fault his tactics as he played the fish well & within 60 seconds of rod bending action as I landed the fish.
As I helped him up the bank he has a very plump Esox Lucius in the net.
It's a fin perfect specimen & no doubt a lovely low double, this little river is just stuffed with fish big & small.
With that I get a lively looking roach from the net & get my pike gear out & cast right in a pikey looking eddy at the back of the swim, within a few minutes I'm in with another pike.
Could there be anymore hiding here ?
After a short & frantic fight another jack is in the net, these fish are not huge but when can catch plenty in a short space of time, it's very addictive.
Then it was Dan's turn with pike rod in hand as he hunted out the next toothy predator, he cast out all the over the likely looking spots & it took a while before any fish showed any interest.
Then something very strange happened, the float bobbed away as the bait became nervous.
I love this sight as 9 times out of 10, you know the bite is imminent asap.
We all leaned forward with our eyes glued to the float, awaiting the inevitable action, I'm sure Dan's heart rate quickened by the second as we waited.....
Then a few fish jumped clear of the water as a pike zoomed in to take the hapless roach, a small tail broke the surface & the float disappeared.......
Dan waited & then struck cleanly &......
Nothing !!!!
I know at times our eyes can deceive us at times but I'm sure that small fin that a saw was a typical stumpy tail of a perch.
My thoughts were confounded when I looked at the roach, not 1 puncture wound was found, just a compression of the body left a mark & removed some scales. Very perchy indeed, but when you consider the bait was at least a 5oz redfin, that could have been a huge perch !!!!!!
I've never caught a perch over a pound from this river but maybe that is about to change with the abundance of small silver fish, it would be great to think I could beat my pb stripy next season from here.
Dan recast quickly 2 the same place but the perch wasn't that stupid to have another bite, within 10mins in a different part of the swim something has grabbed the poor roach again......
Dan took his time & played the fish well but disappointingly from my point of view, it was a pike.
A nice 7lb+ & Dan wasn't too bothered though, a good strong fish on the bank & he was off the starting blocks after watching me & mark fill our boots earlier.
A nice 7lb+ & Dan wasn't too bothered though, a good strong fish on the bank & he was off the starting blocks after watching me & mark fill our boots earlier.
Could we be pushing our luck with another cast or 2 ???
The excited boy in me had to give it a go so mark & I got another 2 baits out again. Unbelievably we were both in again over the next 30minutes, Marks fish was possibly a fish that was caught earlier at 7lb-ish & mine was the biggest of the day for me at 8lb+
All in all another crazy day & when think that we nearly didn't bother with the terrible weather predicted, it was wet & extremely muddy but I think we all loved every single rain soaked minute
No comments:
Post a Comment