Saturday 30th October
Ill start this post with a little bit about last weekends trip. It turned out to be something of a non-starter really, i only had a few hours spare so i opted for a quick livebaiting session on a stretch of my local river Soar. To cut a long story short, i caught plenty of baitfish but there didnt seem to be anything around to eat them other than the tiny Jack pictured below which was little more than livebait sized itself!
Not to be deterred, i headed out this weekend to another bit of river with my mate Steve in the hope of something a bit larger. A couple of hours into the session later and my small joey mackerel was picked up by a nice fish of 13lb8oz.
Other than Steve getting a dropped pickup that was all the action we had for the day which was a little surprising cos the conditions were pretty good i thought.Well, thats it for this week, short and sweet i know but time seems to be at a real premium for me these days. Ive got an operation on my foot next week so i doubt ill be able to get out on the bank for a couple of weeks, i think im gonna go stir crazy!
Sunday 17th October
Stepping outside to pack the car at 6am this morning i was quite surprised to find that wed had a fairly decent frost overnight. Its the first time ive had to scrape the car in months and although i welcome the first frosts as the start of my winter campaign i was a little concerned about what effect the sudden temperature drop would have on the fishing as its been quite mild of late.
I arrived at the river for first light and the thermometer in the car never registered above zero for the entire journey there. The grass in the fields was white over, the thick mist was rising off the river and the sheep were all huddled together, i love this time of year!
I headed for a proven spot and set up a float rig to lay-on with worms tight to a snag. After a good while with no bites the usual 'grass is greener' mentality began to set in as i started to wonder if id be better off in another spot. I neednt have worried though because the float bobbed a couple of times and then slid away decisively. A firm strike met with solid resistance and after a short but dogged scrap i had what looked to be a nice Chub in the net. It had the length and frame of a 5lb+ fish so i was little disappointed when the scales showed it to be hollow at 4lb4oz. Still, it was nice fish on a cold morning and i know it will be a definate 5 towards the backend of the season.
After that, other than some unwelcome Crayfish attention i had no more interest from that spot so i moved on. Again, in my next spot the Crays gave me more problems and i reasoned that if they were active there then the Chub and Perch certainly werent so off i moved again. Despite fishing hard for the rest of the morning i only managed one more good bite which i missed.
The sun was extremely bright due to the clear skies which didnt help matters but the sudden temperature drop was the main reason it was so slow i think. A few more frosts over the next few weeks will get the fish better acclimatised and moving to their winter quarters hopefully.
Sunday 10th October
Firstly, apologies to followers of this blog for the lack of updates over the last couple of weeks. Headquarters demanded that i do some decorating which basically wiped out any chances of me wetting a line at all last weekend. In other words i havent been fishing at all for two weeks, nightmare!
With the DIY all but complete this weekend i decided to get out on the bank sharpish before i went stir crazy. I had to get back on the rivers urgently so a trip to the Dove with my mate Phil was hastily arranged. Id been looking to get back on this river again for a while but with all the rain of late, conditions havent been to my liking down there. The dryer weather over the last week gave me hope that the river would be somewhere near cock-on and upon arrival we werent disappointed. It looked to be carrying around 2-3 inches and was running fairly clear with a slight tinge of colour.
My intention was to use quivertip tactics and worms in the hope of a Perch or two whilst Phil went for stickfloat and maggot gear to fish for Grayling and Trout. Starting off near a weir, Phils tactics proved to be a winner from the off as he took a procession of Grayling and Trout to around 10oz. Me on the other hand found myself struggling a bit, the slightly increased flow on the river meaning my usual spots were pulling through a bit too quickly for Perch to be holed up. The minnows were like pirahnas attack my worms as soon as they hit the deck but i persevered and eventually landed a Perch after a good couple of hours hard fishing. Not a big one by any stretch of the imagination but it was my target species and a handsome reward for some hard fishing.
The sun was coming out by now and Phil sarted to catch some larger Grayling including 3 gooduns at 1.8, 1.12 and 1.14. A large signal Crayfish also put in an appearance to Phils rod proving to us beyond any doubt that this highly invasive species is now well established in the river.
After a while of no more bites i decided upon a move and Phil fancied one too so we headed for the lower end of the stretch. We both doubled up in a peg on a relatively slow stretch so we could have a chinwag . It proved to be good decision for us both because i went on to land a new pb Grayling of 1.12 and Phil had a 4lb Chub which was one of the fattest ive ever seen (probably due to the Crays) and a 1.10 Grayling. I also landed another Crayfish.
Well thats it for another week, definately gonna be out next weekend, not sure where yet though. The Trent could well be on form after the recent high water, maybe the dreaded drifting weed has been washed away, we can but hope!
Not to be deterred, i headed out this weekend to another bit of river with my mate Steve in the hope of something a bit larger. A couple of hours into the session later and my small joey mackerel was picked up by a nice fish of 13lb8oz.
Other than Steve getting a dropped pickup that was all the action we had for the day which was a little surprising cos the conditions were pretty good i thought.
