20th/21st November
After my enforced layoff over the last couple of weeks due to an operation on my foot i was truly itching to get back on the bank. All week id been planning a day out Perching and up until the Thursday it was looking like it would come right with falling river levels and mild temperatures. We had a bit of rain on Thursday which didnt seem to be enough to affect the rivers or so i thought! A check on the EA river levels site told me the water had come back up a bit which in itself wasnt a problem but it meant that the colour which had been running off all week would have returned which isnt great news for Perching.
Not to be deterred, i packed the lobworms and headed out anyway on the Saturday morning. My first port of call was the Dove and one look at it had me pointing the car towards the Derwent instead. Here the river was carrying about 6inches or so with a tinge of colour and looked pretty good if im honest. Half a lobworm was soon in position under a nearside bush, a spot where ive caught 3lbers in the past. 2 biteless hours later and i was scratching my head and the wanderlust was starting to set in.
Soon i was back on the road and heading for the Trent. Upon arrival ,one glance told me it was a non-starter so in a last ditch attempt to find some Perch i headed for the Soar. This river flows up from the South and is therefore not affected by rain over the peak district like the Dove and Derwent, its also the nearest river to my house which is always a bonus! Sure enough it looked bang-on, normal level and ever-so-slightly coloured, awesome!
I headed for an area id not Perch fished before but had earmarked for a fish or two ages ago. After walking for around 15minutes or so i came to a nice looking spot and was soon drowning a juicy great worm. After a short wait i had a couple of small Perch and missed a good few bites. I then decided to move cos in my experience, if your catching small ones then the bigguns arnt around as a rule. This story repeated itself in my next two spots so i packed up to save wasting any more valuble lobs!
It was great to be out again though and i quickly seized upon another chance to get out on Sunday afternoon whilst the missus was cooking the Roast. This time i headed to an area with a bit of past form and with it getting dark so early these days i would be there at the crucial time, the Perch witching hour!
I was encouraged when it took over half an hour to get a bite as this meant the small fish werent about. I connected with something that felt fairly decent but it came adrift after a few seconds. This isnt usually a good thing when Perch are involved as a lost fish can often spook the rest of the shoal. This was proved out as it took another hour to get any kind of indication whatsoever whereupon i took two 8oz fish in quick succession which meant the bigger fish had either moved on or gone into hiding deep inside the snag i was fishing to. It was soon too dark to see and i headed home for that roast dinner.
Apologies for the lack of photos to accompany this weeks post, when i actually get something worth photographing you can be sure it will be on here first!
