Blown away!

Saturday 5th February

The title of this weeks entry pretty much says it all about Saturdays trip. The whole country is currently being battered by gale force winds which make makes for some pretty uncomfortable fishing. Due to the winds south-westerly direction and the area of low pressure thats brought the wind with it, daytime temperatures have been up into double figures.
Despite hearing the wind howling past my bedroom window when i awoke, i wasnt deterred and i still headed for the river full of anticipation after last weeks success. Upon arrival i was a bit gutted that the wind was going to be directly in my face in my chosen area but i still setup nevertheless. To cut a long story short i ended up sitting there for about four hours constantly being punished by the weather throughout. Bite indication was next to impossible although i mustve had at least one bite because at one point i wound in to recast and found myself connected to a fish which swam upstream and then the hook pulled. It got to the point where i couldnt stand it any longer and headed for home.

Sunday 6th February

I awoke this morning to find that the wind had dropped a bit on what it was yesterday so i decided upon a rematch to even the score after yesterdays disaster. I couldnt get down till around midday but after checking the EA rivers levels site i was shocked to find that the river had risen nearly 3ft overnight! I checked the levels on the other rivers in the area and all but one said the same thing. The Soar was still crack-on though by the looks of it and that was where i headed for.
I was undecided as to what to fish for so i took both my lure gear and the Chubbing gear so that i could have the option to do either depending on conditions. It was still windy when i got to the river but nothing like as bad as yesterday. I broke out the lure rod and had a wander along the stretch as i hadnt been there for a good while and it would be good way to reaquaint myself with it. Apart from a Jack which came off as i was about to glove it out there were no other enquiries so after an our or so i headed back to the car for the Chub stuff.
The wind had come back with a vengeance by now so i headed for a spot where it would be coming off my back just so that i could fish in a bit of comfort. The peg wasnt one i would normally choose with Chub in mind so i was quite surprised to get a bite on the bread within a couple of minutes of casting out. That one was missed but when i had another on my next cast i managed to connect with one. It was a lively fish which i thought might go 4lb but it ended up going 3lb14oz.
Despite that fish splashing about all over the swim i decided on a recast due to the fact id had a couple of bites in quick succession which possibly meant there was a few fish present. This hunch proved correct as i missed another one within five minutes, in fact i went on to miss another half a dozen over the next hour! I couldnt work out what i was doing wrong, the bites were really good too, nice smooth pulls the kind that you dont usually miss!
In the end I decided to do away with the rod rest altogether and simply hold the rod as still as possible and feel for bites. This did the trick and i connected with the very next one i had. The fish kept deep and it wasnt until i got it near the net that i saw it looked a good fish. It went 5lb2oz, a good fish for the Soar so i was well chuffed!