A game of two halves

Saturday 12th February

After my recent success with catching Chub from some new areas i was chomping at the bit to get out this weekend. After last weekends surprise floods the rivers were fining off nicely, the Soar was still low and clear and the Trent appeared to be carrying about a foot with a tinge of colour to it. The weather was still very mild although a bit of rain had been forcast. My intention was to fish a couple of spots on the Soar in the morning before heading over to the Trent to see if it was worth a go in the afternoon.

First half - The Soar

I arrived at first light and headed straight for the area i had the five pounder from last week as i felt id found something of a holding spot. The action wasnt as instant as i had been hoping and it was after about half an hour of building the swim with loosefeed that i managed to kick-off with my first Chub of the day in the form of a mid-3lber on breadflake. After this i was still getting knocks and taps but nothing strikeable so i tried a switch to cheesepaste in a bid to tip the balance in my favour. Within minutes id hit into a slightly better fish of 4lb exactly which pretty much wrecked the swim in its bid for freedom and no more bites were forthcoming.

I decided to head about 100yards downstream to a spot where a very shallow run dropped off into a much deeper glide, the kind of spot which screamed Chub! It certainly held a few because within ten minutes id caught another two, both very small though in the 1-2lb class. One was grabbed and spat out again by a large Pike as i brought it in and although it lost a couple of scales in the process it seemed fine when i returned it.
Not wanting to sit there catching small ones and getting mauled by Pike i moved on again to another spot. It had been dull all morning but now the sun was coming out in earnest which made me think i might start to struggle for bites in the clear water. Sure enough it was a good while before i had another but i managed to hit it and another 3lb+ Chub hit the back of the [landing]net.
By now i was well into stoppage time and the halftime switch to the Trent was well overdue so i packed up and made my way over there........

Second half - The Trent

Upon arriving at the river and selecting a couple of swims, i  baited up,had my lunch then commenced fishing. The river was indeed carrying around a foot and was slightly more coloured than i thought it would be with about eighteen inches of visibility in the margins. My chosen area was noted as being tough  for Chub but if i caught one chances are that it would be a lump.
I spent about an hour in the first swim with no indications whatsoever so i moved onto my other one with the intention of fishing it till dark regardless of whether i had bites there early on or not. I wasnt disapointed because it was well over an hour before i had the first hint of a knock, i struck, missed and put it down to Roach pecking at the bread. This carried on very sporadically over the next couple of hours, just getting tiny taps, nothing worth striking and yet my bread was being taken off the hook everytime i reeled in. I scaled down hook and bait size to try and connect with at least something to no avail.
By now the sun was beginning to set and the light levels were dropping fast, the indications on the tip had become noticably more frequent, probably one every five to ten minutes. I began to pack my gear up and was literally down to just the rod and landing net when i had another little tap, out of frustration and with nothing to lose i hit it and was shocked when the rod hooped over and a decent fish made for the middle of the river. After a few hairy moments involving an overhanging tree it was soon netted, a nice fish of 4lb10oz, smaller than i thought but still a nice one and the biggest of the day, an extra time special!

I mentioned in a previous entry that i was going to get a new camera cos my other was getting a bit rubbish. Well ive now got one and the pics above are the first results, they do seem better and the camera has more functions for dealing with crappy light conditions so ill have no excuse soon once ive mastered it!