My next few sessions on the river were tough going with only a few fish landed, the best being a 1lb 13oz perch which was caught at dusk. My next outing was on a stretch I rarely fish, again with the hope of perch or chub. The morning was spent fishing lobworms, which were cast into all the likely looking areas without so much as a nibble. The afternoon was spent chub fishing the usual baits and exploring for future sessions, resulting in just the one bite fishing to a raft which was hooked, but sadly the fish got in under the snag and wouldn’t budge. Two days later I was out again in the hope of a few fish on the float and maggot. It didn’t go to plan. Maggot was fed for the first fifteen minutes before having a trot through the swim. I kept feeding and trotting through chopping and changing the depth, after maybe the 2oth trot through, the float buried half way down the run. The strike was met with solid resistance then it kicked, took some line off the reel and then went slack. On retrieval of the hook bait the maggot had folded over the hook point! Still, that was a chub. The next two hours were spent going through the routine of bait, cast, trot. The reward was just two small Grayling and a small seatrout. A few other swims were fished that day, but no more bites followed.
1lb 13oz at dusk December 2016
My next outing was on the ‘winter’ stretch on the float and maggot. The morning was spent trotting the float on maggot catching a few here and there. In the last couple of hours I moved down a peg to have a go for the perch on the worms. There were a few missed bites, but it was a nice end to the session landing six perch. The biggest being 1lb 8oz.
A couple of days later I returned for an afternoon session. The first two hours were spent chasing perch in a deeper part of the river with no luck. With the best part of the day to come, a move was made to head to the ‘short’ beat to have a go for a chub. The first swim produced a bite first cast, not big, but a fish! A few other spots were fished without any action. With primetime approaching, I headed to the ‘downstream’ beat, set myself up in a swim that’s done me a few fish since opening it up. The rig was cast over toward the crease with three baits thrown over the top. Fifteen minutes passed when the tip showed a slight indication, I struck and the rod took on a pleasing bend. It didn’t really put up much of a fight and was in the net pretty quickly. Scales and camera sorted a weight of 5lb 3oz was recorded. One other swim was fished up until dark, then an otter came through under my bank hissing at me. So that was the end of another session.
5lb 3oz chub December 2016
My last outing of 2016 was on the ‘upstream’ beat. We had sharp frosts the previous few evenings running up to the session. With this in mind, I decided to leave the boilies at home and take a bucket of mashed bread and a tin loaf for bait. I’d not tried this method before and felt It was time to give it a go. Arriving on the stretch just after 14:30 my plan was to walk the beat, putting a few balls of mash into each swim that was fancied then dropping into each one at random. Sadly, as the sun was out there were also a few other anglers! So instead of walking the stretch, I opted to bait a few swims close together on a long glide and fish them in turn. Hoping that none of the other anglers, who were also roving although with float rods, didn’t fish them. Luckily, only one of the other anglers came past me and he went past my last baited spot. So I sat in the top half of the run fishing a couple of spots until he made his way back up the stretch and with the others heading home as well, some more mash was put in the middle of the run. It was now primetime, the sun had just set and I had the fishery to myself. After ten minutes in the middle swim without any indication, I dropped down further along the run. Cast into the crease where I thought the mashed bread would have found it’s way after baiting further up. Before the rod was on the rest a chub hooked itself. It put up a great fight and after the usual chub tussle it was in the net. After setting up the camera and scales a reading of 5lb 6oz was read. There was time for another cast as the light faded, but with no more action and with my landing net and mat both frozen it was time to pack up. A lovely short session to end 2016.
5lb 6oz on bread flake December 2016
Fish Tales From The Riverbank 