I’m glad when January comes around; work slows down, the days start to get a little longer and I get more time on the bank. With the festive period over I had New Year’s day off and while most people are nursing a hangover, I was looking forward to a day on the river bank. Heading to a stretch that I’ve not fished much, in the hope of locating a chub or two. Casting in at dawn I didn’t have to wait long before I connected, as a chub took a liking for my bread flake. It was not a monster, but my first fish of 2017. Although it turned out to be the only bite of the day, despite trying several swims.
Not big, but the first fish of 2017
The next session I had was on the ‘winter’ stretch in the hope of a pike. We had a really sharp frost, so the river was truly in her winter colours with ice in the margins. Still it was nice to be on the bank, relaxing. There were plenty of prey fish topping, so I felt there was always a chance. The morning was spent moving along the stretch with one rod and a deadbait. By lunchtime I still hadn’t had a take, so I decided to move to the weirpool and float fish a smelt just touching bottom in a small slack below the main sill. Within an hour I’d hooked and landed two jacks. Again not big, but I was happy that I hadn’t blanked!
The best of two jacks saves a blank January 2017
After a trip out with a friend fishing the river Frome for the first time and only catching one small grayling; I was looking forward to the prospect of improving conditions as some mild weather came our way bringing a rise in temperatures and some rain. I had a couple of short after work stints chasing perch, with only the one banked around the pound mark. After seeing plenty of fish topping during those sessions, I decided that my next session would be on the ‘winter’ stretch with a float rod.
Downstream wind – not the best!
On the river before dawn there were already fish topping in my chosen swim. Today I had some hemp, maggot, liquidised bread and a sliced loaf for hook bait. I was out to catch anything that swam regardless of size. I set up an 5AA Avon float down to a 0.12 bottom size 14 hook. For the first hour I really struggled to even get a bite dispite my swim seeming to be teeming with fish. Using the maggot and after much chopping and changing of the depth and shotting pattern, I started to catch the odd roach. I’d been feeding hemp and the liquidised bread from the off in the hope of getting the fish to feed under the rod tip with the plan to give the punched bread a go. The wind was getting quite strong making control of the float difficult, but by fishing the inside line I had a little more control. Switching to the bread punch was the turning point of the session, as I began to catch under the rod tip and pretty much getting a roach a chuck. It was enjoyable fishing, nothing bigger than 12oz, but that didn’t matter I was putting a nice net together. With some breaks in the fishing talking to a friend who had joined me on the bank to fish downstream and my Mrs popping down for her lunch break, I had fished for six hours. With that in mind it was time to do a ‘weigh in’ scales and mat sorted the bag went 19lb 12oz, all roach except two rogue dace. A great session on the river!
19lb 12oz of Dorset Stour redfins January 2017
Perfection
Fish Tales From The Riverbank 