It’s the lady’s weekend off so not
much fishing related jobs completed but plenty of Christmas shopping,
joy!
Monday was spent, as most Mondays are,
feature writing and one completed was a CAT Nash ‘Think-Tank’
where new recruit Jake Curry relates his thoughts after a strange
session at Godalming’s Broadwater where PVA bags strangely won
against The-Method. I also made time to clean up my email database as
I’ve seemed to have neglected this of late. I also managed to
secure some after dark Zander fishing at Old Bury Hill so if anyone
is interested joining me then get in touch, this might be our last
chance! With barbel firmly fixed in my brain I decided to do
something that I rarely do, fish into darkness. This is more because
the after dark crucian sessions have been knocked on the head so
facing my fears once again I headed to the river which was high after
the rain on Sunday night. One thing I have noticed with the Loddon
this autumn is even when the river rises after rain it isn’t
colouring up, why I just don’t know, but it certainly doesn’t
fill me with confidence on arrival. Fortunately there was only one
angler on the stretch which I knew so after a quick chat headed to
the first of three barbel swims that I had in mind. An hour was spent
in each, longer than what I normally give but with loads of debris
coming down and having to repeatedly clear the line felt this was
necessary, however come the end of the three hour session all that I
had to show for my efforts was one missed chub bite. I was trying a
new bait, so all wasn’t lost and although in the past I haven’t
looked forward to such a session, strangely enjoyed it!
Tuesday morning I was back this time
guiding an angler who was looking to up a couple of personal bests,
chub and barbel. Knowing the river would still be up I took the
decision to fish for barbel as this often produces the odd big chub
and first look at the river I thought it was the right decision as
although it had dropped from the previous night, it did seem to be
more coloured. The first swim showed signs of fish, yet these were
chub and clever ones at that. Without going into too much detail we
fished nine swims throughout the day yet apart from the odd pull and
a crayfish the fireworks we were looking for failed to arrive. Two
other anglers I knew were also struggling and come the end of the day
the colour had dropped right out of the river and the height was
almost back to normal. I think this has to be the hardest day I have
ever spent on the river, without a doubt down to the changing
conditions, yet with a no bite return policy, Tony will be
accompanying me once again very soon.
The following day I headed back to the
river once it started to rain as for once I was hoping to get the
river rising, yet the heavy rain forecasted turned out to be fine
drizzle and the river was still falling. I tried nine swims in four
hours, trying to find a hungry mouth yet apart from one chub rattle
that I ignored returned home again fishless. Chris fished after dark
that evening and managed a modest barbel for the stretch at 6lb 12oz.
With things getting personal I decided
to fish into darkness the next day, what ‘s considered the best
time for barbel, this time spending more time in known big fish
areas, yet once again apart from an ignored chub rattle it wasn’t
too be. Fortunately it seems every other angler that I speak to is
faring the same so although its frustrating its just a sign of the
time of year when the rivers are up, down, clear, coloured, fast,
slow, carrying debris, you name it, basically just extremely
difficult.
Friday was an early one, 4.45am in fact
and with perch the target I met my customer in the early hours before
heading south to a day ticket water. Although cold at just 5 degrees
conditions looked perfect yet the perch had other things on their
mind as everything we tried failed to produce the desired three-pound
plus specimen. Tench and roach did take a liking to our prawn and
lobworm offering, in fact the bobbins hardly stayed still for more
than a few seconds, yet time after time, frustratingly thin air was
struck. We even feed maggots and prawns under a tree only to have the
swim boiling with good rudd and roach, yet the big perch we hoped
that was attracted and lurking below just failed to show, yet if I
had set out to catch silver fish then I reckon ten pound an hour
would be easily achievable, but without distraction we stuck to our
guns, twitching baits constantly in the hope of a big stripy, yet
just two showed, one around 8oz the other around 1oz! The only heart
stopping moment was when I tried Tony’s drop shotting rod only to
hook a very big fish. Thoughts of a five pound perch flashed through
my mind, yet after a few minutes the tail of a big carp surfaced and
in the shallow water netting was almost impossible and finally the
hook pulled. Even fishing two hours in torrential rain I would have
thought the Fish-God’ would provide us with something to smile
about on the way home yet it wasn’t to be.
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