Taking some advice from my feedback I have been thinking about how I approach my fishing and decided that having one float rod and a carp rod was probably not doing either method justice and I could try fishing one style at a time. I spent some time in my shed going over my tackle and got my carp setup all ready to go as it was going to be my next session. Then, you know how it is, I didn’t get time until the morning I was sitting in bed drinking a cuppa and looking through Facebook when I noticed that there was a warning about a burst water main on the main road in the middle of the village, the importance of which will become clear later. I then got a message from the surgery saying that I had an appointment that afternoon which gave me a few hours free to go fishing!
Then I remembered the burst water main, to get to any of our lakes I would have to drive that way and there was going to be chaos. It would be a nightmare and the alternative route is tiny lanes that would be full of traffic trying to avoid the queues. I also didn’t have a lot of time as the morning was getting on but did have enough to go back to the river which happened to be in a different direction and would avoid the jams. It wasn’t what I have planned for my next outing, but I did have unfinished business with the fish that I could see but not catch. I had been thinking about them and was wondering if a kind of Paternoster rig, which would have a weight on the bottom of the river and leave the hook swimming in midstream, would be the way to go, but I have not rigged my rod this way yet. It is only five minute’s drive to the river then a short walk from the car park so it didn’t take long to get there. I knew we had had some rain, but there is a monitoring station nearby and it wasn’t showing too high, a water level. It also didn’t show the level of water in the tunnel under the roadway which you have to go through all bent over to get to my first swim and as I was only wearing trainers there was no way I was going through that! So, it was a matter of scrambling over the fence and down the bank through the nettles to get there. The first job was to get the garden shears out and cut down enough vegetation to make a place to put my chair, tackle et This done, I put the feeder rod out with a plain lead and maggot and took my float rod and started trotting down the river.
I soon caught a tiny little dace and thought there would be more about, but all I got was minnows and a tangle at the rod tip when I missed a bite. I tried to undo it but eventually cut the line and re-threaded and was fishing again. There was nothing on the feeder rod after a while I got a nice dace then it went quiet. As I still had some time left I decided to go and look at the swim where I saw the fish the other day but first went back to the car to drop off my chair, shears and to put on my waterproof trousers. Then, with my rucksack on my back, rods and landing net in hand, I climbed over the gate and made my way to the bank, a bit further up from where I had been fishing. When I got there, I crept quietly forward and knelt down so as not to be seen. The fish with there again and taking some more advice from my feedback I cast some bread upon the water. It was swiftly carried away by the current so I couldn’t see if the fish had taken any interest in it. I decided to dry some squashed up bits of bread as they would sink through the water and soon had fish nibbling them as they fell, although their interest waned once the bread had reached the bottom. This was encouraging and as the water was a bit deeper, I thought I would try with my float rod, but on the first cast caught, the reds and lost my hook length. I decided that fishing with a float rod was not my best idea so tried with my feeder rod. I cast over the other side of the stream and could see the bait right down to the riverbed although I couldn’t get fish interested in it.
Then I noticed there were fish on my side of the river, where I could lower the line in carefully without making a big splash and scaring the fish. As the ledger weight was directly under the rod tip I could hold it off the bottom, leaving the bread in mid water where the fish were. I could see them nibbling the bread and soon had a small dace on the bank. Pleased with my success I put a bigger piece of bread on the hook and tried again. The smaller fish crowded around the bait once again, but then a big one appeared and my bread disappeared and I had a fish on! It gave a bit of a fight on light line and I was worried about losing it so I scrabbled around in the nettles for my landing net, ignoring the stings to my hand and soon had the fish resting in it. It was one of the biggest ones that I had seen and I was really pleased as it was the first chub I had ever caught. The hook came out easily and it was time for a photo before using the net to return the fish.
Looking at my watch I could see that it was time to go, which was fine as I had accomplished what I sit down to do and reckoned that landing the chub I’d probably spooked to the fish in the swim anyway. I gathered up my gear and went home with a smile on my face and a spring in my step, “I love it when a plan comes together!”
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