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For my first trip I just had to go back to the Bain to catch some more of those chub! My brother, Ben, was home for three weeks so I took him along on the trip, I had told him all about it and he couldn’t wait to get into some good fish. Up at the fist weir pool we began by floating some bread down but there were no takers. We baited up the pool with hemp and caster and some sweetcorn but all to no avail, they just weren’t having it. We knew they were there as we could see them. Plan ‘B’ we decided to have a wonder downstream and come back later on. Some chub were soon located by following bits of floating bread downstream. As it was my brothers first visit I let him go for them, they were being a bit finicky though and try as he might he just couldn’t get a positive take, I left him to it and went a little further downstream to see if I could find some chub of my own. I crept back to the bank around 60 meters down from Bens position and sure enough there was at least one fish which began taking bread just a little downstream, after a few runs down I was able to make contact with the fish and it turned out to be a nice chub of around 2 ½ - 3lbs. We then carried on downstream to the next weir where Ben was able to catch his first Bain chub, well his fist Bain fish full stop, and a nice fish it was too at about 3 ½ lbs, it later turned out to be the biggest fish of the day! After a little while longer we headed back upstream to see if we could tempt a few more, Ben settled in on the spot where I had had my fish and I carried on up to where he had been struggling earlier on, I soon had the fish taking bits of bread but like Ben I struggled to get a take. I couldn’t think what to do, looking into the grass I spotted a big black slug, my thoughts went back to a thread on the coarse fishing forum on this site about slugs and how a lot of people had sworn by them as a top bait for chub. Nothing to lose! I slipped the sticky slimy horrible slug onto my hook and lobbed it downstream to roughly where the fish were. Now what happened next was a new and amazing experience for me, the slug hit the water and around a second later there were at least three separate bow waves in the shallow water as every chub in the river seamed determined to get to my bait first! I snapped the bale arm closed and was straight into a nice chub of about a pound, which fought like a demon in around a foot to 2 feet of fast water, brilliant fun! My brother and me made our way back up to the first weir and then continued to catch three more chub which had obviously settled on the feed we had put in earlier, then that was it, sport over for the day! I needed to be back in Scunthorpe for an opticians appointment so we were back home by dinnertime thoroughly satisfied after a good mornings fishing! Our next trip, Ben coming with me again was up the A1 to the river Ure in the centre of Boroughbridge. We had enjoyed a couple of good days fishing here in the past and we set off early to hopefully get our choice of pegs. The fishing can be quite limited as the area we usually fish is only 5 or 6 pegs between a weir and a bridge. When we arrived there was one guy fishing across the river to some trees on the far bank near the bridge. He was quite happy for Ben to wade across and fish from the tail and of an island down the side of the trees so I settled in a spot a bit further upstream where I could fish across to the island to some more overhanging bushes, I had been informed previously that there were some big chub in this swim and I was hoping for a couple. I set up a blockend feeder on the loop rig with a 2lb maxima hooklink and a size 14 feeder hook and also a medium sized stickfloat also with a 2lb maxima hooklink and a size 16 Kamasan B520. My plan was to hopefully catch a chub and then swap to the stick to give the fish time to settle again so as not to spook them. On around my third cast the end of my rod registered a definite bite, reeling in I found a one ounce roach to be the culprit, impaled on my size 14 hook! Diverting a little from the subject here but how is it I caught that fish on a size 14 hook with 2 lb maxima when in winter on the Ancholme I would need to fish a 1lb hi-tech hooklink and a size 22 fine wire hook with pinkies to catch the same fish? One of fishing’s mysteries I suppose! Anyway on my very next cast I had a similar dropback bite. The strike this time however revealed that this was definitely no roach barring a record! It turned out to be a good chub at four pounds, I had to give that fish a lot of pressure to get it away from the trees but as soon as it was in open water it seamed to give itself up! Probably because it has been caught so many times that it knows once it has been drawn away from the trees the rest is more or less history? I then fed some hemp and caster via my catapult and picked up the stickfloat rod. This resulted in a procession of small dace, chub and gudgeon with the odd roach thrown in. Then on my next trot through, I stuck into a fish which immediately threw itself a good 2 feet clear of the surface, “trout, has to be a trout” I thought to myself, the fish, though aerobatic was not very big at about 5-6 ounces and was soon at my feet where I lifted it out the water only to find that my trout was actually a roach! I have never seen a roach do that in all my life! Anyhow back to the fishing, after 15-20mins I picked the feeder rod back up and recast, straight away I was into another good chub, but sadly the hooklink parted after a few seconds, Bugger! That lost fish put an end to action for the day, chub – wise, for me and I picked off a few more small fish on the stickfloat for the rest of the day. Ben ended the day with three chub to three pounds, which he ended up catching from under the bridge as he couldn’t get a bite from his first swim, along with a load of bits. I would thoroughly recommend Boroughbridge to anybody looking for a bit of river fishing in the area. Go to the tackle shop in the centre (called fish ‘N’ things I think) and the guy in there is unendingly helpful. He will tell you where is fishing and where the fish will be and what baits to use, if I ever give you one bit of advice let it be this, listen to him he knows the river better than his own back garden! Then the weekend came, and with it my brothers 18th birthday party, This obviously calls for a mandatory drinking binge which puts a stop to any fishing which might have been taking place! It was a good weekend all told though and capped off by a certain Michael Schumacer winning his 5th world title in a Ferrari, I was most impressed and the drink flowed! By Tuesday though I was back on the bank. In the haze, which can otherwise be referred to as Sunday, there had been a friendly match organized while at the pub. For what I could remember the arrangements were as follows, Ben, Dad, Mark of Chapmans tackle and I were to got to Holme marsh on the Trent, pick four pegs and see who came out on top. Rather simple really, remembering it was the problem! Anyway as my memory came back I started to realise it wasn’t going to be an easy match, besides Ben (read fluky git!) and my dad (fishes big baits for big fish all day and generally beats me in the last half hour with a couple of big something’s) there was Mark. Now because of the work commitments of part running (along with his partner Julie) an ever expanding tackle shop, Mark has fished very little in the couple of years that he has been a friend of our family. Hence we have never been fishing with him. Now memories started to come back from our conversation in the corner of the pub, they involved words like, went to the Trent last weekend…..Holme marsh…….fished feeder a bit….mainly stickfloat…… perch…..gudgeon…..chub…..barbell……..bream…..40lb!!!!! Jesus Christ, 40lb on the stickfloat, from the Trent! Now that is some catch. It transpires that Mark is indeed a very good angler! Looks like I’m gonna get battered from all sides then!! Anyhow I decided a practise was in order and as I love fishing the Trent anyway and Holme marsh was fishing well off I went with Ben for a few hours. As Mark had caught well on the stick I decided that I would try and make it work for me too. To cut a long story short I fished the stick for 3 ½ - 4 hours for a result of two bites and one lost fish! Not very good, and the lost fish was only a tiddler as well! Ben fished the stick with a similar result, but a last 20mins on the feeder saw him catch a solitary perch of around 2 ounces at best. Still he had beaten me and didn’t want to let me forget it! The next session was a spur of the moment afternoon trip to the Idle a small river which runs into the Trent through a lock a little upstream of Scunthorpe but on the opposite bank. I have only fished this river once before with reasonable success. This day however proved to be most dismal, I wandered downstream trying different spots and managed to attract only one bite! Which I missed! My dad used to fish the river a lot before I was around, and tells tales of big chub, bream and roach. The river didn’t look as though anyone had fished it for a good while, the fish must still be there though and the river may well be worth a further look in the future. I lost another good skimmer and caught a few more perch until I hit another good fish, I got it into the bank but it was still in around 10 feet of water and it didn’t want to come up! Bearing in mind at this stage I was on a size 20 hook and a 2lb link I couldn’t really give it too much pressure! I got it to the top and saw quite clearly it was a barbell! Then I got nervous, my first ever Trent barbell, I had caught bigger from the Severn but so far the barbell on the Trent had steered well clear of me! After I had got it to the top about ten times and it had dived back down about ten times I eventually got it into the net YES!!!! I was so happy that it didn’t matter if I caught nothing else! And as it turned out I only caught a couple more perch, I really didn’t care though! As the day wore on it began to materialise that Mark hadn’t caught nearly as much as we thought and had struggled for bites in the last couple of hours with the exception of a couple of perch and a BIG chub lost on the stickfloat. Could I have done him? Late on my Ben caught a couple of good bream and I thought he was close to me than Mark! As it turned out I had, 11lb – my best day on the Trent ever! Ben had 6lb odd and mark only a couple of pounds! My Dad managed one solitary perch on worm and caster, the big fish just didn’t want his big baits on the day! With the fishing gradually getting worse we packed up early and headed off for a much needed pint at the white swan! With that good days fishing in mind for my last trip I decided to go back for an evening. I fished exactly the same as I had before and caught a chub lost a good barbell and then as the sun went a bit lower in the sky I managed to get another barbell! Magic! I fished the same peg and If I hadn’t had known better I would have thought the chub and barbell were the same fish I had caught previously but there were different markings on the fish. My Mum, Ben and my two little cousins, Robbie and Mathew had come along for the day. Ben managed a few bits on the stick and the eldest cousin Mathew caught a 1lb plus eel on bens feeder rod and a small perch. The two young lads were well impressed with the eel! I think (Hope) when they grow up they will be fishermen! Halfway though the session with the fishing a bit quiet I decided to take my dogs for a walk, I took them a good mile downstream to Collingham weir. It’s the first time I have seen the weir and what a sight! Its huge! Bearing in mind the river was a little low I would love to se the weir when the river is in flood! Till next month Tight lines Mally |
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