Where ar you going for the last day

[Worms]

A bit quiet!, one bite towards the end and a nice fit 4lb 5oz chub. Oh well, off to get my trout head on now.

[lutra]

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought that it was a biblical thing, 'Revelation' an all that. the last/day of judgement.

 

The River season has opened today for some of us. I wouldn't even consider it before May though.

Been on the river (Ribble) looking for chub late afternoon and managed 4, but nothing bigger than about 3lb. I will give it a few weeks and get the veg plot dug over, stockpiling the worms. Come April i will start looking for sea trout on the same stretch of river.

[Anderoo]

We had a really great day

 

Rich was up and about much earlier than me searching for perch, but we met up at about 10am at the little tributary for some trotting, which was brilliant as always, not many fish about but we both managed a decent chub or two (between 2-3lb) on maggots, and I lost something monstrous after a nail-biting 10 minute fight of epic proportions - it eventually got under some brambles well downstream of me and the light hooklength went. I don't know what it was, most likely a big brownie, but maybe - just maybe - a great big chub... If it was a trout I hope to renew acquaintances in a few weeks when I'm back with the fly gear!

 

Next stop was a local pub and a good lunch. Lovely!

 

Final stop was the chub river, which looked pretty near perfect. A very nice clear green colour and a steady but consistent flow. Nice! It was a really mild day and fairly overcast, so there was a chance of a bite at any time. We walked the stretch and baited up a few spots, and planned to fish our way back and both settle into the big bend for dusk, as there's plenty of room for two people, and it's been a pretty consistent spot this winter. The level and flow had both dropped considerably since my last visit, so the chub could have been almost anywhere really, rather than packed into the slacks, but if we found them they'd almost certainly feed.

 

First cast with a worm into a spot I've never fished before, and Rich was into a chub! Not one of the giants unfortunately, about 2.5lb, but a good start. I drew a blank at my first two spots (fishing cheesepaste) but in the third (a great looking spot with trailing branches hanging over the far bank) I soon had a tapping tip, and hooked a small chub too, which managed to dive into a huge snag near my feet at the last minute. Luckily I was able to unwind everything and draw him out OK, little devil. Phew, at least we've both caught one!

 

It looked good for another fish, so I recast, and within a couple of minutes got another good bite - this one immediately felt much heavier, and straight away kited to my left heading for that snag, almost made it before I heaved him away, then tried again, my blood pressure's going through the roof, and I was extremely relieved to draw him over the net. Much bigger! I called Rich over and we weighed him at an amazing 5lb 14oz, my second biggest chub As it turned out, this was the last fish of the season for me, and what a final fish, big and beautiful, in absolutely superb condition.

 

A couple more blank spots later and we ended up back at the bend with about 45 minutes of light left. To cut a fairly long story short, nothing happened, and I was starting to think that Rich was going to miss out on the biggies. However, about an hour into darkness and after no real bites at all, Rich's tip smacked over and he struck into a chub! I was literally halfway through saying 'Shall we call it a day' when it happened He brought it up and towards the net (no snags here, luckily) in the red beam of his headtorch, and it looked fairly small. Still, it's a fish! But when it got in the net it looked a bit bigger, and when I lifted the net out it felt heavy, and when we saw it properly, it was obviously big! Another fat fish in excellent condition, and it weighed a superb 5lb 2oz Talk about last gasp!

 

So, a 5lber each as our last fish. Happy? Damn right!

 

(I can't seem to upload photos which is a shame, maybe Rich can add them later.)

Edited March 14, 2009 by Anderoo

[Steve Walker]

I managed to get out for the last couple of hours of the day. I tried a club stretch of the Thames that I've never visited before, and after a little trouble finding it I absolutely kicked myself - it's beautiful, and much better than the other two Thames stretches the club holds. It's much bigger than one and much more characterful than the other, and it has a weirpool which I didn't make it to. I will definitely be back for a more thorough investigation.

 

I found an interesting looking swim, and spent a while upstream of it, trotting down with red maggots. When that yielded nothing but a solitary bleak, I moved down to the trees I'd been trotting past and tried close in with the quivertip rod:

 

 

The main flow was from left to right, but the eddy meant there was a flow from right to left into the roots of the tree. I was thinking how perchy it looked, and regretting having to give all my worms away at Barton Court after sitting on the box they came in and busting it, when I remembered that Steve had given me his little tub of leftover lobs - sure enough, it was in my bag, and on went a lobworm. A few tentative taps turned into a lunge, which turned into a perch that went 2lb exactly on the scales. I didn't photograph it, to be honest it was an ugly old bugger, blind in one eye, but I was very pleased all the same. I'd been feeding bits of bread flake into the current, and when no more perch appeared, I tried a bit of that. I couldn't get a bite from under the tree where the perch came from, but by casting into the main flow and letting the current drag my link leger downstream, I could get right under the trees to my right. I should really have gone up a couple of hook sizes for flake - I missed a couple of whopping big chub bites, and when I eventually connected with one it came off after a few seconds. And then it was dark, and I finally had to call it a day.

 

I'd never been to this venue before, and finding my way back in the dark was interesting - I don't know what it was, it felt like a rose bush but could have been a particularly savage bramble - but eventually found my way back to the car, where I discovered that I had left my favourite bank stick behind. Damn. I couldn't face walking back in the dark, so someone will have a nice little find. Still, a nice perch, and a nice way to end the river season. Can't wait to get back to that stretch next season, it looks really interesting. There's even a side stream that looks big enough to be worth a crack.

Edited March 14, 2009 by Steve Walker

[Peter M]

Great report Androo as always.

 

Well i ended the season with 2 perch on worms, 1lb 6oz and 1lb 2oz

Had to put up with a short evening session today as i was working this morning. still i just want to say that this winter i have learned so much about winter river fishing. i have not been near a lake or pond since september and have been concentrating on a short stretch of the river stort near harlow in essex. when things got tough i drew inspiration from you lot on here and went back again and again. i had perch, chub and jack pike. There are no trout, grayling or barbel in this stretch so my options where limited compared to many of you. still i have loved reading about all your exploits. thanks to all of you

 

Ps having some social fishing in April on a couple of commercials with brother and friends, (who are a bit fair weather fishermen to be honest), and will be exploring a different river in the summer as well as doing some sea fishing from boats with my angling club. I will be doing a bit of carp fishing for the first time in two years but come october its back to the river stort/

Edited March 14, 2009 by Peter M

[tiddlertamer]

Great report Androo as always.

 

Well i ended the season with 2 perch on worms, 1lb 6oz and 1lb 2oz

Had to put up with a short evening session today as i was working this morning. still i just want to say that this winter i have learned so much about winter river fishing. i have not been near a lake or pond since september and have been concentrating on a short stretch of the river stort near harlow in essex. when things got tough i drew inspiration from you lot on here and went back again and again. i had perch, chub and jack pike. There are no trout, grayling or barbel in this stretch so my options where limited compared to many of you. still i have loved reading about all your exploits. thanks to all of you

 

Ps having some social fishing in April on a couple of commercials with brother and friends, (who are a bit fair weather fishermen to be honest), and will be exploring a different river in the summer as well as doing some sea fishing from boats with my angling club. I will be doing a bit of carp fishing for the first time in two years but come october its back to the river stort/

 

After a change to my weekend plans, I managed to get away for the last couple of hours of daylight to visit the old River Lea.

 

And blanked.

 

Interesting you mentioned the Stort though. My club (London Anglers Association) has a stretch just outsie of Harlow and I'd been thinking of visiting today. Always been put off because I had the impression it was canalised and I'm a fan of stick/Avon float fishing on free flowing rivers rather than waggler based float fishing on waters with little flow.

 

I obviously don't want you to give too much away about your favorite stretch of river but can you characterize generally about what type of river the Stort is?

 

I know it has natural and reed lined banks which already make it more pleasant than canal fishing where you're more likely to encounter a carbon blank crushing mountain biker on steroids…

Edited March 14, 2009 by tiddlertamer

[musicmick1973]

Oh well for the first time in ages didn't get to the bank today. Well cheesed off, as i had planned to go, but spent the whole day in the bathroom (putting tiles up), as the builder done a bunk in Jan, and I have not had the time to finnish it .

Anyway finish last year 2008 with a pb chub, even though finished the season with 2 blanks in a week, only 2 times I have been this year, hope it is not a sign of things to come.

 

mick

[OwdTrout]

Yesterday evening I was thinking of ending the season with a trip down south to the Dane (I don't often venture into what is thought of as "Greater France"). However this morning the lure of a possible barbel drew me north to the Ribble. It is the fault of Chris Tarrant who was talking barbel with Steve Wright on Radio 2 yesterday afternoon.

 

As I now don't have a ticket that covers the Ribble, I looked up day tickets. In the end I opted for the convenience of the Tickled Trout stretch. On arriving I was confronted with a much bigger expanse of river than the Ribble I am familiar with. At first glance it seemed fairly featureless. But I had paid for my ticket by then, and I'm still suffering the after effects of my exile in Tykeland. It would have to be fished. Where to start? Then I noticed a change in the water, a large flat area on the surface, just upstream. Must be a feature of some kind on the bottom, it had to be worth a try.

 

My experience of barbel is, to say the least, limited. I've caught one. Pellet seems to be the bait of choice, so on went a pellet with a cage feeder filled with crumb and pellet. (Just how do you feed a cage?) Anyway for a while I excelled in a very specialised branch of fishing that I am an absolute master at; loosing feeders. I suppose on featureless water you can make a feature out of enough swim feeders. When my stock of large cage feeders ran out I attacked my reserves of open end feeders. Fortunately before these ran out things changed.

 

My one good bite of the day sent the rod tip thumping and, for once, I was alert enough to hit it just right. It wasn't the barbel I had hoped for, rather a lunking great chub. It only just went into my net which makes it over 22". Without doubt my personal best. As I don't have scales I can't give an exact weight but its pectoral fin was more than twice the length of my feeder (2 inches) It was a deep fish as well. Much too heavy to risk my landing net handle by trying to lift it out of the water.

 

Tomorrow its down the road with the fly rod to find some trout on the Irwell. Fortunately I can walk there, as on the way home tonight the exhaust went on my car.

 

Perhaps not the high note to go out on that I was hoping for, but I'll settle for it. A brownie tomorrow will make the perfect change from season to season.

 

Cheers,

O.T.

[Peter M]

After a change to my weekend plans, I managed to get away for the last couple of hours of daylight to visit the old River Lea.

 

And blanked.

 

Interesting you mentioned the Stort though. My club (London Anglers Association) has a stretch just outsie of Harlow and I'd been thinking of visiting today. Always been put off because I had the impression it was canalised and I'm a fan of stick/Avon float fishing on free flowing rivers rather than waggler based float fishing on waters with little flow.

 

I obviously don't want you to give too much away about your favorite stretch of river but can you characterize generally about what type of river the Stort is?

 

I will send you a PM later on today mate

[Anderoo]

This might work!

 

My chub:

 

Rich's chub:

 

Why they weigh so much - they're not that long, but really thick and deep:

 

Incidentally, I was looking through my chub photos, and the 5lb 14oz fish was the same as the 5lb 9oz I caught a few weeks ago, well upstream from the last capture, so they clearly group up in the slacks when the flow is heavy and then disperse quite widely in normal conditions. All the others have been different fish.