A month into the season and still no river fishing

[lutra]

Was a slow start to the season for me with all the flood water and its was mostly just small silvers from the slacks till now.

 

With the river running much lower and clear again, Ive been on river the twice today as i came home for lunch (and an hour or two in the chair :-zzzzzzzz ) before having a second bash this evening. Its been nice to have a good bend in the float rod again and get a reminded of how them barbel make your arm ache.

 

Come on ken get the handbrake off.

[Phone]

Androo,

 

I'll invite you FOR Newt. His neck of the woods is now so dry the trees are bribing the dogs. He's a lure guy too. You would have to learn to catch bass but they are more stupid than pike.

 

We haven't had any rain either (middle midwest). Bleak outlook for corn farmers and soon to be equally bad for soybeans.

 

All,

 

As for fishing, I've only been a couple times (once Saturday) but as is my custom "going fishing" is often only a couple hours. With temperatures at record highs it's just too tough on us old guys. Doesn't matter really, the water is almost as warm and fish are pretty lethergic (lethargic, lathargic - - - sluggish). Guess it will cool down and rain someday - always has.

 

Phone

[AddictedToScopex]

I have had just one river session since the start of the new season because of a combination of the wife and the weather and that wasn't on the river I would have like it to be. The weather just keeps choosing the wrong times to be nice. I could have got out yesterday but my brother was dying to do some easy fishing and said he couldnt be bothered with a long walk down the river so we hit a nice little quiet farm pit to stop him moaning. I had some great action catching water pigs on the centrepin. Had I not been using the pin I would have found it very boring though. I have just bought another grice and youngs avon royal supreme after making the mistake of selling the last one. I do like those reels. It was nice to give it a run out and christen it. Next weekend I am praying for decent weather in the runup to saturday as I want to get out trotting on the Ribble.

[Ken L]

Come on ken get the handbrake off.

 

The Severn is now at 2.08m (1.9m higher than it should be) and the Stour is at 1.04m (20cm above where it should be).

The Stour might not sound like it's up much but 20cm is a lot on a little river.

[Anderoo]

The Thames looks just about fishable finally, most of the colour has dropped out and the river is slowly dropping - and I can't get to it because my car's in the garage. After today's brief break from the rain it returns tomorrow for several days, so unfortunately I'm going to miss this little window.

[lutra]

The Severn is now at 2.08m (1.9m higher than it should be) and the Stour is at 1.04m (20cm above where it should be).

The Stour might not sound like it's up much but 20cm is a lot on a little river.

One good thing about the rivers around this way is they get it over and done with quick. Its looking like a nasty wet old day for tomorrow, but with a bit of luck the river will be up and back down again before the weekend gets here.

 

To be honest I think i must be a bit lucky up here as i can nearly always find some fishing on the river when its up. If i get fed up trotting the slacks i could bang a big lead out for the barbel and the next few months will see a few salmon about, so the spinning rod could get some rain on it.

[Anderoo]

I did manage to get out after work after all (car fixed, for now ) and had a nice couple of hours' lure fishing for the perch. With the river high and pushing through they were hiding out in the lock cuts. I nobbled 3 perch from there on a 2" yellow kopyto and 5g jig head, the best a really nice fish of about 2lb (unweighed) which I saw follow the lure in and then hammer it as I let it flutter down by my feet, very exciting. I also had a small pike from the main river from a crease between the main flow and a slack area on a bend...until it was at the net I thought I had hooked one of the river's giant perch and was very disappointed to see a pike hanging on to the lure

 

I've started using a different rod for the perch which has a softer tip. So far the hook up rate has been much better than with the stiffer rod, and I haven't had any fish fall off yet. I've also got a bit better at working the lures and getting the jig head weight right. All good fun

[Phone]

Androo,

 

Commendable post. Very Americanish. It more nearly answered the "who, what, when, where" type questions that seem to dominate our fishing forums.

 

Question? - Do you suppose the slightly delayed hookset of the softer tip is to credit for the much better hookup rate? How do you attribute this difference?

 

Phone

Also, (don't know why?) I like the term "small pike" much better than the term "jack".

[Anderoo]

Androo,

 

Commendable post. Very Americanish. It more nearly answered the "who, what, when, where" type questions that seem to dominate our fishing forums.

 

Question? - Do you suppose the slightly delayed hookset of the softer tip is to credit for the much better hookup rate? How do you attribute this difference?

 

Phone

Also, (don't know why?) I like the term "small pike" much better than the term "jack".

 

Hopefully Americanish! You lot (and the mainland Europeans) are still years ahead of us when it comes to this style of fishing. I'm totally sold on it though, it's fantastic.

 

The softer rod makes a big difference; it's one designed for jigging from the bank, whereas the one I was using is for vertical jigging from a boat. I think the soft tip helps in a couple of ways, firstly it allows you to watch it like a quivertip (the tip on my rod is even painted red for this purpose) and strike at subtle bites, and secondly as you say allows the perch a bit more time to properly take the lure. On the stiffer rod I'd often get hard 'donks' on the rod where a fish had hit the lure and let go, which doesn't seem to happen with the softer rod. Perch would sometimes fall off when using the stiffer rod too, as there was nothing to absorb the head shakes and lunges.

 

The negative side is that the lure is easier to work properly with the stiff rod, at least for an amateur like me, but I can live with that. The best retrieve I've found for the perch is a steady wind to swim the lure up a couple of feet off the bottom, then let it flutter down on a tight line, repeat. Almost all takes seem to come on the drop.

Edited July 18, 2012 by Anderoo

[JV44]

Hopefully Americanish! You lot (and the mainland Europeans) are still years ahead of us when it comes to this style of fishing. I'm totally sold on it though, it's fantastic.

 

The softer rod makes a big difference; it's one designed for jigging from the bank, whereas the one I was using is for vertical jigging from a boat. I think the soft tip helps in a couple of ways, firstly it allows you to watch it like a quivertip (the tip on my rod is even painted red for this purpose) and strike at subtle bites, and secondly as you say allows the perch a bit more time to properly take the lure. On the stiffer rod I'd often get hard 'donks' on the rod where a fish had hit the lure and let go, which doesn't seem to happen with the softer rod. Perch would sometimes fall off when using the stiffer rod too, as there was nothing to absorb the head shakes and lunges.

 

The negative side is that the lure is easier to work properly with the stiff rod, at least for an amateur like me, but I can live with that. The best retrieve I've found for the perch is a steady wind to swim the lure up a couple of feet off the bottom, then let it flutter down on a tight line, repeat. Almost all takes seem to come on the drop.

 

Anderoo what make is the new rod if you dont mind me asking?? congrats on the Perch chap always nice when you get on on a method you have had to work at/learn .

Another evening blanking after Barbel for me yesterday evening and thought that i would have been better off targeting the perch in the lock cut...esp when a so called mate kept texting about how fantastic his BBQ food was whilst knowing i had only a solitary Snicker bar for food...the garlic Spam looked more tempting by the minute though...for me not bertie sadly Steve