First day out for a spell

[Tigger]

Today was the first time out for a spell and I was happy to be walking the riverbank once again . The river was still up about 3ft with the rain water. The first swim I dropped in was dead and I blanked, I was a little disappointed as it's usually a banker swim and I hoped it wasn't a sign of things to come. I had a walk of about 3/4 of a mile to my next spot which turned out to be worth the walk, I caught a few decent chub before the tide started to push the river back and slowing the river to a complete halt. This made trotting impossible so I decided to lay on which usually works well in this swim. I only had three bites while laying on and missed two of'em due to cleaning under my fingernails etc . I took a pic of my heath Robinson seat and rests as the tide was coming in. I had to move back up the bank several times. As soon as I noticed the water moving downstream I moved off upstream another 3'4 of a mile to another of my favourite glides. I had some lovely chub that fought like tigers in the strong outgoing flow.
I came across a dead cormorant as I was walking back downstream and took a couple of snaps of it with my boot, hand and reel as a size comparison. I keep hearing silly tales of how these birds can eat 4lb chub etc and in reality they can only take quite small fish.
The chub in my pic's may go up to about 3lb and a bit and they are bigger than the bloody birds .

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[lutra]

Nice one Ian.

[Norfolkdipper]

Well done for getting out there, I'm jealous.

[Tigger]

Thank's Brian, was good to be out on the bank again bud, especially when somethings willing to bend the Avenger round a bit .

 

ND, yesterday was the first decent days weather for ages and the river had dropped off to a fishable level so I had to have a dabble .

[Dales]

Another good session especially with the recent challenging conditions.

[lutra]

Thank's Brian, was good to be out on the bank again bud, especially when somethings willing to bend the Avenger round a bit .

 

ND, yesterday was the first decent days weather for ages and the river had dropped off to a fishable level so I had to have a dabble .

Hope the better weather last a bit, i like to have an hour or two on the river on my way home from work for the last few weeks of the season. The slightly longer days just make it worth it before the season slums shut.

[tincatinca]

Excellent Ian,looked at the local river on the way home and thought yes its going down then it started to hammer it down.I need to look at the maggots in the fridge. They have been there patiently waiting for several weeks.

[Tigger]

Hope the better weather last a bit, i like to have an hour or two on the river on my way home from work for the last few weeks of the season. The slightly longer days just make it worth it before the season slums shut.

 

Fingers crossed for a bit of better weather Brian .

 

Excellent Ian,looked at the local river on the way home and thought yes its going down then it started to hammer it down.I need to look at the maggots in the fridge. They have been there patiently waiting for several weeks.

 

I prefer old maggots in winter as they last longer before dying and stretching out. Not a great lot of time left now TT....get your skates on bud the door's shutting soon lol.

[Tigger]

I got out for a couple of hours later on this avvey and did ok, finishing up with 8 chub, no monsters but I hooked most of 'em at range - about 60yds. They pulled back in the flow and all kited into the bankings attempting to bury themselves in the foliage trying to do their party trick of leaving the hook in a snag.

 

I did notice a few of them had ulcers and marks on their bodies. One had what looked to be a mark made by a cormorant but I think the water quality is the cause of the ulcers and boils/lumps. One fish must have had an absess under it's throat, it had burst and left a nasty hole right the way through! Other than that the fish looked healthy enough and with a bit of time the hole will most likely heal back up....fingers crossed for it anyhow.

 

At one point I caught a fish and left it in the landing net for a minute or two to fully recover and carried on trotting. I was just winding back in after a trott when I caught a glimps of my landing net handle floating downstream with the chub happily still in the net.

I had to chase the net about 200yds downstream before it lodged against the banking on a bend - at the base of a bloody, big, steep, slippy slope.....as you'd expect . I was lucky the handle had a bit of air trapped in it as the net head was sunk and only suspended mid water bacause of the handle. Funny enough the chub was still in the net....I think it was enjoying it, lol.

A couple of pic's including a 14's kamasan animal with 12 maggots on it for Phone ...

Edited February 22, 2014 by Tigger

[jimmyh]

Well done for getting out. My available time on the bank is limited due to family and work, usually averaging a morning a week. It seems that i always seem to hit the river when its completely unfishable at the moment.

 

As for the cormorant - its looks a pretty small one that. I've seen bloody big ones quite capable of eating chub on my local river tees and swale!