Being there

Most of the fishing I do nowadays could be termed convenient, I don’t travel too far, don’t take much gear with me and fish in a relatively simple way.  But the autumn is different, it’s the best time of the year so I go all in, push out of the comfort zone and make a big effort.  Over the next few weeks this will become the normal then by the end of October I’ll be knackered and sanity will prevail once more.  Before all that I had time for a couple of short trips on the other river.

Another midweek day off and I’ve been really enjoying the feeder fishing on the Other river so why not give it another go?  We’d had a wet night and the rain carried on into the morning so I didn’t hurry out so it was 0950 before I got to the river.  By this time the clouds were breaking up and the sun was trying to squeeze through, the river looked okay, a bit of pace but clearer than I expected.  I’ve now fished two promising swims on this stretch and would feel confident in either, do I go upstream or down?  Last time I’d gone up so today I walked down and quietly set up just above the Squirrel’s bridge and this saw plenty of traffic during the day. 

I’d mixed some groundbait and had half a pint of maggots and planned to switch between two feeders during the day.  I started off with an open end feeder and corn on a size 14 hoping for an early Chub that I hadn’t managed to spook.  After half an hour I switched to a maggot feeder with three wriggling on a size 16, this brought literally a bite a chuck from a variety of species; four more Gudgeon and they’re getting bigger! Perch to 8ozs, Chublets, Bleak, Roach and a Minnow!  Probably the first I’ve caught this century.  When I fancied a break I’d switch back to the open end feeder with a couple of grains of corn on the bigger hook and a break I certainly got with just taps and plucks on the bigger bait.  A switch back to maggots and the action started up again and all this time I was drip feeding the swim, hoping something a bit bigger would be tempted upstream.

Late in the session a tapping tip suddenly pulled round and I’d hooked something substantial that was pulling back, a good fish that felt very Perch-like and looked it when I got a brief glimpse.  Then the line fell slack and I wound in a tiny chublet that was battered and very dead.  I enjoy fishing with maggots on a river like this, it’s fun as you can catch literally anything but it is distracting.  When they’d all gone I switched back to corn and the bites dried up again but I felt this was how I really should have been fishing.  I started to pack up about 1500 and was wondering what else I could put away that would delay finally winding in when the tip yanked round.  I decent fish pulled the tip over as it tried to head towards the tree but I didn’t give an inch so it was forced to circle in the pool.  After that it was easy to lead a decent Chub upstream above the net and let it drop back in.  A nice fish of three pounds or so and it would have been the perfect ending but of course I had to have one last cast.

A few days before the madness commences, a Saturday with a few hours to kill, I had a sudden urge to go back to the river but this time with a lure rod, some Pike sized lures and minimal tackle.  I went to a different stretch today, here it is slower and a bit deeper and looks the part.  The afternoon was sunny and bright but the north westerly kept the temperature down to something even the Pike police would approve of.  The river was up a bit with a dark stain and this stretch had more flow than normal. To me it looked pretty good.

I started at the upstream end of the stretch with a shad and worked my way down, moving fairly quickly as on these small rivers I feel I can cover the water in front of me in three or four casts.  I started off with optimism but this ebbed away as the river seemed lifeless but halfway along the stretch I noticed a bow wave, had my lure had awakened something?  A couple of casts later I had my answer, a fish grabbed the shad and tried to do battle but didn’t have the size to resist for long.  I pulled a small Pike into the margin and grabbed the trace, the fish shook its head and released itself, job done.

I carried on downstream, switching different coloured shads but whatever I tried failed to raise any interest.  I stopped for a brew and surveyed a likely looking bend that had deep water and cover, it looked spot on but I couldn’t raise any interest today.  After that I clipped on a Slider and made my way back upstream at a bit quicker pace, a few casts here and there but had no more interest before mine ran out.

After this I had a trip to Norfolk on a day which started with fresh winds and drizzle but then got steadily worse.  A sane person would have put the cuddy up and sheltered but I kept moving and managed to find a few fish to get the season underway.

Friday 4^th October, Giles, Rich and I loaded the motor then head off westwards again to say goodbye to a friend.  The musical menu was curated by Rich and included selections our friend would have enjoyed alongside us, all of us wore a Tee shirt featuring a beloved band, a theme for what was to come.  It was a long journey but we just had to be there.  We got into town a couple of hours early and the only thing to do was go to a pub.  The local pale was good and could have flowed freely but I’m older now and if not wise I have learned from experience.  At the chapel there were a few familiar faces including Steve and Dave, the service was musical and moving, red eyes and choked throats but we recognised that many others were hurting more than we were.  We said goodbye to Rob and only now we begin to realise how much we are going to miss him.

As we were three quarters of the way there we carried on to the valley for a couple of days but it didn’t feel so happy this time around.  The first day was a stretch further upstream than we’d fished so far.  The river was up and access was tricky but there were enough swims for the three of us to have options but I didn’t make the most of mine.  Wherever I tried all I managed was fast Chub bites that I never could have connected with.  I considered scaling down and sticking a couple of bits of corn straight onto a hook but ended up sticking it out with pellets and meat for Barbel and blanked.  Giles had a decent Chub and Rich had a handful.  Still the stretch was pleasant as was the weather although my mood stayed gloomy.

The following day was dull, damp and dark but we were on familiar water having fished here from the opposite bank in September.  Today we arrived with confidence having caught fish here in the recent past but there were five anglers on that opposite bank!  I started off way downstream in a spot I’d fished in 2022, here the fast Chub bites followed me.  Really I should have stuck at it and caught a fish or two from this swim but an angler somewhere on the opposite bank was playing Radio 1 too loud and I could only stand it for ninety minutes or so.

After this I humped my gear all the way to the upstream end of the beat, fishing as close to the successful September swim as I could.  Here I had a proper bite on the first drop and managed to land a Chub of about three and a half.  I fished with confidence for a couple of hours but all I had there after was the lightning fast chub rattles.  We suffered a couple of hours of rain despite which I moved a couple of times but didn’t find any more fish.  Rich made better swim choices and managed a Chub and our only Barbel of the trip but today Giles didn’t trouble the scorers.  A surreal weekend came to an end, we loaded the car and drove home through the night.