Variety

I braved the morning rush hour and arrived at the river around 0900, this time determined to fish the upstream stretch. I had only walked this section once before but that was over a year ago so my memory needed refreshing.  What I found was a narrow stretch with good pace and a couple of interesting pools, in one of these I could clearly see three or four good sized Chub drifting around.  A few minutes later I returned, set up quietly then crept into position, everything looked good, I was ready and the Chub were still there.  I put a couple of grains of corn on a strong size 10 then swung the feeder rig into the pool, cue panic, the Chub left at speed.  Oh well.

The spooked fish didn’t bother me unduly.  Fishing in other spots I’d been able to tempt fish back upstream by feeding regularly and keeping a low profile so I was confident this would be the case here too.  With no Chub in sight I started off fishing maggots on a smaller 14 hook and began catching silvers from the off.  I caught small Chub, Bleak and the odd Perch and it was a bite a chuck until I’d had enough.  I switched back to corn and left the rig in place for long periods as I didn’t want to risk spooking anything.  After about ninety minutes I saw two good sized Chub swim upstream in front of me and circle the swim a couple of times.  My hand hovered over the reel but I didn’t get a bite and the fish disappeared again.  I was confident they’d come back again so sat it out for a couple of hours more but that was the last I saw of them.

By the early afternoon I needed a change of scenery so wandered downstream to a gravel run between weed and tried maggots again.  Like before it was a bite a chuck for a variety of species including Roach, Dace and Gudgeon.  Half an hour of this was enough, I then switched back to corn and had a quiet half hour before heading for home.  This is another interesting bit of river and I'd caught a variety of fish but not what i was after.  I’ll be back at some point but I’ll have to do things a bit different.

By all accounts the beaches have been quiet lately but after a few weeks away I felt the need to sit on the shingle and stare at the sea for a while so I set off at lunchtime to fish an afternoon tide.  The weather was a nice mix of sunshine and cloud, the north westerly breeze would be on my back pretty much wherever I chose to fish.  The sensible thing would have been to get some ragworm and target Bass but I made do with what was in the freezer and made my way to the busy beach.  I’ve got into the habit of walking up and down the lane before loading up, getting an idea of where other anglers are pitched up saves crunching across the stones any further than I have to.  On this occasion I found just a short walk would find me plenty of space but there would be anglers both sides of me.  After a few minutes deliberation I decided to get back in the car and try a totally different spot.

A few minutes later I pulled into another car park, one I usually ignore because it is mostly rammed full of desperate day trippers without brains who are likely to box you in then get the hump when you call them out on it…  But on this occasion it was quiet enough so I decided to give it a go.  I don’t know why I came here because previous trips haven’t been spectacular and I recalled my last visit had been a total blank.  Nonetheless by 1400 I was sitting on my backside having cast two stinky lumps of squid to various distances from the shore. 

All I needed now was a cup of tea so while that brewed I started baiting and binding another couple of rigs for the next casts.  Something must have caught my eye because I glanced up just to see the heavy rod bending round and before I could react it went spectacularly slack.  Squid and bait elastic went flying while I lurched towards the rod then wound  down a good few turns before making contact with a heavy weight.  The throbbing presence made me think ‘Ray’ and this one was hanging sideways in the tide making maximum resistance as I pumped and heaved it back towards me.  At one point it all went solid but steady pressure got it moving again and I minute or so later I dragged a brown diamond onto the beach.  The hook came out easily and the scales confirmed it was my biggest of the year so far, happy days!

After that fast start I got another bait out quickly and after tidying up the mess I sat back to drink my well brewed tea, hopeful of a good afternoon ahead.  An hour later high tide was upon me and to this point I’d only seen one fast rattle on the light rod, would the slack water see fish on the move?  The answer was no and the ebbing tide didn’t help me much either.  I did have one fast ‘Bass bang’ on a small squid fished in close but this didn’t hook up and that was as good as it got.  I fished on till around 1900 but it felt like I was wasting my time.  Had I been able to grab some worms it would have probably made all the difference for Bass at least and I should have known better but any day I catch a Ray is a good one.