After a few weeks of giving it maximum effort, living the boat life on the broads I needed a break and a rest. A bit of fishing closer to home that doesn’t require getting up in the middle of the night will do nicely thank you. I hope to have another go at the ‘other’ river this winter but it’s still a little early to be dunking deadbaits in this water. It occurred to me that there was still plenty of river I hadn’t yet fished and a long walk with a lure rod would be a good way to explore it.
I let the morning rush hour disperse, not that it makes too
much difference on the eastern A roads.
It was 1000 before I reached the car park, I loaded up and went walking
and it was half an hour before I stopped.
This piece of river was all new to me and it looked pretty good with a
bit of depth, reed beds, overhanging trees and an outfall. I clipped on a Pro grub, cast out and let it
sink for a second or two before beginning the retrieve, I’d forgotten just how
slow you can fish these things when there is not too much weed. On about the third cast the tip thumped and I
was attached to a fish, small but spirited, a Jack soon came to the net and was
quickly back in the river. But that was
as good as it got.
I carried on downstream through some areas that certainly
look like they merit more attention later in the season. There was one spot where I couldn’t get close
enough to the water with the lure rod to make a comfortable cast or safely net
a fish but it might be manageable with longer rods and deadbait gear. I had a couple of small pike bump the lure in
places but these didn’t hook up. When I
reached more familiar water I stopped for a break, a pork pie and a brew, then
set off again. I fished through swims
I’d caught Pike in the past without a touch but moved fish in a couple of swims
that had previously been duffers.
Altogether I saw another four or five small Pike but they weren’t really
hanging on and none hooked up.
I was heading home by the early afternoon, I’d achieved my
first objective of catching a Pike but it had been a bit disappointing
overall. However I did have a few spots
in the memory bank so in that sense it was time well spent.
A few days later I went on another reconnaissance mission to
a pit that is a little bit off the beaten track, ownership so far unknown. Initially I thought that on a dry, mild
autumn afternoon it would be a good place to stretch my legs and take in a bit
of fresh air and countryside. Then I
decided as it was an effort to get there I might as well take a lure rod and a
few bits. I’ve never caught anything to
shout about here, mostly just a few Jacks and to be honest it’s not somewhere
that should produce a big fish but the fact that it receives very little
attention interests me. I’d last fished
it about three years ago and the year before that I’d caught a fat double
figure fish, if that one was still around…
So after parking up out of the way I set off for a walk along footpaths then
over a fence and a push through undergrowth.
Actually getting to the water was a real challenge and I wondered what I’d
find when I reached the water but a couple of my discreet swims were still
fishable whilst a couple more will need attention. The water was crystal clear without too much
weed which was a surprise but there was quite a bit of duckweed on the windward
bank so the pit may have been covered all summer. I had a few casts in the first swim and in
the second I was able to cover quite a bit of water but didn’t see any sign of
a Pike. Never mind, I know they’re in
here and I may well be back before the end of the season.
Once again I let the rush hour traffic clear before heading to the river, a familiar stretch that I knew would be quiet with plenty of birdlife and was settled and fishing by 1000. I fished with a maggot feeder filled with wriggling reds and baited up with a worm that at some point in time has been re-christened a dendrabena. This was tipped with a maggot to stop it squirming its way off the hook. I’d also brough a Pike rod and swung a float legered smelt just downstream, this was recast regularly into different spots throughout the day but otherwise the float never moved. I had rattles on the quiver tip almost from the start but didn’t get a proper bite until I scaled down to three maggots on a 14. My first bite resulted in a small Gudgeon, a species I’m always happy to catch and a Perch is always happy to eat. I didn’t use it as bait but was happy that my maggots were attracting these fish into the area, so it was back out with a worm on the hook.
I stayed here for another couple of hours but didn’t get any more proper bites on either rod. Should I stay here hoping Perch would move in with fading light? My trouble is I struggle to sit in one place for too long, if I’m going to fish into dusk I’ll have to make myself set off later in the day. I ended up moving down to the squirrel bridge but on arrival discovered the bridge was now a pile of logs behind me. There was still a snag and a pool so I swung the smelt down here and fished the feeder slightly upstream. Once again I had rattles almost straight away and soon had a proper bite which resulted in a chub of the size I’d like to have in my livebait bucket.
As I sat staring at the tip I wondered if there were many
more of these perfect Pike baits about and also were there any decent Pike
about? After a while I couldn’t resist
winding in and having a wander downstream.
A rising river and decaying vegetation meant this walk was much easier
than in the summer time. Unfortunately
the banks were mostly steep making fishing and landing a fish in particular,
potentially hazardous. Although the
river looked okay nothing really jumped out at me but it has to be explored
further at some point. I walked back and
resumed fishing but my heart was no longer in it so after a couple of
uneventful casts I packed up and head for home.
My downstream exploration happened sooner than expected as when I began to sort out the gear I realised my landing net was missing. This is just a relatively cheap Advanta job, a folding net which opens into a round frame of 28”. Cheap it may be but it’s a bloody good net which has scooped up all of the Barbel and most of the Chub I’ve caught in recent seasons. It was worth rescuing the net and if I was going to the river I might as well take a lure rod and have a wander. So this I did and after finding the missing net where I’d finished fishing the day before I screwed it onto the handle then took a long, slippery walk way downstream, further than I’d been before. I didn’t see or feel any sign of a Pike but I did get a big clue which will certainly see me heading there again.
