12/09/2024 - Trotanostering, River Soar

Had our third trip of the year down to Slimbridge in the van last weekend to meet up with friends. The campsite is right next to the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal and whilst I'd taken some lure fishing gear the conditions on the saturday morning were too perfect for paddle boarding to ignore - completely still and with little or no flow, despite the heavy, overnight rain. 

Therefore had a very therapeutic paddle up to Splatt Bridge and back, the canal like a mirror and not another soul about - bliss! At one stage I passed over a shoal of bronze dinner plates, lazily finning just below the surface with the odd one rolling and breaking the greasy surface. Had a thunderstorm and more heavy rain overnight, but generally the weekend was pleasant and mild. In contrast the drop in temperature during the week saw me putting on long trousers for my early morning walks for the first time. 

It also started me thinking about some autumn predator fishing. Therefore got work out of the way by late aftrnoon and headed over to Kegworth to see Scott in Soar Tackle for a pint of maggots. Had a quick chat about how he'd got on in the Nationals before heading down to the river. With time ticking on I quickly got togged up and started walking upstream. When I left the house the weather forecast had said that it would be dry the rest of the evening. However the black clouds ahead of me looked decidedly dodgy and made my decision of heading out with just a fleece instead of a waterproof coat seem a bit foolish. Crossed over the lock onto the island and up to my usual swim below the weir. 

Not having seen any other cars parked up at the bridge I was surprised to come across a chap sat in the first peg. Turned out he wasn't fishing and was just checking out the river (and just about to smoke the fat joint he'd just rolled for himself). Might not have been his first as he was keen to chat whereas I wanted to get to my swim. After a few minutes I politely made my excuses and carried on up the bank, although I was sure that I'd see him again. Set up the rods and then lowered myself down the bank with the rope, just as the first wafts of skunk drifted upstream. Plan was to fish the float as normal, but then put out a paternoster for the perch at the tail of the swim once I'd caught a suitable bait. 

First cast the float disappeared and a small bleak was swung to hand - perfect perch fodder - so the paternoster went out straight away. Carried on feeding and trotting, quickly adding dace, roach and a few wasps to the tally. As I thought, it wasn't long before my new friend appeared behind me asking me how I was getting on. What with the noise of the weir and concentrating on hearing what he was saying I missed the first run on the perch rod, finally registering that the bite alarm was bleeping and turning round just in time to see the rod tip violently bouncing and then fall still. Once my companion had returned to his pitch I wound the rod in to find that the bait and my chance had gone. However, soon caught a replacement bleak that was swung out onto the edge of the slack water downstream once more. 

Was a fish a cast on the float rod with a few small chub and a gudgeon adding ot the species count and was in the process of landing a hand-sized perch when the bite alarm on the paternoster went off again and the line pulled out of the clip. Unhooked the perch and got him back as quickly as I could, but when I picked up the other rod and wound down there was nothing there and the hook came back bare yet again. Was getting a bit frustrated as there were obviously fish there, but soon had another bait out on the spot. At this point the heavens decided to open and I was forced to retreat as far under the bush next to me as I could to avoid getting a soaking. Fortunately I could see blue sky following, although it seemed like an age before I could emerge from my temporary shelter. 

The dace had muscled everything else out of the swim by now and I was just lifting one out of the water when the lillies in front of me erupted as something made a unsuccessful attempt at snatching it off the hook, leaving a swirling vortex behind them. Wasn't long after that the bite alarm again signalled interest on the other rod. This time I was straight onto it and had the line out of the clip before the fish. Fed some line out and then wound down to feel a bit of weight. From the way that the fish then charged around the swim it was obvious that it wasn't my intended quarry. Wasn't surprised therefore when feisty jack, neatly hooked in the scissors by the size 6 single, rolled into the net. Decided to end the session there - it was raining again and I was getting a bit cold and hungry, plus I was getting concerned whether I'd make it back up the bank. 

Managed to do that okay, but the rain had also made the path along the bank slippy and treacherous, so I was a bit cautious making my way back to the car.  However, still managed to fall arse over tit, my feet sliding from underneath me despite studded boots - not breaking anything but covering myself and my gear in mud! On to the next one....

31/08/2024 - Quantity but not variety

Didn't get any more fishing done in middle part of August as we were in France for two weeks.  Hadn't taken any fishing gear with me as the cost of a "permis de vacances" outweighed the few opportunites I would have to fish, plus I'd spectacularly blanked last time I tried.

We did kayak 20 km down the River Charente, which was crystal clear and full of lillies and streamer weed, me with cling film wrapped around a dressing on my leg. This the result of being chased and bitten by a loose dog whilst out cycling and the subsequent trip to A&E on just the second day of the holiday! We spotted loads of wildlife, including coypu, kingfishers, buzzards, a sparrow hawk, a grass snake, dragonflies and damselflies. However, there was little in the way of fish apart from small perch, roach and chub. 

Suspect from what I've seen of the fishing matches down at the local aire de loisirs (which appear to be more an excuse to drink beer and wine and have a BBQ) that, apart from carp and catfish, nothing really gets a chance to grow that big in that part of France as anything caught usually ends up in a bucket and gets taken home. After France we were back home for a week and then we were off down to see our friends in Exmouth. Unfortunately the town has been making local and national news lately, but for the wrong reasons - untreated sewage leaking from South West Water's failing sewerage infrastructure resulted in beach closures over the summer and repeated warnings not to swim in the sea. 

Queues of tankers lining up to transfer sewage from the pumping station near the rugby club to the treatment works caused traffic misery and left an unpleasant odour hanging over the town centre. However, on the morning that my friend Simon and I headed down to the marina we found that the water was gin clear. I'd not brought any bait with me and it was far too early for the tackle shop, so we had to pop into Tesco Express to see what was available and ended up coming away with a small packet of cooked prawns and some crab sticks! The latter I shredded into small sections and fished on the top hook of my scaled-down two hook flapper as a substitute for a strip of squid. 

Seemed to work as first cast it was nailed by a small pollack. Only trouble was keeping it on the hook for any length of time. However, leaving the pieces to dry out a bit in the weak, early morning sun seemed to prolong their longevity. Bits of prawn on the bottom hook soon attracted the resident tompots and it was a race between them and the pollack to see who would get to the bait first. Often a hooked fish would be followed up to the surface by their brethren and a last-minute snatch of the other bait would result in a double hook up. Took turns with the rod, dropping the rig down the side of the wall and between the boulders in an attempt to winkle out something different but apart from a lone ballan wrasse and despite spotting shoals of sand eels and possibly sand smelts it was tompots and pollack all the way. 

After a couple of hours the tide was ebbing fast, bringing with it a dubious looking trail of brown scum from upstream and exposing the rocks, so we moved onto the slipway - normally a reliable spot for species such as shannies and long-spined scorpions. However, after about fifteen minutes without a single bite and with the water starting to colour up we decided to pack it in and headed to Abi's for a coffee and a bacon bap - well bacon in a brioche bun complete with hash brown and an onion ring! What was interesting and noteworthy for future trips were the three anglers obviously swinging lures in the outgoing tide for the bass, although I hope they gave their waders a good rinse when they got home!