Suspect the impending weather bomb has scuppered quite a few end of season plans. Snow, then rain and potential for a rapid thaw doesn't bode well for the rivers, but my leave is already booked so we'll wait and see if there's a miracle.
With Monday and Tuesday out this week due to work commitments and the forecast suggesting snow arriving by Wednesday afternoon I was basically left with a window of opportunity in the morning that I couldn't really miss. Still had plenty of deadbaits in the freezer, so decide to head to the Soar again. Left home in the gloom after gratefully finding the van windows ice-free, but as I got off the motorway and into the countryside I could see frost in the fields in the lee of the hedges. As I arrived at the river a text from the daughter down in Bristol indicated that snow had already arrived in some parts of the country giving things a new sense of urgency. The river itself was running nearer summer level and gin clear, the new, bright green crowns of lilies easily visible peeking up through the mud in the margins.
Therefore didn't feel massively confident, but quickly headed upstream to the first bend. Stuck a mackerel up the near side next to a reed bed and a bluey over to the far margin. Sitting down on the flood wall I glanced at my watch to see that it was bang on 0700 hrs. Was expecting things to be slow, so was therefore surprised to see the far float start bobbing literally nine minutes later. Seemed to take an age to finally make up its mind and head off with the bait. However, when I would down I felt momentary resistance and then nothing. Wound the rig in minus bait hoping it had just been a small one. Stuck another bluey out, but at the end of the time I had allotted myself in each spot - 30 minutes maximum - I'd not had any further interest.
Wound in the nearside rod to find I dropped it straight into a snag, but after a bit of steady pressure via the 30lb braid the hooks bent out. Unlike my previous trip to the Trent a week ago when not only did I spectacularly blank, but similarly dropped my rig straight into a snag whilst checking the depth in the first swim. On that occasion the line parted with minimal pressure and I watched my float slowly disappear downstream, way out of reach of the landing net. Upon returning home I therefore not only stripped off 25 metres of line off both reels, but also put an extra braid stop below each float. Now I have a spare already on the line should the top one split and come off, but more importantly it means I won't be throwing pound coins in the river next time I suffer a break!
Moved downstream a few times before the float positioned down the near side against a tiny clump of reeds bobbed and moved purposefully away. Not quite a double, but was a nice fish to start. Gave it a bit longer with a fresh mackerel just in case he had a companion before moving on. With nothing doing after another half an hour I walked one of the rods to the next spot downstream. Turned around to see the drop off on the other rod hit the back rest as something made off with the bluey that had been sat in mid-channel and soon had another jack on the bank. Went to remove the hooks but found they'd come out in the net and that the nasty wire-covered trace disappearing down its throat belonged to somebody else.
Luckily a bit of gentle pulling exposed a treble that I was able to turn out with the forceps through the gills, so was able to send him on his way with significantly better prospects than before. Re-baited with a lamprey section and moved the rod downstream with the other, again lobbing the bait out mid-channel. Must have dropped it right in front of a hungry pike as the float bobbed and then headed off towards the boats on the far bank within minutes, shortly resulting in jack number three. The odd flurry of snow was now being blown horizontally across the fields by the freshening easterly wind even though it was only 11 o'clock, but I decided to stick it out until mid-day. As it was I only added one more jack, the smallest of the morning, in that last hour.
Hadn't planned to return to the Soar, so bid my farewell to the river for another season and got home before the snow got any worse. Would like to think that it's not quite all over and I'll get onemore chance to go for the grayling, but that's up to the weather now!
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