12/09/2020 - Bagging up on the float again

Can't believe it has been nearly a month since I last wet a line, but work and home life have been incredibly busy and time seems to be on permanent fast-forward at the moment. As much as I have enjoyed working at home during the current COVID-19 crisis, the days do tend to get blurry at the edges! In an attempt to slow things down a bit I'd earmarked last Thursday afternoon for a session on the river, but even that fell through last minute as work intervened yet again. I had a new purchase to try out as well. Not happy that I was fishing the pacier swims on the Derwent as effectively as possible with the fixed spool and with my trusty Speedia permanently attached to the Drennan Ultralite, I'd purchased an Ikonix centrepin at a bargain price off Fleabay. Thankfully, my very understanding wife suggested that I go out on Saturday instead, thereby foregoing a trip with her up to the allotment to do a few hours digging and rotavating. Tough choice, as normally a few worms is the scant reward for a stiff back! 

However, a stiff breeze from the west dictated that I travelled over to the relative shelter of the Soar at Kegworth rather than the Derwent again, where the downstream wind would have made it tricky with the new pin - that would have to stay in the box for now. Headed up to my usual sheltered and shaded spot in the wood and stationed myself on the edge of the flow, marked by the line of foam generated by the weir upstream. Running the stick float down with the bubbles I was into a bleak straight away. 

As on previous visits it was a bite a chuck, resulting in yet more bleak, occasionally interspersed with a dace or chub, or a crushed maggot, requiring constant re-baiting on my part. 

Increasing the depth on the float and continuing to loose feed saw a subtle shift in species, with roach becoming dominant and, on the odd occasion where my underarm cast fell a bit short and the bait scraped the bottom, the odd skimmer and very welcome gudgeon. 

Having got the swim going I positioned the paternoster rod in the slack to my right, hoping that a big stripey was hanging around on the fringes ready to pick off an unsuspecting silver fish. Carried on catching steadily for a couple of hours, by which time my bait pouch was empty and I couldn't face clambering up and down the bank to fill it up again. Whilst I had some small perch on the float, the paternoster rod failed to register any interest for once, even from the usual "nuisance" pike. Never the less, I'd had seven species from a still productive River Soar, the final score being 45 roach, 34 bleak, 21 dace, 10 chub, 3 perch, 2 "gonks" and a skimmer! With some calm, warm days still to come and a much less busy work calender, prospects look good for another float session on the Derwent with the new pin, before things start to cool down and thoughts turn in earnest to the pursuit of some predators.

23/09/2019 - Back so soon?

Not wanting to rest on my laurels after Friday's session and with some unfinished business with a big perch I arranged to work at home so that I could finish and be out the door at 3 o'clock on the dot - the benefit of working flexi time! Refreshed my remaining maggots with another pint of mixed from Bridge Tackle in Long Eaton and headed off to the Soar once more. Got to the venue to find that the river was still clear, but that the rain over the weekend had injected a bit more pace into the flow, making it a lot easier to run the float through my chosen swim. Another obvious change was that the hordes of ravenous chub seemed to have moved on elsewhere which, as it turned out, at least gave a some different species a chance.

Soon got into a rhythm catching bleak, chub, roach and dace on the stick and, like on Friday, the perch paternoster was soon deployed at the bottom end of the swim. It had been grey and dull when I arrived, so I wasn't surprised when it started spitting with rain after about an hour. Rather stupidly I had left my coat in the car, so had to rely on my fleece and the tree canopy above me as a natural umbrella. 












This meant that I had to retreat backwards out of the river a few paces, so ended up trotting down a different line out of the main flow. This didn't seem to make a difference as I carried on catching silvers, but also added some bonus species in the way of perch, gudgeon and a little ruffe. Can't actually remember the last time I caught one of these so, along with the gudgeon, it was a welcome surprise.

The  perch rod had been looking after itself all this time, so when the bite alarm eventually signalled a take it came completely out of the blue. However, my hopes of my first big stripey of the season were dashed when another jack started charging around the swim instead. Carried on and added a skimmer on the float rod to make it nine species for the night, before just concentrating on the perch rod for the last half an hour. Unfortunately, I only managed another jack and a small perch that eyes far bigger than its belly! Ended up with 34 bleak, 24 dace, 24 chub, 14 roach, 5 perch, 4 gudgeon, 2 pike, a ruffe and a skimmer.

So whilst a big perch eluded me again, It was another enjoyable session on a river that is obviously in a very healthy condition at the moment. Packed up and headed home a little damp, but happy!

20/09/2019 - First river session for a while.

My river season doesn't really get going until late summer, but this year it was in danger of being pushed back to October, so this week I made a conscious decision to make the best of the fantastic weather we were having and get down my local River Soar. About 3 o'clock I stopped off at Soar Tackle and got my club book and a pint of "mixed" off Scott. A quick chat about my chosen venue revealed that the top of the section had hardly been fished this year - just what I wanted to hear! Fifteen minutes later I was heading upstream across the meadow and into the wood. Soon became apparent from the shoulder high nettles that what Scott had said was true, but I managed to battle through the vegetation in my waders relatively unscathed. 

Got to my familiar spot and found the river low and clear, but still with enough flow from left to right to create a nice crease over to the far side. Looked quite promising from the top of the bank as I could see lots of small fish knocking about, so set up the rods and got down into the water. Started off by trotting maggot under the stick and had a fish on, a small chub, first cast. Was soon obvious that it was like fish soup out there! Most casts the float barely managed to travel six feet before the maggot was snatched by a chublet, dace, or bleak. 























I was therefore able to get some baits in the bucket and the rod with the perch paternoster out into the slack to my right in double quick time. Carried on with the float, building up the swim and letting the paternoster rod work away by itself. Didn't have to wait long before a slack line bite indicated some interest from a predator. However, before I could get on the rod the bait was dropped, its scaleless flanks indicating the likely culprit. Popped it back into the slack to be taken again a few minutes later. Unfortunately, thoughts of a decent perch were dashed when a green, spotty torpedo immediately went airborne. Carried on in this vein for the next 3 hours, adding a few roach and a single skimmer that somehow managed to get to the bait before the ravenous hordes of little chub! Obviously, with this much food about, there were also a few more predators in attendance.


However, six more hits on the paternoster just resulted in more pike or stolen baits. Hung on for as long as I could, straining to see the float in the gloom before packing up. For the record I had 94 chublets, 35 bleak, 12 dace, 8 roach and 1 skimmer on the float and 3 pike on the paternoster......but not a single perch on either! 

Still, it had been a very hectic and enjoyable session and I as I headed back to the car through the nettles the river was absolutely alive with topping fish. Made me think that there must be a big perch there somewhere, but that will have to wait until next time.......