I knew it was going to be cold today, but when i stepped outside this morning there was no frost on the ground, a good sign. I don't think temperatures got above 5c but I haven't been feeling the cold since buying a new suit and boots. This weir is shaded throughout the day at this time of year as the sun doesn't manage to rise above the trees, but a foggy start was welcome, even if it cleared later.
I spent all day from 8.30am to 4pm at my favourite spot. Image from the film Shy People 1987, a decent likeness that reminds me of this spot.
And with a decent Tangerine Dream soundtrack to boot.
It's become quite a special place to me, not only for the fishing, but a quiet spot to go and chill.
Bit of a random poem, but about a special place.
So armed with 2 pints of mixed maggots and the usual maggot feeder tactics as described in the first post, I made my first cast. A small Chub was hooked and managed to do me in a snag on the inside bank. Casting out again I had another small Chub on the second cast. Third cast, smashed maggots. Fourth cast another small Chub. Both under a pound and pictured below.
They were both spewing up maggots, a good sign that my feeder was working. At this point I wondered whether I should set up a float rod, given there was seemingly a few small fish about, but I decided they were not the usual bits, but slightly bigger and would likely tail off as the day got lighter.
I started on a size 14 Guru Kaizen. Quite a big hook for it's size. And having a few missed bites on the next few casts, I decided to switch down to a size 14 Drennan Wide Gape Match.
It was probably another hour before another Chub, this time 2lb, was in the net.
It hadn't gone quiet as such, I could tell there were still fish milling about, I think I had 3 more small Chub the same size as the first two, but no bigger fish were showing. 50 minutes later when I hooked a hard fighting small Perch, probably only 12oz but made a good account of itself.
This was likely to be a sign the shoal of Chub had disappeared. The fog had lifted and the sky was now blue.
I wasn't sure how things were going to go from now on. It seemed as though the Chub had moved on. When 15 minutes later I had a proper bite and hooked a fish that just held in the flow before characteristically going on a few runs. It was a small Barbel of 3lb 11oz.
I'd said before the Barbel don't fight as hard on the tackle I use on the weir, but this one was a good scrap despite its modest size. A couple of casts later I hooked another Barbel, probably around the same size, when the hooklength gave up the ghost under not much pressure, gutted... it must have been compromised somehow but that's how it goes sometimes.
I was running out of my 2 pints of maggots at this time, so a quick call to my dad to ask him to swing by the tackle shop to pick another pint of maggots so I could fish on, as I wanted another Barbel.
It went quiet again after that, and wondering if I'd spooked the shoal of Barbel and everything else in the peg, the tip went round and another small Chub that same size as the first was in the net. It was a good hour and half later when I hooked something decent again, a 2.5lb Chub this time.
It doesn't make for a pretty picture, but you can see all the spewed up maggots, every Chub I caught today was spewing up maggots, a good sign.
I then hooked another decent Chub and the hook pulled. A cast or two later another decent Chub, probably the best of the day, and it shot downstream and then did me in an inside snag. Unfortunate but almost part and parcel of fishing such a peg sometimes.
The last fish of the day came at 14.50, another Barbel, this time back on Kaizen hooks, and weighing in a modest 3lb 8oz.
I fished on until 4pm still getting the odd knock but nothing substantial.
I hadn't set any targets for myself today, not knowing what to expect with the cold weather, but as I ended up with 8 Chub (only 2 over 1lb), 2 Barbel and a Perch, I was quite pleased. The Barbel seem to be a fixture here now, and you never know, a big one could swim along at any moment .
Here's hoping the fish hang around over Winter as I love it here.
