First Angling Event #Excited!
This weekend i will hopefully all being well attending my first ever angling event in the form of the Fisho-Mania Finals. It is an event i have watched many times on TV but never really thought about visiting but this year I'm hoping will be different. A few weeks ago i was asked if i was interested in attending the event with Gary and a few mates and after checking the schedule i found there was scope to go so i jumped at the chance. It is an event i am excited about attending and i cant wait to just sit and watch one professional angler all session and see how they fish a match.
Many times on TV i have just wanted them to have a choice where you can just watch one anglers, a bit like player cam on the football. Fishing the day before i am hoping to get a good session under my belt for that weeks blog and then just relax and think about a day in the sun watching the fishing. So roll on the weekend and fingers crossed for some sun and fantastic fishing!!
Garden in Bloom
Moving into the new house the garden front and back was a nightmare with the grass out of control and covered in weeds, borders and paths where not visible under a blanket of grass and weeks and the square planting area by the gate was thick with deep rooted weeds. Over the past month or so we have slowly began working on the gardens and although the battle with the weeds is ongoing we are starting to see some results with the plants we have out in with the star being this blue Hydrangea!, i love walking passed this plant on my way too and from work!
The back garden is a haven for all wildlife with all manner of birds being regular visitors including the local sparrow hawk. Regular followers of my blog on Facebook will remember last week when we got out the paddling pool and had some water fights we were amazed to see a frog appear from nowhere! it was amazing to see given the garden is quite well boxed in by other gardens at all three sides and bodes well for my idea of adding a pond to attract some wildlife into the garden, lets hope i don't end up with a pond full of frogs spawn!!
Riverside Meal
This week also saw us taking a well earned trip out with the kids to a local pub for dinner. The riverside situated right on the banks of the weaver is always a great choice for me. Right on the banks of the river you can sit out having a nice cold pint and some food and watch the water which on the day was alive with fish i have to say. As far as i am aware fishing is free on this section and judging from the signs of fish a good days sport could be had.
The food was nice and the company even better so if you are into fishing and looking for a nice place go thats right next to some river then head here.
On with the Fishing...
River Dane On Stick and New Venture...
The river dane again attracted out attention this weekend and for the love of god i have no reason why it did. We have had a torrid time of late on this river but again with my long rod not fixed our options are really short. The rivers are so low at the moment as well it means the choice of swims is really cut down as you need to be finding cover once that sun comes up to stand any chance of the bites keeping coming.
I set up in a shady swim with plenty of tree cover and really easy access to the peg. A slack on my inside and the main flow coming of a sunken tree to my left the flow was gentle as it then sweeped round a bend. I knew the peg well and knew from experience to expect bites close in early on with them tailing off and then the chase of the fish over the far side as they followed the shadow of a overhanging tree,
A 6 number 4 stick float down to a hook length of 1.7lb line to a size 18 eyes whisper barb hook attached loop to loop. The bait as always was 2 pints of maggots and a pint of hemp seed, a batch that wouldn't chit completely despite hours boiling.
The beauty of getting to know these pegs is you have a good idea of where you are going to fish so you can start baiting up as soon as you arrive, a tactic that normally See's instant bites on your first trot through. All set and ready to go you have that magical moment in any session, the first cast.
That first cast is a real leap into the unknown and with river fishing you do not ever really know what is going to come your way. This is even more so the case with the Dane as she flows into the Weaver close by and you really could be catching what ever is in the river that day. One day a huge shoal of bream might think of going up there and be settled in your swim, you just never know and that is why i love river fishing so much.
The first fish of the session was a surprise to me as it was a skimmer, on this river you can almost put your money on the greedy chublets being first on the hook as they move in and gorge on the free offerings. Not today though as the skimmer above took the mantle of first fish.
Normal service was resumed on the next trot down as a greedy chublet came begrudgingly to the net and safely joined the skimmer in the keep net, a nice start.
The chublets moved in quite early on and i was getting them right up in the swim, a quick stop on hand fed maggots and just feeding hemp down the swim soon saw them moving back into line over my hemp seed.
The swim was building nicely and what was even better was the fact that if i got through the chublets and small roach then right down on the hemp seed where the flow really slowed a little i was often rewarded with a better stamp of roach or perch. The key was getting the line to go into the faster flow and impart some movement into the bait and this seemed to bring the bite on.
There are some nice roach about in this river but tracking down this traveller can be hard as they do seem to move around a lot, roll on winter eh when you can track them down to their winter haunts. As the session went on i was starting to think i had some nice fish together and then the swim dies completely! Trotting through the rubbles signifying a good head of fish int he swim where gone and so was any signs of fish around, like a light switch going off the swim died.
Trotting through it all became clear as a sharp dip on the float saw me connect with a small fish that then saw a pike nail it and come clear out of the water as it did. It was a fantastic sight to see as the pike spectacularly took to the air to nail the fish as it came in. It only looked like a small pike and that had me worried as piking in winter had taught me these pike done really move on and normally keep feeding in the area.
I had so many small pike in winter take my bait and get them right in the edge before they would come off and then 20 mins later off your bait would go again with the same fish. I always take a pike rod with me on river trips for the very purpose of catching pike and putting them back in upstream so i can carry on catching the silvers. A small silver fish was offered out and trotting it down the pike float soon zoomed under, a few seconds and a hard strike and one angry pike made its way in. Like a defiant teenager it struggled but eventually in it came and i was made up as these fish have such lovely colours when they come from rivers.
To emphasise just how much a pike can disrupt a swim it took me a hour and a half after returning the pike upstream to get another bite which was a roach.
The swim was producing the odd fish but i was working hard for them. My uncle in another swim had gone a good few hours without a bite or any sign so we decided to call it a day, pack up, and then give a little waterway a go on the way home. The final net was not really what we had set out for but sometimes in this sport you have to take the rough with the smoother and as i have said many times in this blog. When you go out each week you see the highs and lows in sport and you have to ride through these lows and experience them to then appreciate the good times when they come.
The waterway a mere spit of water but worth trying as a diversion from the dane and hey we had nothing to lose and if anything the change of scenery was welcome. We only fished for a hour or two to get a feel for the place and a few roach and some perch gave us a base to build on showing us there where fish present and worth another visit.
Well that is a another weeks blog updated i hope you all have a good week and the weekend brings you the wettest of nets.
Till then,
tight lines
Danny
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