Roach On Pole and Blogs Youtube Channel Live...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  A week on and a week closer to the official start of the pike season.  As i write this blog i already have two trips under my belt and with a week in work till a long weekend on the bank chasing pike i am sat here wishing this week away.

This weeks update see's me talk a little on developments around expanding the blog to Youtube and then a little on asking you, the blog readers, for feedback on how you want me to cover this years piking. The fishing sees us out on the banks and in true "Dannys Angling Blog sytle" we are on the banks of a new water looking to continue to explore the unknown waters with unknown rewards.

On to the Update

YouTube Channel Live...

So Friday night i decided to get on the laptop and rather than settling in to write this update you are reading now i decided to act upon my words in a previous update and set up the blogs YouTube Channel.  The first video on this channel is now live to view and i thought i would dip my toes into the water with a subject i could record in controlled conditions in my house and that is how i tie up my wire traces for pike fishing.

Please take a second to watch the video and feel free to add to the comments section with any thoughts.  I recorded the videos in two parts and did them both in one take.  Please remember that i am completely new to this and it is going to take time and be a little raw in its make up till i improve at editing and putting the components together to make a "enjoyable watch".  If you are looking for the odd bit of content on top of the weekly blogs then please subscribe to the channel for more videos.

link to channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCogqlnE3gK_Re7vdU5bv8sw

There will be a video up soon documenting this weeks pike trip on the bank.  Again these videos are going to be very raw and to start with literally might be a 5 minute video of me talking then clips of what i catch posted on the screen.  An example being i did a little bit of speaking in the car on Saturday and hit a problem straight away in that i travel to the venues before sun rise so the intro to this blog is very dark.  At this stage i have no idea how i can combat this as putting the in car light on is going to get me in trouble with the law and to say im blogging  is not going to go down well ha ha.

Again look out for videos coming shortly and do bear in mind they are new to me and they will hopefully improve.

Piking Blog Feedback Needed.....

In recent years this blog and my fishing has developed into two branches i feel, my river,  lakes, canals and pond fishing for silvers and my Winter pike fishing adventures.  It is giving me a great headache at the moment deciding how i blog my piking this winter and i need some feedback from you the blog readers.

The first option is to write is in the weekly blog update and if i go out chasing silvers and pike that week then in that update there will be both covered in detail.  This is the easier option to do for myself the writer as i always write the blog any way but i do feel you lose out here on the the main part of my pike fishing and that's the season told as a story you can follow.

The second option is to cover it like i did last season in its own page at the top of the blog.  This option allows me to cover each and every trip in chronological order but the way pages are set up you can not split them down into individual blogs within a page.  It means the reader scrolling through content they have already read to reach the new addition to that blog.  The nature of the page and it covering a few months means updates are not as in depth but as the season goes on you can follow it as a story of how my thoughts and actions change as the season goes on.

There are many ways you can leave feedback, you can message me on the blogs Facebook or Twitter page @satonmyperch or drop the blogs email a message at Dannysanglingblog@hotmail.co.uk.   Thank you for any help and feedback.

On to the Update...

New Water New Adventure....

Long time blog readers will know how much of my fishing involves trips into the unknown.  Myself and my uncle are certainly not scared of exploring places with unknown potential.  Watercraft can play a huge part in selecting these places but getting out there at first light to see if any fish top is just as important as any gut instinct.

Sunday morning the week before this session we made the trip to the venue.  Walking the banks we scouted out some likely looking swims and areas to target.  The waterway looked a deep venue with really dark water but with some nice clarity.  Experience as a kid swimming at other areas of this waterway and my dads experience form working on the boats here told me there could be potential depths of 22 feet.  Not an easy proposition but having fished deep rivers in the past its not a depth that i would be really scared of, a few fished topped early doors so we knew it at least held fish.

The night before the trip was spent again on the hunt for mole hills and i have now scouted out a good area for these earth dwelling rodents.  I say rodents i remember speaking to a mole catcher, yes a mole catcher! a few years ago on the canal and i was shocked that the  numerous mountains of soil behind me at the time where caused by just one mole.

I sincerely hope my local moley doesn't pop his clogs any time soon.

This mole hill soil would be a key ingredient in adding weight to my balls of ground bait.  Arriving at the venue i found the depth to be around 12ft plus in the middle but the shelf was a nice flat 9ft around my top kit and one or two sections out,  I was more than happy that i could catch fish in this depth down the margin.  My mix for the session was ground bait mixed and passed through riddle and i normally add 50/50 with molehill soil but on this trip i probably mixed it 60% moil hill to 40% ground bait as i wanted the extra weight the mole hill soil would give me.

The hook baits on the day was half a pint of caster and around a pint of red maggot with hemp seed also as a feed in my ground bait in case i felt like i needed to try and get the fish on the bottom.  The key with new swims is to ease yourself into the session, you dont want to over feed it before you start.  I fed the swim with two balls of ground bait around the size of my big MAP pole cup. To my shock i did not have to wait long for bites to come as small roach like the one below where straight on the the balls i had fed.

With bites coming solid you can then judge how to approach the swim.  It was very apparent there was a lot of fish in the area as in front of me and down stream fish where topping and the odd bubble was coming up.  The odd better fish was also starting to make an appearance on my line as well.

At this stage i was just feeding the odd few Castor's by hand into the swim and was quickly settling into a rhythm of feeding and catching fish and it was clear the Castor's where slowly grabbing the attention of the odd better roach.

Around midday i had steadily pickled up fish and i decided the time had come to test the area out and i really really upped the feed.  I was feeding both hemp seed and red maggot by hand into the swim and also feeding balls of ground bait into the swim every time the signs of the ground bait working disappeared.

When i upped the feed i did not not see a huge increase in fish or stamp of fish i was still catching small roach as well as the better ones and the swim was also going through a few lulls which i later worked out was the fish coming up in the water to the feed.

The session ended with nice nets of fish with my uncle catching 15lb and me 16lb10oz.

As first sessions go on the venue we had caught over 30lb of fish between us and it was a great first session on this venue.  The session provided us with enough information that there was fish to be caught and provided enough questions for us to go away and come back with a different game plan.

Another enjoyable week on the bank

and till next week i wish you all

tight lines

Danny

Barbel Blues and Sneaking on the Pike Shoes...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Pike, Pike, Pike and more pike has all that's been flowing through my mind the past week.  The excitement to get out there and catch them is there, even if it only seems seconds ago the season finished, but the weather at the moment is making it really difficult to imagine casting out a dead bait in earnest for these fish.

In this weeks blog i look a little more at my ideas and thought for the upcoming season and incorporated in this will be a little bit or reason as to why i decided to hit the bank with the idea of catching a pike this weekend.  The other fishing is a session on the river for barbel, a species i have not really given enough time and attention to if i am honest over the past month or two.

Lets get into the update..

Piker with a Plan

So we stand on the cusp of another pike season and with it a whole host of memories are waiting to be created and lived and i can not wait to find out what this season has to hold for me.  The past few seasons we have always had a numeric target for the three of us to aim.  Past seasons have proved this idea to be a fun target to aim for but needing numbers of pike it does put you off trying those areas for quality rather than quantity so this year i wont be getting involved in chasing a numeric total of individual pike.

Last season i did set myself a target of 10 double figure pike and i think given the venues i fished last season this 10 doubles was an obtainable and nice target to go at so again this season i will be setting myself a personal goal of 10 double figure pike.  A target I hit last season and a target i actually enjoyed chasing.  In my piking i think as the season goes on it gives you that push to keep on getting out trying for pike even on the days where it seems a complete waste of time.

10 doubles will be a nice target to chase and I'm hoping will also fit in with my change of direction with my piking this season.  The past two and a half seasons i have been very lucky to share the bank with anglers who have been piking a good number of years and there is no escaping that hours spent on the bank with experienced pikers has seen my learning and understanding of pike fishing drastically truncated.  Although my main focus of going fishing with other pikers is for the laugh, chin wag and hopefully catch the odd pike while there you can not go fishing with someone who has been piking over 20 years and not learn and improve yourself as an angler.

This season i hope to start on a new adventure on a bigger waterway and take some of the lessons learnt and try and adapt them for fishing for pike on my own.  Using my water craft mixed with my determination to put the hours in i'm hoping i will find some success.  Last season i tried a new area of water and managed to bank some small pike and a few doubles so i would  ecstatic to replicate those results but as with all fishing you don't know until you get out there with a bait in the water, right now? I am chomping at the bit to get out, lets hope the pike are as veracious.

On to this weeks fishing...

Barbel Blues...

So far i have done two evening trips for barbel fishing into dark with two eels and a lost barbel to show for my efforts.  I say efforts loosely as in all honesty i do not deserve to put a barbel on the bank right now, i have put minimal effort into it and the time just has not been there to travel to the river to try for these fish.  I think there are a number of factors surrounding why the effort hasn't been there but mainly it just hasn't grabbed me like new adventures normally do and i don't think it has helped that i have enjoyed and had success in my carp fishing adventures this summer.  A venue a lot closer than the river as well.

That said recently we decided to go back and try the river again.  My uncle on the stick float and myself sitting it out for a barbel or chub.  My bait for the day was luncheon meat that had been cut at home and frozen in a food bag that contained a mixture of chili flakes, hot chili powder and garlic granules and i planned to fish this over a big bed of hemp seed so i boiled up 3 pints of chili flavoured hemp.

The day was going to be a warm one so i picked a swim that on paper looked a dream.  It had bags of cover and a good depth, in fact it would make a cracking winter swim i reckon.  Settled back in the swim i made my first cast of the day and sat back.  No action for two hours but i continued to drip feed hemp into the swim and a good hand full of hemp every 30 minutes.

Out of the blue with no warning the tip walloped round and striking i expected to feel the reistance of a fish but the rig just come back at me.  Casting back in i fed hemp again and sat back in my seat waiting for a second chance.  The chance came sooner than i thought around 15 mins after casting in the tip again went round but again nothing was on the end.

A change of tactics to a bigger hook, size 4 instead of a size 6, i was back into the swim.  A long wait till our midday pack up saw the tip go round again with the same result.  A frustrating day on the bank to say the least, i would say at least one was a barbel judging by the how hard the tip went round but not knowing barbel fishing i don't really know where i went wrong.  I upped the size of hook which was buried in the meat i can only think maybe increasing the weight of the lead maybe bit all the books say fish with enough to hold bottom and my one ounce lead was doing that easily.

All part of the learning curve and with piking coming up soon i think the barbel may well have to wait for next summer now and a rethink on tactics as it seems location is nailed in me getting bites.  This update should please those followers who believe we catch every visit we go out lol.

Sneaking on the Pike Shoes....

I have been doing my homework for some time now with regards the upcoming pike season.  I have been scouring Google earth and printings out maps of my destinations for the coming months whilst making the odd visit to plumb the depths of the areas in want to fish.

Baring rain fall and the water being up and coloured i have earmarked one location for a visit come Saturday 1st October.  It has a nice summer depth and a few features on top and beneath the water that really interests me with regards pike and with that in mind we decided to visit it for a day session on the pole recently.

My plan for the day was simple, fish the pole for silvers and put a rod out to the side on a live bait paternoster for a pike. Prepping the Paternoster rig the night before it felt weird prepping a pike rig as it only feels like 5 minutes since i packed the pike gear away.

My main focus on the day was to fish the pole to the best of my ability and as such preparation for the pole was as in depth as the preparation for the piking.  I must admit though i got some really really funny looks this week collecting my molehill soil.  I knew rain was coming in the evening so it was on my way home from work i decided it best to collect the dry soil form the molehill.  There i was, dressing in my work shirt and pants, at the side of the road at rush hour riddling molehill soil into a bucket.  All in the name of fishing, some of the looks where priceless.

The preparation done it was time to see the next morning if the location had any legs in it from a pike point of view.  I know this should really be the session on the 1st of october but excitement got to much for me.  The first fish caught won the prize as a live bait and the pike rig held up well in the water as it allowed the fish to move freely around a centre point and the bigger float was enough to hold it there with a weak bit of 5lb line as a rotten bottom to a lead.

The whole process of adding molehill soil to my ground bait is new to me but i am learning a few lessons and will be posting a in depth blog about this in the coming weeks.  The ground bait mixed i added the soil till i got the mix i was looking for.  I was aiming for a 50/50 mix as i wanted there to be feed as well as colour in the mix and i think i achieved that.

The bites where steady on the pole line bit there where not many better fish showing on the line.  The swim as producing mainly roach and the odd perch at around 5 metres.  I was hoping for the odd bream to show and as i fished the pole line i kept one eye on my pike rod and on the water for signs of pike striking.

It was becoming clear that the area held a decent number of silver fish at this time of year and with one predator in the perch already here in numbers i knew the apex predator would not be far behind.  It took around a hour and half but eventually one found the bait and the paternoster float began to move off into the deeper water.  Temperatures warm it was a quick strike, in fact it was an instant strike, trying my best to avoid foul hooking the pike.

Worth remembering here i was not really out pike fishing i just wanted to gauge if the area was any good for pike come october.  A nice pike around 6lb was soon on the bank and one treble right on the tip of its mouth it was soon unhooked and back int he water to rest.  A quick lift out for a picture and back in till he was fully recovered and ready to go.

A fantastic result so far with plenty of bait fish and a lovely marked pike showing.  The fish continued to bite on the pole line till our midday pack up.  The ground bait did not bring any bream in but the perch did muscle the roach out in the end and it was a perch a chuck for the final hour or so of the session.

I decided to try a perch as a live bait just to prove to myself that pike will take these fish as well as roach and this plodded away on the paternoster that again showed itself to be a great rig and one i will certainly be using come october, especially if the temperatures are still high.

The final net showed a great number of bait fish in this area.

This was proved when the pike rod went again while we where drying our nets in the sun.

All in all a worthwhile exercise and one that sets me up nicely for october 1st.  I now know the area holds pike and come that opening days session i am going to be hitting the bank confident in this area and if i get the same result then i will be over the moon.

Till next time

tight lines

Danny

Day to Remember on the River and Pike Order Arrives...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Finally this week the weather seems to have settle slightly and we seem to be moving out of the constant period of heavy rain and then baking hot sunshine.  The mornings are starting to have a crisp edge to them from time to time and the Conker trees now laden with their autumnal larder of fruit are starting to show signs that Autumn is most certainly with us.

This weeks update sees a little bit around a huge milestone the blog has reached, some info on the bait order and my thought processes and finally a cheeky plug of my diary around piking from last year.  The fishing sees us back on the river fishing the Bolo on a session where the roach really did turn up.

Lets get into the update...

400k Not Out...

Checking the blog on Monday i noticed in the views section that we where very close to reaching the barmy landmark of 400,000 unique views on the blog.  I remember fondly the days when i first started writing the blog and that first month where i was over the moon that a 100 people read my blog in the month.  The blog really has grown in popularity form those early days and now consistently reaches over 200 views on a daily basis rising to the thousands when a blog goes live.

I have tried my best to keep it to weekly updates and sometimes life has got in the way and there have been the odd gap here and there.  Sometimes its down to just not being able to find the words to write on the page, i will be honest, others its purely down to family life taking over and not having the time.  Over the years its become part of my week as much as the fishing on the Saturday and its been a pleasure to write this diary of my fishing adventures the passed few years and it has let to the making of some very special friendships both online and in real life.

It begs the question where does the blog go from here? I always promised myself i would write the blog for as long as i felt i was enjoying it and the content was interesting enough.  I must admit to thinking recently of taking a dramatic leap into the world of video blogging my trips on the bank and publishing them on Youtube.  The main concerns here are obviously the amount of time it takes to edit a video and also being able to record consistently with content.  Pike fishing and carp fishing would be easy but trotting a river presents it own problems with keeping it both interesting and the actual recording of the session.  Watch this space there may be the odd pike video coming this winter.

Pike Bait Order Arrives...

A baking hot day early in August and a text message arrives form my mate Garry as to if im interested in again ordering bait for the piking.  At the time piking was about as far away from my mind as ever as thoughts of carp slurping down crusts of bread on the surface dominated my mind.

Moving into my third year of piking i spent some time looking over my records and looking at what lessons i had learnt and what baits had done me well at certain times of year.  There was one huge trend that stood out and this year i was looking to capitalize on this.  I will go more into my plans for the pike season closer to october but from past seasons i had used and struggled to source smelt later on in the season so i went heavy on the smelt and also i had seen great success in present a certain sized bait in a particular way last season so the rest of my order is taken up with bigger baits.

In total the order accounts to 38 packets of dead baits made up of Smelt, herring, sardine and mackerel primarily with a fantastic Recession pack added that is 8 packets of dead baits for 9 quid and this pack gives me some variety with eels, trout, bream, roach and sprat giving me that option of a change bait.  One other huge lesson learnt is that one pack of lamprey will do you all season!  These are all baits i have caught pike on before so casting them out i have confidence in its ability to catch fish and to be honest although pike can be finickey with baits they want i am a firm believer in the main part of pike fishing you need to get right before bait is location, location is key, especially when dealing with a huge river like i will be this season from time to time.

Previous Pike Seasons..

As mentioned above i now moved into my third full season piking and it has proven to be a bit of a headache with how to document the trips.  The first season i did the whole season bit by bit and included the trips in this main blog and then did a season summary at the end.  Last season i devoted a page to my piking and this worked very well but it being written top to bottom i feel reposting the same link didn't get it the views it deserved.  Once the season is finished its a great read through the season and good for me to look at what venues i did well on at certain times of year.

I have also been playing, like mentioned above, with the idea of video logging this season and thinking about it i might try it on the early sessions, see how i feel it goes and if content is publishable and build from there.

Link to First pike Season: http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-first-pike-seaon.html
Link to 2015/2016 Season:http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/p/201516-pike-seaon.html

On to this weeks fishing

25lb of River Roach on Bolo....

So with two sessions on this river under our wings we decided to again pay this little place a visit.  This time there was no worrying about wind, rain and thunderstorms as almost perfect conditions awaited us as we walked the bank.  As with all my fishing the preparation for this session had began in my head early on in the week buy physical preparation had started on the Thursday night with a trip out with a bucket and riddle to harvest a some moil hill soil.  It is safe to say you get some funny looks from cars passing by when your sieving mole hill soil.

Arriving at the peg i mixed up some Van Den Eynde Roach Secret ground bait, a ground bait i have found you have to be very very careful when adding the water as its very easy to over wet this mix.  The mix done i left it to settle while i set up my 17ft float rod with a 3gram bolo float, it is a combination that has done me well the past few weeks so i decided not to change and i kept this same mentality with my bait using red maggot and hemp.

The dawn just breaking i was set up ready to go.

Admiring my beautiful surroundings for a few moments i breathed in the fresh air and took a second to just live in that moment.  A week spent facing a beige wall soon was washed away by mother nature herself.  A fish topping in the swim soon brought me to my senses and i quickly riddled off my ground bait and then added the moil hill soil to bulk it out and add some weight.

The session started off well and the fish where on me straight away although they where not of the size of the first week.  During other sessions the fish have come on a certain line around two rod lengths out but in this session i was able to get the fish going right on the end of the rod tip.

A quick phone call with Ste to catch up during which the true extent of the bites i was getting became apparent.  I was not catching fish of any size but i knew a rhythm of feed maggot, cast in, feed small ball ground bait, hold back...strike would see a big net come the end of the session.

While i was catching under my feet i kept the normal line fed with the off jaffa ball of ground bait and sprinkling of hemp seed just to keep that line fed in case the fish went from under my feet.  The odd better fish would show itself and it is amazing just how close in you can catch fish if you are quiet.

The swim continued to go from strength to strength as the fish really did come on the feed and for a good hour or so i was catching fish steadily.  As i mentioned earlier that can all change in an instant and like i thought the fish soon backed out of the swim, disturbed by a pike? or just spooked in general i dont know but it completely dried up.

The swim i had fed from the start was there for me to try so i quickly fed a few balls of ground bait and went for a chat with my uncle.  Returning to the swim i was into the odd fish from the start but it took a good hour or two for them to really get down on the bait.

I followed every few fish with a ball of ground bait shown above and it did seem to keep the fish down on the bottom and feeding confidently.  Going into the end of the session i knew i had a few pound in the net and i was hoping it would pass the magical 20lb mark.  The last hour though left me in no uncertainty around hitting that mark as a whole better stamp of roach moved into the swim.

For the last hour these fish muscled into the swim and i am sure they accounted for the amount of fish over the 20lb mark it was really a killer to pack in.

Palm sized roach coming quite quickly i felt had we stayed on for a few more hours we would certainly be looking at a 40lb net of roach and not the 25lb2oz one that hit the scales.

Although its always a killer leaving a swim where the fish are heavily on the feed i was over the moon with this net of roach.  In my angling i love my chub fishing and my pike fishing but there is something magical about a big net of roach.

Morning Fun on the river with Acolyte Plus....

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Its been a mad week this week in work so i find myself on a Sunday morning putting this weeks blog update together, a cold wet day on the river yesterday where i forgot my umbrella means i am just about drying off now! Id like to say it was worth it but as you will read in next weeks update it was a fruitless trip.

On with this update and we start with a addition i have made to the kitchen, yes the kitchen! A place i thought was only for boiling hemp seed and preparing luncheon meat turns out there is more too it than meets the eye.  I do jest of course but this addition could turn out to be a bit of a game changer.  The next part of the update is a little trip on bank holiday Monday with my little daughter who madly turned 4 last week!!  The main bit of fishing is a short trip on the river where i literally had a hour or so to target its occupants, sit back grab a brew and lets get into the update.

A Great Addition...

As regular blog readers will know i am quite fond of my winter pike fishing and at the start of each season a few of us put together a bulk order of dead baits from a website. I myself am now moving into my 3rd season on the run piking and as such i feel i have learnt a good number of lessons about the venues i fish and more so around what baits i will probably be using this season.  My first bait order back in 2014 i was like a kid in a sweet shop and ordered a multitude of different baits but only a few samples of each and i spent around 20 odd quid.

This year is a lot different and i will go into more detail on the contents of my bait order and why i have chosen these baits in next weeks update when the order is here but it is safe to say a bait order of near £50.00 has presented its own problem.  Till now i have been splitting my bait order between two fridges at my house and my dads and i have to say its caused a bit of friction, not least last year when my partner defrosted half a kilo of roach instead of chicken for tea!

Problem was resolved on Friday when i collected my very own bait freezer! The bait order due on Tuesday it will soon be full but it also offers me some great time saving opportunities as i am planning on boiling up pint sized bag so f hemp so i can literally gab a frozen bag on  Friday evening rather than having to boil it up after work.

Bank Holiday Fun With My Little Fisher.

Bank holiday Monday and with the other half in work i asked my little girl if she fancied going fishing with daddy, of course she jumped at the opportunity to catch some little fish.  The weather was not ideal as it was quite windy and to be honest heading for the canal at 10am is never a great time as there is a good reason you see my canal blogs are from first light till 10am and this down to one thing..boats! Boats don't really do much damage to your fishing but on this canal it is not just the one its four or five at a time when they get going.

My daughter is only 4 this week so i am knew to the whole taking her fishing but i have picked up one big lesson over my years fishing and that is KEEP THE SESSIONS SHORT.  Over the years i have lost count how many times i have been fishing and seen dads taking their kids fishing and a hour or two in the dad is pulling his hair out, kid is crying to go home bored and the whole thing is not fun at all.

A short session on the local canal using up some maggots on the short whip.  The development is there in here fishing as last year she knew she was catching fish but was not really understanding the whole float going under where as in the sessions this year she has put two and two together and on this short session of only a half an hour she struck all these bites herself!

She was more than made up with her little net of fish and she left the water full of excitement from the little amount of fishing she had just done.  Right now half an hour to an hour is about right for her to go and not lose interest.  It might be the last session of the year for me and my little girl fishing as i dont think she is ready to be sitting waiting for a bite.

Packing up we where rewarded with a visit from the local swam family,

One of the things i love about fishing is the development of the wildlife through the year, my how they have come on.  Well done mum and dad!

Morning Fun On the Acolyte...

Having purchased my 14ft Acolyte a few weeks ago i have found opportunities to get some use out of the rod few and far between and with my car also playing silly beggars with spare wheels being employed till pay day and such like it has meant long distance trips have been out of the question.  The recent roach nets as the bolo method suggested have been on a deeper rivers so the 17ft rod has been my tool of choice giving my that extra control.

A few days off work last week for a short family trip to Blackpool i arrived back with a day to spare before the return to work on the Thursday.  I was determined to get out on the river so a slow drive to the river was in order.  I arrived to find her as low as i have ever seen her and to be honest i knew the length of the session would not be down to myself as much as how long the fish would not spook from the dark deep recesses they where residing in.

Reading the river in these scenario really is child's play and about as easy as watercraft comes.  Anywhere you can not see the bottom there will be fish and all the spots that look lovely and serene with wavy green weed dancing the the rivers methodic beat forget about as the fish in such low clear conditions just wont be on these shallows.

I settled in a nice swim on the inside of a bend.  The water rushing round the out side of the bend had created a 10 to 15ft deep run with the back eddy and slacker water on the inside under my feed carving out a deeper whole in the river bed.  I knew the fish would be under there and it was a case of how many not if i would get a bite.

The first few casts brought two really fat plump dace that in february could go on to be very special fish indeed.

The dace kept popping up one by one at a time and bites where hard to come by and i was working hard each time to get a bite, holding the float back as much as a dared to prolong the time my bait was in the killing zone of darker water.  The swim did go through a lull and i knew straight away the big chub had come into the line of feed and muscled out the dace.  A theory that was confirmed seconds later when the float buried, as only chub do, resulting in a more than healthy bend in toe acolyte rod.

I can not express enough just how much of a joy these rods are to use they are as light as air and the action in them when you get a better fish is fantastic.  The have you on the edge of your box as you play a fish and you do need to play the fish.  If you are an angler that is hit and hold and give no ground in  the fight type of angler then you are certainly going to end up with a three piece rod becoming a five piece rod really quickly, you have to actually play the fish with these rods.

The chub was soon followed by the next family member in the shoal and then as predicted the chub show was over and the dace packed up not long after them.  It left a swim full of gudgeon and oh my god what a joy it was to bag up on these mini barbel for a good half an hour of so and there was some lumps among them!

Eventually the sun came over the trees behind me illuminating the whole swim in its warming glow.  We live in a world full of electrical alarms and clocks when the truth is that if you spend time on the bank you kind of fall into a time when there was no break down of the beautiful day into hours and minutes and learn to follow natures own time zone.

In short it was an enjoyable little few hours on the river before the bustling world around me awoke for their daily musings, i was gone long before the roads became busy and back home in time for a warm break fast.

Sat drinking my coffee and tucking into a bacon buttie i reflected on a morning of bliss spent beside a beautiful river as i watched the last of my worries from my working life float off down stream and left feeling refreshed and ready to attack the two days in work before my next angling adventure into the unknown.

till next time i wish you all tight lines

Danny