In the last few weeks I was contacted via email by a fellow blogger who was contacting me for help in locating a specimen sized dace of over 10oz in weight and asked if I would help him in his quest. I gladly obliged and gave as much information as I could and agreed to meet up on the banks of the Dee at the weekend. The person in question writes his own angling blog and what a very good blog it is as well and you can find it here: www.warksavon.blogspot.com
I was, as to be expected, very apprehensive about meeting someone I had only talked to over an email on the banks of the river but in the dim light of Saturday morning all those fears went away as I spoke to him about the best pegs for him to try and catch his chosen quarry. Through out the day I had a few chats with him and what a top bloke he was, very knowledgeable and dedicated to his fishing and I look forward to spending a few days next year on the bank, hopefully when the fish are “having it” and not all up in the water like they where on Saturday, nether the less we almost got to his target with a few fish requiring the weigh bag but alas it wasn’t to be but the most important thing was he enjoyed his trip to the river Dee and vowed to return for that monster dace and all that remains for me to say is good luck with those perch mate!!.
On to this weeks fishing
This weekend on the bank was as mild as the week leading up to it had been with very little rainfall and really high temperatures for this time of year which nature took no time at all in taking advantage of with daffodils standing proud and the buds on the trees looking ready to burst at any moment it defiantly had the feeling that spring was certainly already here. The fish of course, who never miss a trick, where all up in the water gorging themselves on a hatch of insects that where being transported down to them in the current.
The sign of fish topping all over the place would usually fill you with confidence for the day ahead but for me it signalled a hard day ahead, ideally you want the fish hard on the bottom taking your loose feed as it reaches them naturally on the current and in theory when you bait arrives trundling along the bottom it looks natural to the fish. This makes catching them so much easier and reduces the missed bites you get fishing shallow for them. The fish up in the water in such numbers means this bait is intercepted well before its gets down to your baited area and results in a difficult day on the bank.
Saturday for the main part was tough with fish coming in fits and spurts and not of any real quality to warrant a picture to be taken and this lack of activity and quality was mirrored all around with a number of anglers concluding it was very tough. It was during one of these barren spells I noticed some predator activity with pike or perch crashing into dace on the surface and chasing them causing some violent bow waves on the top.
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I decided to try my arm for a pike as they where obviously active and feeding and introduced a small bait up in the water and was prepared for some instant action what in all honestly was not forthcoming and it was a good hour before the pike float submerged violently I was connected with a small jack of around 5lb that looked to have been feeding well.
A days trotting on the river is a very active and fast paced way of fishing and a lot of the creatures you see through out a day on the river you see but very rarely have the time to capture them on camera, Saturday was slightly different as with a pike bait fishing away I managed to befriend a local bird which took a great liking to the white maggots I threw in its direction, its confidence gained slowly through out the day as he greedily returned for more and more and it was great to help this little guy out who obviously had a mate on a nest somewhere has he often scurried away with a beak full of wrigglers.
Around noon the predicted high tide began to hit and the river began to rise steadily causing a few anglers to be caught short with one angler on the far bank hastily throwing his landing net and gear up the bank to a chorus of unmentionable swear words. This high tide caused the river to really back up on itself and all bite completely died off as the float refused to trot at all and in some cases flowed back on its self which sometimes can get you a few bites but not on the day.
The day wined on and around 3pm both my uncle and me had a look over to each other and the prospect of packing up and calling it a day was etched on both our faces and almost like a light switch had been turned on our floats began to trundle down stream and we both simultaneously connected with quality roach and this continued for the next hour of so with roach after roach coming to the net and we gave the Dee gave up both a great send off to the season leaving us packing away already itching to get back on her banks.
uncles net:
my net:
We both chatted away about the coming months away form he river and discussed potential venues we would like to try and what we both want to achieve before the river open again. I detailed my ambitious plan last week and hope to make a start on one of those challenges this weekend when I plan to revisit Flushing meadows for the first time this year, weather permitting of course.
Till next time
Tight lines
Danny
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