9.9M & steady
Today’s Plan
My plan was to fish the morning in a likely Perch peg (peg 5) and then the afternoon/evening in peg 6 where I had been catching Chub recently. The last time I fished peg 5, there were some fresh shoots from the downstream tree that really hampered fishing close in to the tree where the Perch reside. Therefore I borrowed a long pair of loppers from the club’s member secretary so that I could clear the peg before fishing.
I got to the peg about 8:15am and spent the first 30 minutes clearing the peg. Here is photo of how it looked before I cleared it: –
Early Action
I setup 2 rods, one out in the main river, just this side of the flow with cheese paste and the other near the tree (now cleared) with lobworm. I had expected that the disturbance of clearing the shoots would spook the fish for the first 30-60 minutes. However, after about 10-15 minutes I got a bite on worm. Unfortunately I missed the bite and forgot how short a line I was fishing so struck too hard and ended up with my hook stuck in a tree and the opposite side of the peg. I had to snap my line and setup again.
Whilst I was setting up the Perch rod, my other rod tip (the one with cheese paste) shot around. I hit into a good fish that took off downstream. When I started to turn the fish my hooklink snapped – that’s the second time these 5lb 14oz hooklinks have snapped so I will discard them and fish my main line straight through.
When I finally got fishing again (having re-setup both rods), it wasn’t long before the Perch were back and I landed one of about 1.5lb.
Sporadic Bites
I had hoped that the Perch would be biting fairly consistently but I often went more than an hour between bites. I would typically get 2 or 3 bites in quick session until I caught the fish that was biting.
Considering the sporadic nature of the bites, I decided to have lunch early and move onto peg 6 earlier.
Busy Lunch Hours
Typically, just as I got my lunch out, hands washed etc, the Perch returned. I ended up catching a couple more and loosing one over the hour so I ended up having lunch at the time I had originally planned.
So, I had a few Perch and lost that good fish but it wasn’t the morning I had hoped. Here is my catch: –
Peg 6
I got settled into peg 6 for about 1:45. As usual I planned to fish one rod out to the crease and one near the tree to my right (downstream). I fished cheese paste on both rods and used small open ended feeders with a mix of liquidised bread and hemp. I only used a feeder for the first few casts near the tree so that I could go onto a small bomb and get tighter to the tree.
Long, Wet Wait
I sat there until 4:15 without any indication. In that time the clouds gathered, the wind picked up and eventually the rains came. I did not have my brolly but the Halkon Hunt clothing did its job and kept me dry.
Barbel?
At about 4:15, my crease rod shot around (Barbel style) and was hard to pick off the rest. Once I picked up the rod, the fish shot off downstream, stripping line as it went. I tried to turn the fish and, once again, the line snapped and the air turned blue! I am pretty sure this was a sizeable Barbel. Having thought about the line snap, I recall that one my last trip I got some loose line near my reel end ended up with it wrapped around the handle. I suspect that the line had been nipped. I am annoyed because I had intended to strip that line to remove the potentially damaged length but I had forgotten. I also started to wonder if the early morning this had also been a Barbel – I never thought of that at the time but it did head downstream and did break my line in open water so maybe it was a Barbel.
Bites but no Fish
I setup my crease rod again and was surprised that I got twitches as soon as I cast in. I had a period of about 20 minutes with plenty of knocks and twitches. I struck at a few and missed. I also reeled in slowly after some twitches and the cheese paste had gone. I had got some water in my cheese paste and that made it a bit too soft so the Chub were able to easily pluck/suck it off the hook. I decided to try luncheon meat on the rod near the tree because I was worried that the soft cheese paste would fall off when casting to the tree. Sure enough, after about 10 minutes I got a bite on meat but missed that too.
After that busy 20 minute period, it went quiet for the next hour before I started getting bites about 5:45 (I had about 30 minutes of light left). I never managed to hit any bites and packed up (in the rain) about 6:15.
Summary
So, a frustrating day but, at the same time, a day that has raised my expectations of winter fishing on the Ure. To get 2 big fish at this time of year (even though they both broke me) really is a good sign for the future. I am hoping to get out again on Monday but the weather forecast for the weekend isn’t good so I just the river is fishable on Monday. With a bit of luck, the water will rise at the weekend and be falling on Monday.
