Radio 4 woke me up at 4am to get me on the road to the River Swale near Topcliffe some 50 minutes driver from my house.
I had all my kit ready so all I needed to do was fill my coffee cup and get everything in the car.
I was bank side just as the chimneypot red sun was coming up over the vale ofYork. At this time it offered nothing in the way of light or heat but a magical sight all the same.
The fishing rights for this stretch of the River Swale are now owned by Bradford City AC. I had heard that it used to be run by the Barbel Society and word was/is that there are good Barbel and Chub to be had.
Considering the expected heat, an early start was essential and it was actually quite cool when I got to the river bank. I did the typical thing and picked a swim very close to where I parked rather than trudging too far down stream. This is something that I am not usually guilty of but to be fair it looked a good swim with overhanging trees on the far bank, good access, a reed bed on the near bank and a beach type area next to my peg. The latter was essential considering I had just realised I had left my landing net at home. It would give me a place to unhook in the water any large fish I caught.
[spoiler alert; I didn't need it.]
I started out by putting a bed of hemp out along a stretch at the edge of the overhanging trees on the far bank. I then did some practice casts with a small bomb and line clipped the distance so I could ensure I repeatedly hit my mark. Finally I started setting up my gear. For end tackle I opted for an open end feeder to be filled with a mix of groundbait, hemp and pellets, a long hook length of camo braid to a hair rigged piece of luncheon meat flavoured with Oxo cube.
There were masses of fry close in to my bank and evidence of dace or roach mid-stream. The river was very slow at this point and I could not help thinking that the bigger fish may be in the shallow, faster water down stream. I started getting taps and knocks though so stuck it out and decided to be patient.
Long story short, despite changing hook baits several times, dropping the feeder for a light bomb and shortening and lengthening hook lengths I blanked for my target fish of Chub and Barbel. My first 3lb Chub and first Barbel remain illusive.
I did spot a very large pike cruising the edge of the weed bed at one point and so wound in and broke out my lure rod. I didn't have any lures with me which realistically were big enough to tempt this fish (easily a double) but I did hook a very nice perch on a traditional spoon lure fished sink-and-draw. However it threw the hook as I brought it over the top of a floating weed bed near the bank.
I called it a day by noon and packed up. I then took an exploratory walk down stream to where there is an island and the water runs a lot faster and shallower. Sure enough from the high bank, peering through the mass of nettles and overhanging trees I spotted 3 or 4 specimen chub. All easily over 3lb. I consoled myself with the fact that, their location would be almost impossible to fish, with steep nettle filled banks and overhanging trees on both sides right down to the waters edge. If the heat keeps up I will be trying the faster water on my next visit though. Waders may be an option.
On Sunday I decided to give the rivers a miss and go to one of the lakes run by Bradford City AC. This lake has a massive head of good bream and plenty of mid sized Carp together with some roach and perch. This is a mature man made lake stacked full of features; islands, lilly beds, over hangs and fallen trees. The club has brought in the help of the EA to assess the water and it appears the Bream are not breeding and the roach are somewhat stunted (they need to stop smoking). This seems incredible and a bit of a mystery. On the face of it the water is an excellent habitat and seems to produce plenty of fly life which would support a fish population even without fishermans bait going in. It is true though that it is very rare to catch big roach or skimmers and for some reason the tench stocked in this lake disappeared as soon as they were released. What is good to see though is the club taking action and trying to rectify the problem long term and identify the issues rather than simply dumping more fish in.
I started with my favourite way of fishing. The humble waggler is for me quintessential way to fish. I will take an insert waggler fished next to some lilly pads over the hi-tech bolt rigs, Nascar predator lures or golf clubesque fly fishing every day of the week (and twice on Sundays). t is probably the technique that every boy learns (or should learn) when he gets handed his first rod and reel. The tip of the float sliding under the surface gets me in my guts the same way today as it did when I was 10. I appreciate it is not the most effective way to fish but it has a simplicity and grace that gets overlooked these days in an age of complex rigs fast result gadgets and big fish gimmicks.
On this occasion however, after failing to get a bite for two hours I decided on a switch of tactics which soon paid dividends. I know a lot of the fish do hug the three islands on the lake so I put away the match rod and in an act of almost poetical hypocrisy, broke out my 8ft light quiver tip rod and method feeder.
I set up the feeder with 2mm Red Krill pellets and a small pink fluro krill boilly on a hair rig and started casting out in to the shadows of the overhanging trees on the far bank. Within 10 minutes I had my first 3lb Bream on the bank and what followed was a further bream between 2 and 5lb every 10 to 15 minutes for the next two hours. Now I am not a fan of bream, they fight like Mahatma Ghandi on Valium and cover everything you own in slime but after my last 3 sessions resulting in blanks, I was not about to complain.
It was good to catch for no other reason than to get the confidence back up. It was also an illustration on how making a change can turn a blank day in to a boom day. When and how to make such a change is key in my book. It's down to a cocktail of experience and instinct. I assume successful match fisherman are adept at it. I generally second guess myself too much and over think rather than going with my gut. However on Sunday I did follow my instinct, made the decision to change and it really paid off.
I had all my kit ready so all I needed to do was fill my coffee cup and get everything in the car.
I was bank side just as the chimneypot red sun was coming up over the vale ofYork. At this time it offered nothing in the way of light or heat but a magical sight all the same.
The fishing rights for this stretch of the River Swale are now owned by Bradford City AC. I had heard that it used to be run by the Barbel Society and word was/is that there are good Barbel and Chub to be had.
Considering the expected heat, an early start was essential and it was actually quite cool when I got to the river bank. I did the typical thing and picked a swim very close to where I parked rather than trudging too far down stream. This is something that I am not usually guilty of but to be fair it looked a good swim with overhanging trees on the far bank, good access, a reed bed on the near bank and a beach type area next to my peg. The latter was essential considering I had just realised I had left my landing net at home. It would give me a place to unhook in the water any large fish I caught.
[spoiler alert; I didn't need it.]
I started out by putting a bed of hemp out along a stretch at the edge of the overhanging trees on the far bank. I then did some practice casts with a small bomb and line clipped the distance so I could ensure I repeatedly hit my mark. Finally I started setting up my gear. For end tackle I opted for an open end feeder to be filled with a mix of groundbait, hemp and pellets, a long hook length of camo braid to a hair rigged piece of luncheon meat flavoured with Oxo cube.
There were masses of fry close in to my bank and evidence of dace or roach mid-stream. The river was very slow at this point and I could not help thinking that the bigger fish may be in the shallow, faster water down stream. I started getting taps and knocks though so stuck it out and decided to be patient.
Long story short, despite changing hook baits several times, dropping the feeder for a light bomb and shortening and lengthening hook lengths I blanked for my target fish of Chub and Barbel. My first 3lb Chub and first Barbel remain illusive.
I did spot a very large pike cruising the edge of the weed bed at one point and so wound in and broke out my lure rod. I didn't have any lures with me which realistically were big enough to tempt this fish (easily a double) but I did hook a very nice perch on a traditional spoon lure fished sink-and-draw. However it threw the hook as I brought it over the top of a floating weed bed near the bank.
I called it a day by noon and packed up. I then took an exploratory walk down stream to where there is an island and the water runs a lot faster and shallower. Sure enough from the high bank, peering through the mass of nettles and overhanging trees I spotted 3 or 4 specimen chub. All easily over 3lb. I consoled myself with the fact that, their location would be almost impossible to fish, with steep nettle filled banks and overhanging trees on both sides right down to the waters edge. If the heat keeps up I will be trying the faster water on my next visit though. Waders may be an option.
On Sunday I decided to give the rivers a miss and go to one of the lakes run by Bradford City AC. This lake has a massive head of good bream and plenty of mid sized Carp together with some roach and perch. This is a mature man made lake stacked full of features; islands, lilly beds, over hangs and fallen trees. The club has brought in the help of the EA to assess the water and it appears the Bream are not breeding and the roach are somewhat stunted (they need to stop smoking). This seems incredible and a bit of a mystery. On the face of it the water is an excellent habitat and seems to produce plenty of fly life which would support a fish population even without fishermans bait going in. It is true though that it is very rare to catch big roach or skimmers and for some reason the tench stocked in this lake disappeared as soon as they were released. What is good to see though is the club taking action and trying to rectify the problem long term and identify the issues rather than simply dumping more fish in.
I started with my favourite way of fishing. The humble waggler is for me quintessential way to fish. I will take an insert waggler fished next to some lilly pads over the hi-tech bolt rigs, Nascar predator lures or golf clubesque fly fishing every day of the week (and twice on Sundays). t is probably the technique that every boy learns (or should learn) when he gets handed his first rod and reel. The tip of the float sliding under the surface gets me in my guts the same way today as it did when I was 10. I appreciate it is not the most effective way to fish but it has a simplicity and grace that gets overlooked these days in an age of complex rigs fast result gadgets and big fish gimmicks.
On this occasion however, after failing to get a bite for two hours I decided on a switch of tactics which soon paid dividends. I know a lot of the fish do hug the three islands on the lake so I put away the match rod and in an act of almost poetical hypocrisy, broke out my 8ft light quiver tip rod and method feeder.
I set up the feeder with 2mm Red Krill pellets and a small pink fluro krill boilly on a hair rig and started casting out in to the shadows of the overhanging trees on the far bank. Within 10 minutes I had my first 3lb Bream on the bank and what followed was a further bream between 2 and 5lb every 10 to 15 minutes for the next two hours. Now I am not a fan of bream, they fight like Mahatma Ghandi on Valium and cover everything you own in slime but after my last 3 sessions resulting in blanks, I was not about to complain.
It was good to catch for no other reason than to get the confidence back up. It was also an illustration on how making a change can turn a blank day in to a boom day. When and how to make such a change is key in my book. It's down to a cocktail of experience and instinct. I assume successful match fisherman are adept at it. I generally second guess myself too much and over think rather than going with my gut. However on Sunday I did follow my instinct, made the decision to change and it really paid off.
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