Hopefully I’ll try and increase my session frequency especially as for this season I have an option of fishing in to dark if need be.
That's when hopefully the proper monsters will appear....
The kids can be full on sometimes and I’ve said before without a little solitude and a little time for myself I’d probably go off one’s rocker.
Usually I would try and fish the 16th but to be honest I’m not sure about anyone else but usually the first few months on the return to the rivers are usually quiet rod wise so I wasn’t really that bothered to be fair. Anyway, the Wife bless her cotton socks was on a Hen Do for the weekend dolled up as Su Pollard from Hi-de-Hi in yellowcoats leaving me to entertain 2 young monkeys determined to cause havoc.
Yes don't worry I didn’t forget to mention the Sunday was Father Day too....
It's been uncomfortably hot over the last week so to be honest I haven't really had the motivation to go fishing and drag me away from feet dangling in the paddling pool and the inevitable gin and tonic.
It went far better than expected too, with a 20lb river carp caught with no skill whatsoever, it was a mere underarm chuck of a boilie bait in to the margins to try and trap a patrolling carp.
Angling is lots of luck after all…
The Bleak British record is only 4oz’s so some drug dealers scales are required, these Salter Precision Digital Micro Digital Scales where about the best I could muster up.
Metric and Imperial, job’s a good’un….
Now the other species I plan to target the river and locations have already been mapped out more or less, so it is a matter of getting on with it, get those species crossed off and the points totting up.
Sam wanted to catch his first Gudgeon, so I also planned to try for them on the diminutive river Stour where I know some Ruffe could be caught too, maggots catch anything that swims after all so they will feature quite a lot in this season’s campaign.
So for this short evening session to get some initial points on the challenge board, starting off small and get bigger, I wanted to fish amongst the swims at an area I refer to as the Camel Toe. This unusual area of the Avon I fish mainly in the winter for Chub as it feature filled, but there is one swim that bleak are in residence from the season off and in numbers too, and another swim that usually has some clonking Gonks, so with a trotting set-up for the Bleak and a light link set-up for the bottom feeding Gudgeon what would be the biggest I could manage.
They might not even be there, the rivers change so much….So anyway, back on to the session.
Exactly as planned the target species were in the swims. What was nice to see was the state of the river, the amount of fish was incredible, I should have come with my keepnet. The Kingfishers were as active as ever, the river looking alive.
Fish caught, Bleak, Gudgeon, Dace, Chub, Minnows....
So as usual the fish started small and got bigger.
Biggest Bleak, 1.06oz a battle scared warrior and the biggest Gudgeon a nice gonk at 1.26oz's that came at dusk.
Now I know there are much bigger Bleak to be had on the Lower Severn, so my quest isn't over for them yet, but the Gonk is about the biggest I've had and I doubt the Stour will throw up something bigger so that will have to be the scores on the doors.
So, so nice to be back on flowing water....
That warrior had very recently been in the Jaws of a pike I would guess. I see those small slashes on soft lures all the time and quite a bit on small fish.
ReplyDeleteA fish with character love it !!!! There were certainly predators down there, saw them on the hunt, fish jumping straight out of the water. Might take a zander float setup next time.
ReplyDeleteBig perch in the swim I initially fished, autumn here we come
ReplyDelete