River Arrow - Bangers and Ballistocardiographs

So it's the 15th of March today when I type this, another closed season where canals comes back in to play and also luckily for me the river Alne where I will target the trout from time to time. It would be rude not too especially when it's so close and those after work sessions come in handy to get that fishing fix.

Zander and other species will be targeted on the canals because I fancy trying for some big Rudd and also some big Roach on the Midlands turbid waterways, and whatever comes along basically.  Some of those sessions will be dedicated Zander sessions and then I'd have a Zander rod out in my peripheral view whilst praying the lift float method will come good with a big silver fish under it.

That's where I'm hoping these Temu specials will come in to their own a nadger bigger than my favorite float the 8g Korum Snapper Float but far more visible. They are foam so the issue I have is often I have retrieving floats from bushes with a hard yank, due to my wayward casting so they might not survive the punishment but I will just have to be more careful won't I.

Hopefully they won't act like a sponge and the dye's run !! but let's see, proof is in the pudding and all that !!!

Anyway for this last session I fancied trying for a chub at a section of the river Arrow I'd been fishing. Quite a handy stretch this and I'd already caught some fish here so the plan was to try and at least get a bend in the rod before having to forget coarse fish on running water for a while.

Now Nic from Avon Angling was on the stretch too and kindly primed some swims as he arrived before me. When I rocked up post work he was downstream somewhere so I decided to start off in a swim where I'd caught fish before, but I'd missed some unmissable bites the last time here. 

What I didn't expect that after the breadflake offering settled to the bottom after feeding some mashed bread within a minute or so after a few rattles on the 1oz tip it pulled round confidently and a fish was on !!!. It felt pretty decent too because with a powerful initial run I was reaching for the drag which was slightly too tight.

The battled continued however after a while it realised the game was up and it decided to grace my landing net. A lovely plump Arrow fish and sure enough "over 4 easily" it went 4lb 12oz in the scales, happy days, a nice fish to end the season.

The rain started to come down rather heavy after that fish, so with it retained in the landing net I went about trying to catch another from the same swim. I spent another half an hour in that swim and managed another chub on luncheon meat this time from a spot around 10 yards to the right of the first fish.

A smaller fish but still in cracking condition, could I catch a 3rd ?

Well sadly not despite spending another half an hour in that swim there was no more bites so I went on the rove and met up with Nic for a natter. He'd been mugged off in a swim missing those 'unmissable' bites and was determined to see what it was. 

The rain by this point had increased in intensity so I went about trying some more swims to trying and winkle out another fish. The ground was sodden and the banks were slippy, this swim in particular that didn't produce was like a mud pit and actually pretty uncomfortable to fish. 

In the end I tried another few swims without even a nibble so headed back up the stretch to see Nic where upon arriving at his swim his tip rattled in to life and I was living his frustration. 👀 Clang, Clang, Clang, pull round and strike in to nothing. 

Fair play to Nic he stuck it out in the rain and in to dusk sadly without success, because I managed one more swim for 10 minutes before deciding the rain got the better of me and that first fish was a cracker so I drove back a happy man.

A washout of a winter to be honest having to make do scratching about rather that fishing how I'd like to fish. Not just for us in the midlands but it seems countrywide too, I managed one two pike sessions that was it, a nightmare. Fingers crossed we get better weather in 3mths time as I'd be glad to see the back of this grim weather.