Small Brook Fishing Pt.12 – Crumble Alleys and Costard Mongers

A perfect 10 the little stream we HAD been fishing, it was Sam's favourite bit of flowing water and a certain length of it we had grown to love, had put us in good stead on the bloggers challenge. Wild brown trout, big Dace, some chunky roach and in one particular swim it was known to us as the 'bullhead banker'.

Bullheads coming up aggressively to snatch the maggots on the trot down in water you could wade across.

There are not many swims like that I can tell you !!!!

A BIG spanner in the works though, after a quick reccy to the River Alne the fish seemed to be off from feeding after the recent floods and high water, so a short drive to the stream it was.

Now no signs to show there is no fishing or private fishing, even the farmer didn't seem to mind but as Sam was negotiating the fence to get swim side, a big Black Chelsea tractor draws alongside as I was getting the tackle from the car. I thought to myself, does he realise he's getting his tyres dirty.

"You cannot fish here !!!!"

To be fair what ensued was a civilised conversation but the stretch is leased from the landowner for the purposes of wild brownies. A wealthy fluffchucker has it for himself more or less. A bag of sand handed over to the farmer who must be rubbing his hands.

So yeah to cut a long story short, we had been poaching !!!

The trout may well be wild but they are not in numbers from what we know but a short(ish) drive away you can fish for trout on the River Stour all for less that £40.

It's convenient though, being a stones throw away from the big pocket payers residence. A lovely house it is too and to be fair he offered that we could fish the lake in his garden. An offer that we may well take up, but then I cannot remember last time we fish a lake, just not our thing.

Sam was gutted, it's the stretch he talks about the most. Oh well we will have to try and seek out other stream like this to fish. So we got back in the car and managed to winkle out a minnow and a tiny dace before we both agreed, we are not feeling it today.

Gutted !!!

The Tiny River Ise - Flake Faith Pt4.

The last visit to the diminutive River Ise in Kettering was a tough cookie, the chub a bread flake throw away from the lodge were there for sure, but just not interested in ones bait offering. Bread and maggot were ignored in the tap water clear water and some good chub, getting on for 5lb I'd imagine, meandered past a hunk of breadflake like it wasn't there.

If I had a river like this on my doorstep especially with the quality roach on offer I know what I'd be be doing most weekends and yet apart from a lure angler who was fishing the park pool when he should really have been, we have yet to see another angler.

The best of the weekend !!!

Now I did get one of the big chub last time to take bread off the top but that was a reccy mission without a rod just to see if I could find out where they were laying up, sods law and all that.

What didn't help that we were in a heatwave and with the river low, they were happy to feed when they wanted, not when I wanted them to.

The oxygen levels were therefore down, the fish in laboured mode. They did feed come sundown, but not when I presented them with a baited hook.

They fed in the dead of night when I'm was tucked up in bait trying to avoid mamification which to be fair is a nightly occurrence.

Barney and Sam did ok with maggot under a float and quite a few small fish were caught which kept them occupied but the specimen fish that do reside here, because I've seen them were elusive and became to be honest, a sign of frustration, so much so I made the most of the rest, rather than try and get bankside.

I was hoping that things would have improved for this trip though and this time I planned to try and explore some of the other swims that could well be available now autumn is well and truly with us.

Luckily the area is a shared public space above the bridge and the coffers of Kettering council are obviously full enough to give it a mowing from time to time.

I'd play it by ear though, with some more rain expected small rivers like this can go and up rapidly which could well put a kibosh on proceedings, but I was hoping that the high water table may well have coloured it up and transformed this waterway to one where at least I had a chance of catching something half decent.

Now this was a weekend away after all, so fishing if there was any to do, we would have try and to fit in and around what we had planned.

There are some cracking Roach to be had though, and most I would expect not used to rod and line. They are certainly not pressured, well maybe not by fisherman with hooks anyway. So two rods, one float, one quiver tip.

Bombing through, view of the lodge from the Park!!!

So straight to the point, best laid plans and all that, because it was a perfect colour when we got there Friday, we didn't managed to get fishing till late on and even then it was just for an hour or so.

The bread was being attacked by small roach but it was a quick chub Sam and myself wanted. Sadly it was Saturday morning the first proper go for roach.

It was cold as well and despite the rain coming down I decided to have an hour or two and caught some really lovely roach. It was gin clear no more and the fish were up for feeding.

Sam was tucked up nicely inside in preparation for the England vs New Zealand semi final match.

This was right outside the lodge as well, one swim was a bite a chuck just trotting a maggot down but despite fishing where I'd seen chub before it was larger roach that took I liking for the bread.

When the rain started to come down heavier to be honest if I knew what was to come, I'd have stuck it out a little more.

You see the rain came, then got heavier and heavier, and lasted ALL DAY !!!

The perfectly fishable river became un-fishable rather quickly. In-fact the local residents we'd spoke too hadn't seen it this high for years.

But spate rivers like this can fall as quickly as they rise so my fingers and toes were crossed for another dabble. Upon waking on the Sunday morning though, the river looked like it had got even higher still.

The usual 2 or 3 metre wide swims above the bridge now over the banks and barely recognisable as the little River Ise I know and love. There was no chance at all to fish it so me and Sam decided to have a little wander.  The water starting to recede but much of the path still underwater and just about passible in wellies.

At least the sun was nice and strong and the skies clear but as it may well be the last time we'd visit here as a family, it could have been so different if the weather has stayed fair. It wasn't to be though but that is fishing for you, it was all a bit poo.

I had a quick trip out in the morning and managed to find the only slack right outside the lodge, but despite dropping half a metre or maybe more overnight it was barely fishable. I managed two small roach but decided to call it a day soon in to the session and remained defeated by the conditions.

Warwickshire Avon - Townies and Togemans

So it's nearly that time when the clocks go back, the mornings lighter for a while and the nights drawing in faster than I'd like.  Those fishing opportunities need to be planned, otherwise getting ones backside bankside just won't happen.

Luckily there are a couple or three venues I can now fish in to dark and beyond which may not be everyone's cup of tea, but for me is the tonic that I need as this time of year otherwise the S.A,D. takes over and that straight path starts to become muddy and winding and ok mine in my Suzuki Jimny but you cannot say the same for ones mind.

I left later than expected for this after work session but it was on of double dipping, a stinky garlic pellet with a few freebies on one rod and the other a dead roach. This is an area I'd caught Zander from before which was very unexpected.

I was told about them sometime ago but despite fishing for predators here I'd never managed to catch one. Then out of the blue I foul-hooked one when I was after Chub, when the hook caught his fin on the way past after the bread and hook pulled out of the Chub mouth.

Now these garlic pellets are something else, Godknows what they are glugged or flavoured with, get anywhere near your clothes it stays on there for weeks and same with fingers.

I likened it do turmeric, same thing, avoid avoid avoid. You'll end up chucking your best shirt away and appear you've been smoking for 40 years.

The problem with this session was that the area I wanted to fish was still bombing through more than I thought.

The Avon had dropped throughout the week but it was a slow descent not the drop I'd expected.

I tried to fish the slack but after half an hour with the bait clearly struggling to stay stationary in a washing machine I had to move on.

Still, downstream there is an area where close in its deep and fishable when the rivers up and also there is cover where Barbel lay up and venture out time to time to look for food. The late start meant I'd literally have an hour before dusk to get the baits out and then the club rules dictated I'd have to be off.

To cut a long story short a blank, but I like to record all my sessions, not only so see how many I manage in a year but also the fact I do blank and this season it's been one of the worst. Anyway the best season for me anyway is here, onwards and upwards.