In for the win with 2 new swims

After last week's excitement at the 2 nice chub we caught, we decided to try again this week come hell or high water. High water it was. It has been raining all week and we chanced a trip down this morning and thankfully the river was just about perfect, nice bit of colour and about a foot of extra water. Most of the swims now had features and fishable areas, that last week would have been useless to even try.

I had purchased some new floats and some bigger hooks as I had been struggling to see my stick floats at distance and we wanted to catch some more chub if we could. I met Damon at Millingtons fishing tackle at 9am and we just got half a pint of maggots and set off. I had all intention of trying some bread flake but I forgot to take the bread!

We parked up and there was no other cars which is a good sign as it means the dog walkers were not out yet. Having forgot the bread, I decided to go for a size 10 drennan specimen hook and fish a bunch of maggots instead straight through on 6lb line. We dropped in on the swim we caught the chub from last week and found the water level a tad higher than last time. This meant we could fish from the bank and did not have to wade to a good spot to get enough flow to trot the float. Couple of trots down, feeding a few maggots, got the depth sorted then onto the fishing. Hook baited and in went the rig. I must of had about 5 trots through when the float buried about a quarter of the way down the run and I was in to a very angry, good sized trout. It used the extra flow to its full advantage and shot off downstream I managed to stop it and turn it, then it shot off upstream and took a fair amount of line with it. This fish had some power and my daiwa 11ft match rod was bending nicely. I got it to within netting range, when it decides to get acrobatic and sheds the hook just before we got the net under it. Bugger!!  I was chuffed to bits though put up a hell of a fight. (rather hook and lose fish with barbless than catch with barbed that could be deep and hard to get out). I let my brother have a few trots but if there was anymore fish, they had been spooked he tried trotting it all the way, down under the over hanging tree, where the chub came from but nothing seemed to be home.

We moved swims and dropped in on an area we haven't fished before, but the dog walkers had turned up and there was three dogs splashing around in the water, no chance of catching from here. Then, I spotted a tiny path, almost completely overgrown with himalayan balsam, following the river downstream. We hacked a path through and eventually came to a good area to fish. 

A nice long straight run with two snags either side, concentrating the flow to the middle. I let Damon go here first as I had first go on the first swim, this bit was a bit deeper so a few adjustments to the float and he was away. As ever my little lad Jacob was throwing maggots in every so often for us but after a dozen or so trots he had not had a touch. It was now my turn. Just like Damon I didn't have a touch after half a dozen trots so next trot down. I held the float back for half a second, everytime another coil of line came off my reel and inched the float through the swim. It got to the bottom as close to the tree, blocking the river as I dared and it went under. I struck and was rewarded with just a solid tension in the line. Damn I'm stuck on that snag I said to Damon, might lose my new float here.
Then all of a sudden the rod shook and I felt the powerful surge of a fish on the line, this was a trout and another good one, I knew it. I gave this one no quarter seeing as I had the snag in front of me and a snag either side of the main run. My rod and reel performed perfectly and I soon had this fish under control. I was more cautious this time and didn't put too much pressure as I guided it to the net that Damon was holding. Yes yes yes got it this time. What a cracking fish.

Every fish in this river is stunning and the quality is just getting better the more we are catching. 

The fish was cleanly hooked in the top lip and just popped out without any effort. Rested in the net for a few minutes before all the pictures, then rested again before being released. 

Damon's turn again but nothing. Time for a move. We ended up at the other side of the big tree as this opens up into a nice bit of water. 

This bit of river is usually not worth fishing as the tree blocks the flow and it's usually very shallow and you can see the bottom in the entire pool, but thanks to the extra water it was looking very fishy. I let Damon go first again since I caught in the last swim I said he could have a while in this one.

He didn't need it.
He had a couple of trots down but even with the extra water it was still quite shallow and couldn't get a good run so he placed the float in a little back eddy right in front of him.

The float started to move slowly upstream very weird to watch when you've not been fishing rivers for very long and your float is going in opposite direction compared to the rest of the water. Anyhow just as it reached the treeline a bright gold flash shot out and nailed the bait. It is only around 18" deep and crystal clear and it was amazing to see the fish take the bait under the float. Safe to say this one was landed nice and quick.

Not as big as mine, but a solid fish and the better catch considering he got to see it take his bait (congrats Bro)

We moved again just round the bend and I had first drop on this run nice and straight but quite fast water. Second trot down and I was in!! For about 10 seconds before the hook pulled :-( this felt like a small fish and in hindsight I should have put a smaller hook on as I was still on the size 10 but I didn't. Big mistake, I missed another bite before Damon took over and proceeded to get snagged in the middle of the fast water. As I was the only one wearing waders it was up to me to go out and try and get everything back twice!!!! Time was ticking now and we had enough time to try one last spot. One of our favourite swims. We got there and dropped into the usual spot and got fishing but nothing seemed to be interested, until I told Damon to try the slack water directly below our feet. I dropped a few maggots in and he dropped the rig on top, within seconds the float disappeared but like me earlier it was on for 10 seconds then off,  tried again and the same thing. Proper frustrating. We still hadn't realised we was probably fishing too big a hook and it was only when we got back to the car that it dawned on me, we put a larger hook on today. I usually fish size 14-18 so I reckon we would of had a few more fish if we had scaled down, when we started missing and losing fish, but you live and learn and I will know for next time.

Thanks for reading.