Snow Day

Today was a day we had planned since our last river session. This time it was to be just me and Damon. The plan was to target Dace and Chub on our local little river.

We had scoured you tube and blogs and face book and even our own experience and found some spots that would be likely.

I was fishing the float with my Daiwa 125m closed face reel and Damon was fishing with a small Feeder setup to try and find a big chub hiding away. 

Tackle was sorted the night before and it was just bait to get in the morning as the tackle shop is only a short drive away. 

Woke up in the morning and there was some snow on the ground. Not much just a light sprinkling at first.

I spoke to Damon and he was still all good to go. 

Took the Wife to work and headed off to the tackle shop. it was still snowing and quite heavy now. 

Maybe the kids school might close?? Emily really wanted to go to school but Jacob was excited by the prospect of a snow day and a days fishing with me and uncle Damon. 

My Bait of choice was Just maggots on the hook and loose feed in the likely swims. Damon's choice was bread crumb in feeder and Bread flake on the hook with a switch to Worms if he wanted. 

The school never contacted me so off to school the kids went and away to the river me and Damon went. by now the snow had really started to come down and we both said what have we got ourselves into today. 

We got to where we wanted to start and set the rods up. it was only a really short walk to the river from here but it was a little hard going not being able to see all the hidden tree roots and tangles on the ground due to the snow

The First spot of the day was a nice little run that came in at a good pace and then slowed down for a good distance perfect for trotting the float down. We have never fished this spot before but from our investigations this spot held Dace.

Damon Loose fed some maggots whilst i got the rod sorted and checked the depth. when i was happy i baited up and sent it down. Nothing 😢

Couple trots down and nothing so stopped had a smoke and a brew whilst still trickling maggots in and then Damon had a go. Still nothing i took back over and tried again this time I held the float back quite a bit stop starting it as it went down the swim, then it buried. I was in spirited little scrap and I saw a flash of silver as it came to the surface and Damon reached down with the net. a nice chunky Dace for this river, 

Damon's turn next see if we could get any more. few more trots with him doing exactly as I had and nothing. he passed the rod to me so he could have a smoke and away I went and then I was in again. I gave the rod to Damon so he could land this one as with the conditions we didn't know if we would get any more fish. When I netted it it was a Brown trout. Sadly out of season at the moment but in fighting fit condition. 

Took a Quick pic and straight back into the water. Now it was time to move don't want to be catching trout all the time. (but good to know where this one lives come trout season) 

We moved down stream a bit to see if we could find a nice spot for Damon to throw out his feeder, this area it all looked far too good for trout so we up sticks back to the car, and drove for less than 2 min to the next spot further down river. Decent parking and a big amount of river to choose from with a lot better access than climbing through trees, Although come summer this area is like a jungle and most of the river is pretty inaccessible.

We found a nice spot and Damon set up his feeder rod and I broke out the coffee.

Sit back and enjoy the morning for a bit whilst Damon watched his rod. 

I had a little walk and trotted a few swims but nothing happening. 

Damon Tried a few more swims and nothing. we had found a lovely little spot and he got his first bite of the day using worm. the rod tip bent round and he struck but he didn't connect felt the fish on for a second and then gone. 

A little further downstream was the spot a few years ago We both caught some nice Chub so we decided to head there. it looked amazing and was an area that come summer is not possible to access without a machete and a guide. 

I dropped in to a nice spot upstream and Damon went a little further down and found a spot there. 

Few trots down and I was in this area has a bit of depth to it compared to the rest of the river and the fish was holding deep in the current. could it be? 

Nope it was another trout. 

Damon hadn't had a touch I tried again a little further down the run and another trout. Time to move again. 

We found a nice deep area and Damon fancied the slack water where a tree was nearly falling into the river I went round the bend and found a nice smooth run. trickled some maggots in and cast out towards the far bank where the water was running nice and slow. I held the float back and just inched it through and I was in again and another trout. I was getting a little mad at this point at any other time of year this would be great fishing but I didn't want to be catching these out of season fish. I packed up the float and decided to just let Damon fish he still not had anything on his rod yet. 

We moved down a bit further and found another nice chubby area. Damon picked his spot and managed to get it exactly where he wanted first cast. within a minute the rod tip was showing signs of fish and then went he struck and missed it. he quickly got the bait back in the same spot. Again the rod tip was gently tapping then bent over he struck and was in, his line had wrapped round the bank stick and he was in a tangle. he managed to get it sorted and the fish was still on he brought it in and was another trout. He was happy he had caught a fish at last on his rod yet disheartened that it was another trout and not a chub. 

Time to move to one last swim if we got nothing from here we was calling it a day. 

Setup and cast in. and left it a while nothing happened and then the rod tip started to twitch and bent, Damon struck and did not connect with the fish.

A few more tries and nothing happening so we called it. it was 3pm by now and we had been our since 9am so time to head back to the car.

overall a great days fishing even though we didn't catch what we wanted. 

Damon has been scoping a a spot on a local pond that is supposed to be empty from a pollution incident a few years ago but he has seen fish so hopefully when the weathers better and still waters are not frozen solid we will see what is in there.