Firstly, apologies for such a long gap since the last entry. Since my last blog I have been on holiday to America, had Christmas, two colds and suffered the loss of a loved one to take up all my time. Well, I finally managed to get some time for a trip out to the the river the other week before this latest cold snap descended. Having not been for a while I decided a nice simple session was the order of the day and set Dace as the target on the stick float with maybe a bonus Roach 🐟.
 |
| A cold winters day.. |
On arrival the river was looking pretty low but with a bit of extra pace on it, colour was good and temp was around 10 deg. The clouds were overcast to so in all not to bad and ideal for my intended target. I opted to fish the side stream today as in previous years I've found that in the early part of the year the Dace seem to congregate here getting ready to spawn. It's also where the previous year I picked up some Dace to over 1lb. I would be using my small 11ft Drennan Matchpro Ultra Light rod as this works well on the tighter narrow side streams. This, accompanied by my trusty smaller Shimano Stradic reel, 3.2lb Drennan float fish line and a small Dave Harrell stick float would do the business. I used I small size 18 hook to nylon and evened out the shot pattern to suit the flow. For bait I would be using the trusted red and white maggot 🎣👍🏻.
 |
| The majestic Hampshire Avon.. |
First few trots through the swim didn't result in much, the extra flow was pushing the float away from my preferred route through the swim. After getting to grips with the flow I was then able to present a better cast and action and the result was instant. Holding the float back and slowing down the trot had an instant response. The next 10 trots produced 10 lovely Dace all around 8oz and all in tip top condition. The one red and one white maggot combination was working very well. I was also catching them at the top, middle and bottom of the swim which was really encouraging 🎣.
 |
| Couple of crackers... |
Well the Dace kept coming, with fish of all year classes gracing my net. Occasionally the odd bonus Roach would turn up to with a one or two over the 1lb mark. I was also getting in amongst some of the larger Dace too with a couple of 12oz specimens in the net now. It was at this point the clouds parted and the sun ☀️ came out which meant the fishing was soon going to become more challenging as literally with in 10 mins the bites dried up. At this point I stopped for lunch and re started half hour or so later 🍵.
 |
| Roach and Dace showing.. |
Sadly by now it was bright blue sky and in the next hour I only managed two more average Dace. At this point I decided to call it a day. I was pleased as due to the reasons I mentioned at the start of this blog, this was my first trip out in a couple of months. I pulled in the keepnet and must of had about 10lb or so of Dace with the odd bonus Roach in there for good measure. I was very pleased and it was great to be back on the bank. Plus with some milder weather forecast for the next week it's a good opportunity to get back down and try for some of the larger specimens which will soon be nice and plump ahead of spawning. I can't wait... 🎣😀.
 |
| Some lovely Dace banked.. |
No comments:
Post a Comment