I have hardly wet a line over the last few weeks, which has been frustrating as the Roach had been feeding well on the river. I had however been keeping bait going in a spot in anticipation of giving it a go but with dropping temperatures & cooler rain I wondered if I was wasting my time as I half-heartedly set off on a trip to bait up.
On arrival, I decided the best plan of action was to have a few casts for 20mins or so just to see if there was anything around. The idea being that should I draw a complete blank I would curtail the baiting & focus on pastures new.
Grabbing a rod & a few bits from the car I settled down for a few casts. Within minutes, a couple of good fish rolled close to the baited area and my spirits rose. The river was pushing through and carrying allot of rubbish, which continually fouled the line. However holding the rod and touch ledgering, I was able to continually maneuver the rod tip to steer the line round the worst of the rubbish and keep the bait fishing. A firm tug and I struck into what felt like a good Roach that jagged around before coming to the net. I could see it was a good fish, which on the scales went 1.12. That was good enough for me, the fish were still here ! ... so I put out the pre bait and vowed to return later that evening for a couple of hours.
The 1.12 Roach...
The forecast had said it would remain dry until the early hours however, on arriving in the dark it started to rain. To compound matters a large barge steamed through at a ridiculous rate of knots and the wash absolutely flooded everything…almost washing my chair into the river as I jumped up the bank to save myself a soaking. I was in two minds to go straight back home but decided I may as well try. It turned out to be a good decision as the fish fed well. A couple of nice Roach came to the net followed by a good Carp that stormed off on a massive run but luck was on my side and 30min later I managed to land it on the Roach tackle.
This one stormed off downriver & took me 30mins to land on the Roach tackle...
3 more Roach and another small Carp that for a minute or so I thought might be the mother of all Roach completed a wet and uncomfortable but ultimately enjoyable few hours.
These two both went 1.6 & were like peas in a pod ..
