Now for something different
I generally fish through the daytime on a Friday but these daytimes have not been very productive. So, today I decided to switch to a Friday evening. I also decided To try a different stretch of the river from my usual Cricket Field stretch. The idea being to see if the Chub and Barbel have started to disperse downstream.
I therefore fished a stretch called the “Corn Dryers” which is about 1 mile downstream and on the opposite bank from the Cricket Field stretch.
My plan for the session
The Corn Dryer stretch sits on the inside of a wide bend and, consequently, has much slower flow and is quite shallow. This is in stark contrast to most of this stretch which is very deep and much slower than the Cricket Field stretch. The shallow area is used by the cows of the nearby farm in what is known as a “Cattle Drink”. I had been informed that small Gudgeon live on the shallow silty bottom and that Perch hunt the Gudgeon.
So, my plan was to fish about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way across with lobworm to see if the Perch were around. I would bait up the bushes on the far bank with my usual mix of Hemp, micro-Halibut pellet and micro-luncheon meat cubes and fish a larger piece of lunchoen meat to see if there are any Chub or Barbel around. This should allow me to catch a few smaller fish in the shallows and hopefully spring into action with a bigger fish from the far bank - fingers crossed.
Instant action
I started with a couple of bait-droppers of chopped worm. I then fished a lobworm over that. It was less than five minutes before the tip showed signs of interest. Shortly after, I was into my first Perch. For the next 90 minutes I got a bite pretty much every cast. The swim was quite snaggy and I found that the lobworm would bury itself into the snags which were mainly made of of twigs and branches that probably settled in the slower water when being washed downstream. If I did not get a bite then I almost always found that I was caught on a snag. Thankfully I only lost one hook as I managed to drag out several twigs and branches. Here are the results of my first 90 minutes: -
As you can see, one of them was a nice sized Perch. You may wonder what happened after 90 minutes; well, it’s simple - I ran out of lobworms and had no other Perch bait with me! I vowed to order more worms as soon as I got home.
That’s all folks
Seeing as I was out of lobworms, I decided to fish luncheon meat in close as well as the meat I was using on the far bank. Dusk was fast approaching and I was hope to tempt a Chub that may have been attracted by the chopped worms. I also decided to try cheese paste and breadflake in a couple of different parts of the river. Perhaps I could sneak a Chub or maybe a decent Roach. I did get one sharp bite but it didn’t amount to anything. As far as the meat on the far bank, I didn’t get any action on that. I did get a pluck on the tip but it was just as dusk was settling in so could have been a bat catching the line.
Whilst I look forward to returning for more Perch, I will probably go back to the Cricket Field stretch next and maybe come here once a fortnight to see if the Chub and Barbel have arrived. I have also made a mental note to fish over the cattle drink when the river is in mild flood. The flow will be slower here and will hopefully hold Chub as they perfer to stay out of heavy flow
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