Summary
I have not had many trips since my week off work which also co-incided with a week of heavy rains. I have had an average of one trip per week rather than my usual three per week whilst I caught up on some jobs that I needed to do around the house. Even on these weekly trips the fishing has been hard. I have really struggled to find Barbel and big Chub. This post summaries these recent trips.
The upshot is that I think the Barbel and Chub have now moved down river so I will concentrate my efforts one the three Ellenthorpe stretches from now on. Hopefully I can locate the big fish again.
New Backpack
During my week off, one of the straps broke on the backpack that I had been using. This was probably because it was getting soaked every day. To be honest it was a cheap backpack from Amazon that I purchased with the purpose of seeing what pockets/features I needed. Fortuitously, on the last trip of my week off, I bumped into a friend on the bank who had a rather good bag/backpack. It was a Korum Transition Ruckall. I decided to get one and then hit the current problem of seeing “out of stock” everywhere that I tried. I ended up ordering from eBay and it arrived soon after. I really like it. It is more of a blocky shape than a traditional rucksack (a bit like a small suitcase). However it is well equipped with large side pockets and a very large main area. Korum sell “Transition” pouches and tackle boxes designed to fit well. I ordered a few pouches but continued with my existing tackle box as it fit well. It has some clips for attaching a Korum chair but mine is not Korum so does not fit. This was easily overcome by purchasing some webbing and a range of clips from the internet and making up my own chair clips that work rather well. It is very comfortable to carry. The main problem is the temptation to fill it with all of your feeders, leads etc but it then becomes too heavy. The best thing I like is that it is designed to lay flat next to your seat so will not slip down the bank and provides a useful working area/table next to your chair.
Trotting
I had intented to have a day trotting during my week off but the heavy rains destroyed that idea. So, I headed off to the Cricket Field stretch one evening (peg 6) in the hope of catching plenty of small fish and perhaps a few bonus Roach and maybe even a Chub or two. I did manage several small Dace and Roach but I was plagued by Pike. They were chasing the hooked fish causing me to pull them out quickly and they also attacked my keepnet twice (causing damage). No large Roach or Chub turned up and I did not get any bites on the ledger that I left out with large baits. To be honest, I did not enjoy this session as I felt like I was just a feeding station for the Pike.
Bream - attempt 2
I then had a session at Ellenthorpe far lane. This is close to where the Swale branches off from the Ure. There are reputed to be some large Bream in that area so I put in plenty of groundbait and put out two rods alternating between Sweetcorn, Worm and Caster. Not a sniff! I managed a few smaller fish (Perch and Roach) but nothing that required the landing net.
Pike again - arghhhh
I had an evening at the Cricket Field stretch (peg 5) in the hope of locating more Chub and Barbel. It was extremely quiet until about one hour before dark. I got a bite on luncheon meat and expected it to be a decent Chub. However, after a brief fight my hook length snapped. I put on another hook and cast back into the same place with another piece of luncheon meat. It had been in less than a minute when my tip shot round again. A bloody Pike had taken my meat and I had hooked into the lip and managed to get it out. It was only small, perhaps 3lb. This made me think that my first fish had been a Pike and that’s why the hook length snapped.
I did manage three Chub but they were all in the 2 to 2.5lb bracket. The last one suddenly got very heavy as a very large Pike grabbed it. I managed to net the Pike and estimate it being close to a double. I am still not keen on photographing Pike, especially ones that are caught by mistake. Maybe I will have a Piking session one day but I don’t really like them.
One last try
There had been a team match on the Ellenthorpe stretch last weekend and a few Barbel had been caught as well as a 6lb Chub and a 4lb Bream. Before I divert my attention to Ellenthorpe I fancied one last try in my favourite peg 14. I fished my usual Chub rod near the downstream bush and my Barbel rod mid-river with Halibut pellet on the hook and a PVA mash bag of free offerings. I did not get a single bite near the bush - I can’t believe as this was a “banker” just a few weeks ago.
Thankfully I got one bite on the Barbel rod and it resulted in this 7lb 4oz Barbel.
It’s been nearly three weeks since my last Barbel. I really hope that I can locate them again at Ellenthorpe. With Autumn approaching and the river being slower and deeper there, I also hope to get some good fish on the float.
The seasons turn and the river changes it’s character - I look forward to the next chapter on my local river Ure.
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