A first for me
I have never float fished in fast shallow water so was really looking forward to today. Unfortunately it started to rain the night before and the forecast was for rain on and off all day with moderate wind and only 12 degrees. I considered taking some warmer clothes but decided that my fleece and waterproof (thin) jacket would suffice. It was raining when I awoke and all the way to the river. It was quite a challenge getting my seatbox to the river due to a small twisting path that had a steep drop off right next to it. I was hoping to fish in the same peg where I had seen someone fishing on YouTube last season but a tree had unfortunately come down and completely blocked that peg. I got as close as I could to that area but the water looked quite shallow.
Mid-river seatbox again
It took a while but I was able to setup mid-river as I had on the Ure. However this water was much faster. I got everything to hand and had my brolly ready. It was only light drizzle so didn’t need it yet. As I suspected, it was very shallow, I struggled to get 18”. I used a chubber/loafer float and 6lb line. The float moved between the green of reflected trees and the white/gray sky reflection making it hard to choose the right tip colour. I started with my trusty yellow; whilst great in the trees it was not much use against the sky. I then tried a red tip but was useless against the trees. I ended up using a black marker to cover most of the tip and used tippex to create a white dome at the top of the tip. This worked and allowed me to see the float as it moved down river.
As I was about to start fishing, another angler arrived. He fished above me (just below the island) and trotted to just before my peg.
First fish
I got my first Chub on about the 10th trot down. The bite came at the very end of the swim. I wasn’t actually sure it was a bite but firm resistance from a small Chub (about 1.5 lb) got me excited.
I then noticed that the other angler had a fish. It was a small Barbel of about 2lb.
Another Chub
It took a long time to get the next fish and it also came at the far end of my swim. It was a little bigger than the first and was a definite bite. Shortly afterward I hooked (then lost) another. It appeared that my quick-link was open and the hooklength simply came away. Surely I had remembered to close it.
The other angler ended up with three small Barbel. I went to see him (he was from Selby) and noticed that he had much more depth than me. Obviously there was a hollow as the channels from both sides of the island converged. This was worth remembering for future visits. We also discussed rolling some meat to see if that would result in a bigger Chub.
Meat rolling
This is another technique that I have never really used (never been in fast enough water). I used a link ledger of 3 or 4 AAA, cast to the far side bushes then slowly eased the tip along with the flow, occasionally lifting the rod tip or paying out more line to dislodge the meat so that it would trundle along. The bites were great - little tugs and rattles on the tip. I got another 2 similar sized Chub on the method before bites dried up.
By now it was raining consistently and my brolly was up. I was getting very cold and uncomfortable even though I had on both the fleece and waterproof jacket.
Another attempt on the float
As bites had dried up on the meat I tried again on the float. I tried my previous trot and also across to a bay in the farside trees. I did not get any more bites and was starting to strain my back.
Bomb and meat
I decided to give the bomb a try and lift my riod tip high. Even though the water was fast, it was very shallow so I could hold bottom with a 1.5oz lead. This would allow me to rest my back and put my hands under my arm pits to warm them. In future I will keep my winter coat in the car just in case. I managed a futher 2 similar sized Chub before deciding to go home, get warm and have a nap.
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