As per normal I have left it a while since updating my blog. I will start with some river trips.
At the start of the River season I began fishing the matches on the River Mersey again. On the first Sunday of the season I fished the Warrington AA match at Victoria Park. I drew peg 21 and decided to fish a pole match. There was not much colour or flow in the river, so I set up to bulk and dropper rigs and 1 rig with strung out shots for catching on the drop. As usual I don't tend to fish any further than 11 metres out. I mixed up my usual groundbait mix of 1 part Sensas Lake, 1 part Sensas Noir and 1 part dark leam. I mix the groundbait as normal and add the leam afterwards and check it holds together enough. If not, very carefully add some water, but too much will ruin it very quickly. I then separate enough of the mix to make 5-6 balls into another bowl. To this I add a pot of casters and a pot of hemp and make 5 balls to cup in. I dare not throw them in case I break the pole or more likely be inaccurate. The leam adds weight to help get the bait down in the flow and depth, but will also break the balls up quickly once on bottom.
In the past I used to have an half to an hour on the feeder whilst the pole line settled but I found last season that you could start catching pretty quickly by fishing straight away so this is what I did. Also last year I found that loose feeding over the top did not help much. If bites slowed down I would cup another smaller ball in and usually the fish came back again.
In this match I caught mainly perch and some small roach on maggot. Not many fish were caught on caster, and after 21/2 hours the peg died off and the rest of the match found bites hard to come by. Topping up did not help either. I weighed 5lb 11oz for 3rd in the match. So a nice start to the season. After the match most others had the same experience good early on then poor afterwards.
My following matches on the river were not very productive, drawing on deep water pegs which were bream or bust, I bust. They have been some good weights with bream but not everyone gets them so its not been great. So far in comparison the weights on the pole seem to be lower than previous years and the roach have been smaller. I have been catching the same amount of fish for 5lb that would have caught over 10lb in the past. However the matches I have fished have been early summer and it should pick up around Aug/Sep until Christmas.
2 pegs on Mersey which have been bream or bust. I bust.....
So far I have only managed 1 trip to the River Severn where I fished at Emstrey. The river was low and clear and despite seeing barbel rolling where I was fishing I blanked. A bit disappointing but nice to be on the river again. Hopefully will go again before the weather turns cold, but will need some rain to add colour and flow to encourage the barbel to feed more freely.
River Severn at Emstrey, feeder with groundbait and pellet cast to far bank trees.
During the annual POHAS Jolly boys trip this I managed my first trip to the River Wye near Hereford with my dad and Phil Clare.
After visiting Woodys Tackle shop in Hereford for day tickets and advice we set off to the river. Of the several spots we were advised to try one was taken so a walk further downstream so me settle on a peg below some fast shallow water which was still close in and the main flow flow was just short of mid river. I thought that by casting to the edge of the faster flowing water would see me catch some chub and barbel. It was a very hot still day so it could be difficult. Apart from seeing a monster perch close to the bank stalking minnows I had no bites. After a couple of hours the local bailiff told me to move a little upstream and fish right in the fast shallow water below a riffle. Local knowledge works and I managed 7 chub and 2 barbel fishing a groundbait feeder packed with groundbait, pellets and hemp with a hair rigged pellet for hookbait. Unfortunately my dad and Phil struggled to catch any big fish fishing a bit further downstream in steadier water. Without the bailiffs help I probably would have struggled to catch. Needless to say the guys in the tackle shop and on the bank know their stuff and are really helpful to anyone visiting the area. Will be good to have another go sometime.
Barbel and Chub from River Wye. Bottom picture view across River, bailiff told me to cast just past the fast water.
At present that's been about it for my River fishing so far. Hopefully I will get back on the Mersey again and have some trips to the Severn.
Tight lines.
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