Sunday 14 August 2011

Finally the rivers get a drink.........

    This week a very strange thing happened in that I spotted a problem and the very next day the answer was right there in my email inbox.  My journey home from work crosses the path of a small pond that I stop off at from time to time to see how the fishing is going and in the warmer weather try and catch a glimpse of any larger inhabitants that may call it home.

  This week with it being the summer holiday's the pond was full of young kids all trying to catch fish but each equipped with one of those fishing kits you see in hobby shops for under five quid with line you could pull a small car with, their chances of catching a fish where minimal and I doubt had they caught a fish they would have had a disgorger to get the hook out.  It got me thinking how I got into fishing and how lucky I was to have a father that liked fishing and showed me the ropes and how to fish properly but more of that memory lane stuff on a future blog update.

  The next day in work I received an email from a representative at lymm anglers junior section showing me his blog and I have got to say after spending some time reading the blog I am really impressed with it.  The site address is www.lymmjuniors.blogspot.com and they are currently running a course aimed at getting youngsters to a stage where they know the basics to go out fishing themselves, with the afternoon sessions full it sounds like they are doing a great job already but the site does say there are spaces available on the morning sessions so get yourselves booked on!!!.  A link to the blog will be available in the top right hand side of my blog also and congratulations to all connected with this initiative.

On to this weeks fishing......

Saturday 13th August


  As per normal it was still dark as me and my dad made our way down the M56 motorway, our destination the majestic River Dee.  We arrived on the banks just as the morning was breaking in the distance and after a turbulent week in work it was nice to take the shackles off and relax!!!.

Nice to be out:


  
  The River was carrying a bit of extra water from the rain in the week but with the dry banks acting like a sponge the extra water that had found its way into the river was well on its way to being flushed out of the system.

The swim we had chosen to fish was a slow moving deep part of the river with depths up to 14ft and lined with Lilly's along its margin, the place to me screamed perch and pike but thankfully, at least for this week, the toothy critters remained in their gloomy lairs.

The River Dee's back garden:

  Believe it or not just beyond the Lilly's its over 6ft deep dropping steeply down to around 14ft of water, not a place you want to fall in!!  Trotting here can be hard due to the lack of flow and the most productive method is on the feeder.  With me wanting to get more practice at trotting deep swims I opted for the harder option of trotting and really struggled to be honest with a big snag (tree branch) half way down the trot that accounted for a few hook lengths throughout the morning and also saw me loose a decent fish into its twiggy maze.

  With me on the float rod my dads chosen weapon of attack was his trust puddle chucker carp feeder, utilising its power to deliver a 50g maggot feeder just of the Lilly's.  The bites where few and far between with the odd dace coming from time to time but like me on the float the bites where very sporadic.

  I decided to fish the slack water caused by the Lilly's on the top three sections of my pole and after catching two small perch I hit something that had my elastic working overtime to get it off the bottom,  my money at this time was on a big perch but what rose from the depths made me forget the hard morning I had endured as a new species for me was landed.

A r"eel" surprise:


  Needless to say my dad who has caught a lot of eels in his time used all his experience in unhooking them to good effect by sitting back in his chair and waiting for the fun to begin and he got his money's worth with me ending up covered in eel slime!!!

  That was as good as the fishing got for me but the best was yet to come for my dad as no sooner had we put the eel into the keep net and he cast back in his tip tentatively pushed round and my dad struck into a fish that was all out for getting into the Lilly stems, a quick application of side pressure got the fish on the move again and into open water and onto the surface where the fish was revealed as a nice perch and my hunch on this venue was proved to be correct, a few more jagged darts for freedom averted and it was time for my dad to put his make up on for his photo shoot. 

All Smiles:


  The rest of the morning passed in a flash with the only action of note being my dad catching another bootlace of an eel and with my dad being on a night shift the previous evening we decided to dry the net out early around 1pm.

Not much to write home about on a poor day on the Dee:


 


The net drying nicely at the top of the bank I took my time packing away my gear while my dad with only a feeder rod to take down made one final cast,  in went a feeder full of red maggots with a double maggot on the hook..............WHACK!! the tip shot round and my dad grabbed his rod and struck into a fish that looked to be a a decent fish displaying the main attribute of keeping deep.  My money again was on a perch but all my predicting fish luck had been well and truly used up as my dad landed a big roach bream hybrid.


Say cheese!!:

  This fished marked the end of our fishing on Saturday and yet again two surprise fish save our blushes. The river Dee really does hold some really superb fish and I cant believe how little angling pressure it attracts throughout the summer months.

Sunday 14th August:

  Today Saw both me and my uncle travel back to the River Dee to try an new stretch of river on the Warrington Anglers Card.  First things first and I have to say who ever posted on the official website that this road was fixed needs a good trip to the opticians, the road is a disgrace!! A good mile long and had I been travelling to this river for the first time in winter I could well be looking at a new car exhaust, luckily the road was dry and I could navigate my way around the "holes" in the road.  It does make me wonder had there been a lake full of carp at the end of this road would it still be in such a state??.  Rant over and back onto the fishing.

  What awaits the dedicated angler at the end of the road is a truly majestic piece of river, truly breath taking to look at. From the car park you cross the sty and you get your first glance at the river and she was looking on top form.



 A quick glance to our right showed us we were not alone on in this field and judging by the big bull in the herd we would have to be on best behaviour to be allowed to wet a line in his drinking water.


  
  It did not take long for us both to find a swim each to trot for the morning and with the river carrying just a tinge of colour the conditions where perfect for a day on the the float rod trotting maggots down a steady glide.

All set ready to go:

  There was a special moment today that summed up why I go fishing, stood there trotting a swim catching dace as a family of swans made there way upstream while a pair of buzzards circled the sky up above our  heads not another angler in sight apart from my uncle and just when I thought the scene could not get any better seconds after I stopped recording the swans a pair of swallows cut through the air scooping up a drink as they skimmed along the surface of the water, escapism at it most pure!!

Some times you just want to tell them its easier to get out and walk :-)

  The fishing was first class with me and my uncle both taking a mixed bag of dace, roach, grayling and trout.  My uncle took the lions share and its a joy to watch how easy he makes trotting look and yet again have him to thank for how my trotting has come on recently.

My net of fish:

My uncles net:

The highlight of the the session for my uncle was a nice grayling of around a pound and a half.


Till next week 

tight lines 

Danny

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