Another short session, another blank!

I had about two hours free first thing on Saturday morning - just enough time for a short session after chub on one of my most-local stretches.  Of course the river is still high and coloured but it is a little lower than recently.  Today's plan is to ledger a strong-smelling boilly in a couple of swims, the alternate bait being lobworms. 

My first swim is the one closest to where people park cars.  As such it is often fished but I have had a rather mixed record there.  Years ago, it was a good barbel swim, especially fishing upstream on the gravel beds below the willow.  But I'm not sure many barbel have been there recently.  Last season I had two five pound chub from this spot from four or five attempts and Mark, I guy I often see fishing this stretch in winter, had a 5-12 chub and a 3-03 perch.  So it can fish well.  This morning I only gave it 40 minutes or so and had no suggestions of a bite at all.

Just after I settled in the second swim, where I planned to spend the remaining 90 minutes of my trip, there was a long rain shower - so hard that I actually stopped filming as I was worried about the camera.  I may have had one bite in this spot - on one occasion there was a definite small twitch and the bait was gone.  But as always, this could have been crayfish.

I spent the last 20 minutes bumping a lobworm bait along the far bank with no success. 

So no fish again.  Other than the state of the river itself, I think my current problem is that I'm not fishing for long enough.  I have been 5 times this season but have probably only fished for about 12 hours.  So this week's plan is for a longer trip of perhaps 6-7 hours, maybe Tuesday or Thursday.

But the forecast is for more rain and so the rivers will remain high and fishing will be quite hard I suspect. 

Today's video does show me fishing in the rain and so is an accurate example of what so many of us fisherman face on a regular basis.  "My fishing life" aims to reflect the true circumstances of my fishing, not just when things go well.  So for the moment, I am continuing to post videos of me not catching anything!  There is something almost Zen-like in a series of fishing videos in which no fish are caught - a direct pointing to the emptiness of reality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJf3m4jo_kI&feature=plcp&noredirect=1

Sitting in a bed of stinging nettles in the pouring rain at 6:30 on a Saturday morning not catching any fish.

At last, a decent sized fish!

I've missed four days when I could have gone fishing as a result of my bad eye, but things have been getting better since Wednesday and I thought it worthwhile to take a little chance and go first thing this morning for a couple of hours.  The venue was carefully chosen so I was not too far from my car if the eye flaired up again and I had to make a speedy getaway.  It was also north-facing so I wouldn't have to squint into the sun.  I also had eye wash and savlon with me should I get a slight twinge in the eye.  No more wiping with rough tissues or cotton wool pads.

So I managed to make it down at the river at 4:30 this morning.  There had been more rain during the day yesterday and overnight and some of the ditches were already pouring water into the river.  After a couple of days of what have probably been quite good conditions, and which I'd missed, it might have been that today would be another tough day with a rising river.

Today's plan was to fish just one swim, a long glide that has produced plenty of big chub in the past.  I would be float fishing sweetcorn, with hemp seed as an additional attractor.  Four or five catapults full of each went into the swim when I arrived with regular top ups every couple of casts - classic trotting tactics of course.

It took about 30 minutes to produce the first fish and what a fish.  After what has been a very poor start to my river-fishing season, my first decent sized fish is a chub of 5-05 1/2.  A really lovely conditioned fish given that it is only June and a possible high five, low six later this year I would think.

I would have expected maybe one or two more fish over the next couple of hours, but though I may have had at least one more bite, I didn't in fact manage any more.  There were two or three brief showers and then a longer period of rain and by about 8:00 I was ready to call it a day. 

And just as importantly, my eye seemed fine.  So maybe I can try a couple of more days this week (weather permitting).

Back home and a rather exciting look at the video I shot, which does contain decent footage of the chub being caught.  So after a few trips where I haven't managed much, my 2012/13 season is well and truly off and running I would say. 

The video of the trip is at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgllwkTuHaM&feature=plcp

Better than my usual fishing photo!  A still from the video

Acute hayfever strikes!

A bitterly disappointing day.

The plan had been to start early, bait up four swims before initially fishing two swims I'd baited yesterday but which I hadn't added any new bait today, while hopefully some fish found the bait in at least one of the four swims.

I started later than intended due to an unplanned trip to London yesterday evening.  I walked the mile or so necessary to bait the four swims and then settled in swim number one.  Gradually my left eye seemed to be getting more and more irritated.  I had some eye drops with me but they seemed to make little difference.  Over the next couple of hours the discomfort got worse and worse and it became apparent that my eye was swelling up.  The odd thing was that my right eye was wholly unaffected.  Had I got a seed or something in my left eye?  Or maybe some pollen had landed in it?  No idea really, but it was getting very unpleasant.

I had fished the first two swims with only the odd tap on the rod tip.  I then walked to the far end of the fishery to fish the first of the baited swims and had only been there about 10 minutes when I reached the conclusion that the eye was now too bad and needed to get some treatment.  By then, a boat had passed through the one baited swim I did fish in briefly.

And the other three baited swims weren't fished at all. 

Back home and a long bathe of my eye seems to get some sort of gunk out, but this could have been just the goo my eye was now producing in huge amounts.  The rest of the day was a constant series of eye-baths and periods when I just had to stay in a dark room and keep my eye closed.  It doesn't hurt anymore but it has more or less sealed shut - like a black eye really.  Yet my right eye remains fine! 

A shame as the river is getting back into good condition and I was quite confident for today.  It was a lovely morning with mist rising as I walked along the back around 5:30.  I also spotted a heron in the far distance which I was able to get some film of.

I suspect that this means that fishing will be out of the question for at least the next few days.  I have only had this type of extreme hayfever reaction once before and that was more than 10 years ago.  It will probably take a day or two at least for the swelling to go down and I should avoid going back into pollen-infested areas for a few days more.  Maybe I could try again on Sunday?

I do wonder what I have been taking daily hayfever tablets for over the past month or so.  I was supposed to have built up tolerance for pollen by now!

I have posted a slightly-shorter-than-normal video because I quite liked the misty scenes at the start, the cows and the heron.  But the video also shows me playing around with my eye far too much and the wrap up scene has the swelling quite apparent.  Not good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccenNA6AWY4&feature=plcp

Such is "my fishing life" at the moment - no fish and an extremely sore eye!

Float fishing for chub

If it wasn't the start of the river fishing season, I suspect I wouldn't be going fishing at the moment, but I am so excited to be back out on the rivers that I went again this morning for a few hours before work.  When I woke up at 4:00 it was raining heavily again, but by 6:00 the rain seemed to have blown over and it was actually looking quite sunny.  So I figured that a couple of hours float fishing on the Thames might be ok.

The river remains high and coloured but was definitely a little lower than yesterday - maybe an inch lower?  I planned to fish two swims not too far from where I park the car, so it wouldn't matter much if I struggled again.  So I was set up by about 6:30, as three swans made their way through my first swim and then had a chew at the tree at the top end.

At the end of last season I had taken some rather nice chub on float fished sweetcorn from this swim - the best being well over 5lbs.  My approach was to feed the inside line of the main flow crease on the assumption that some fish would be willing to feed on this line.  But an hour later, all I had to show for my efforts was a small roach of maybe 3oz. 

So down to swim number 2, which entails a short wade out through to the edge of the reeds, giving a nice trott down the main flow.  This spot was where I had filmed quite a few chub taking floating crust (what became the video "My Fishing Life 3").  So I was reasonably confident as I made my way slowly across the margins.  The extra water meant that getting to the river meant wading to thigh high, which was a bit awkward.  It was also actually quite cold.  But I stuck it out for 30 minutes without any bites at all.

Back to swim one, and a final 30 minutes during which I managed one tiny chub. 

I have been pondering on whether my fishing video series should include trips where I don't catch anything of particular interest.  Do I want the videos to accurately reflect my season - blanks and all - or do I want them to show my successes (which makes the videos more interesting of course).  At the moment, my plan is to produce videos where the footage looks ok, regardless of whether fish were caught or not.  Maybe two blanks in a row might be merged together into one film, or one of them just ignored.  Don't know yet. 

Anyway, I did knock out a short film of this trip, if only because I quite liked the footage of me wading in the river.  It can be found at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvxHHNoZnSQ&feature=plcp

Thigh deep in the margins

Different venue, same result

I switched venues for my morning trip on June 17th to a local stretch of the River Thames.  Though still high and very chocolate-coloured, this stretch does have some slacker swims where there might be some fish.

I started at the old ford.  Usually the river drops a foot it goes over the ford, but today you can't even tell there is a drop there - the river's surface is just flat.  On the nearside of the river, there is a large bay with a tree in the water.  In the past, this has been a good perch swim and this morning I fishing a large lobworm just in front of the tree.  One or two sharp taps on the rod tip (which could have been crayfish), but no firm bites.

Off downstream to another tree swim.  Usually this is about 2 foot deep, but in current conditions, it is now about 4 foot deep.  However the main significance of the extra water is that this swim now has a very stready flow.  Once again, I dropped a lobworm into the main flow and let it swing round under the tree.  But no bites at all here.

The next swim was one which has produced the odd barbel in the past and which I have been baiting with boilies for the last few days.  I had another series of very fast taps on the tip, and one mangled boilie, but no firm pulls.  Again, it is easy to conclude that these indications might have been from crayfish. 

Two more swims close by were also fished with boilies, but no touches at all.  I am beginning to assume that maybe the chub still aren't keen on feeding, but I would expect the barbel to be keen.  However, location remains a huge problem for them.  Even if they are feeding, they could be hundreds of yards away.

I finally made my way down to another favourite barbel swim.  Fished it for 40 minutes with no touches whatsoever. 

So trip 2 of the new season was also a blank.  Still, conditions are quite poor.  If it wasn't the start of the new season, I probably wouldn't be fishing.  But at least the wildlife was out in abundance.  I reckon I saw at least 4 kingfishers (or the same one four times) flying along the river with small fish in their mouths.

My tentative plan for my next fishing trip is to float fish sweetcorn in one of the steady glides.  But really I am waiting for the river to start fining down - then I really expect things to improve hugely.

Opening day - early morning on the Windrush

June 16th has been a magical day since I took up fishing aged 10 or so - even more magical than the previous day, June 15th, which is my birthday.  For the next few years after I was 10, I would have new fishing tackle for my birthday and could try it out the next day.  There was the year I got my first "Avon" rod from Billy Lane's tackle shop in Coventry.  Or the year I got a Mitchell 300 reel (which I still have - not sure about the rod though).  This tradition of fishing-related presents has even continued this year - one of my presents was Matt Hayes' book Fisheye: A Guide to Angling Photography.

So the alarm goes off at 3:30 this morning and I can hear the sound of rain.  Not huge amounts, but some.  I am up and out of the house by 4:00, for a shortish session on the Windrush.  My goal is to catch a barbel, which is really quite a foolish plan.  For one thing, the Windrush barbel stocks have been decimated over the last dozen years or so - indeed, I haven't caught one since 1996.  But, on the other hand, there was also the issue of river height.  The constant rain in June has pushed the rivers up.  The Windrush is a thick chocolate colour at the moment.  This suggested that chub, my main quarry, might be very hard as well. 

Over the last few days, I have baited four swims that regularly produced barbel in the distant past and by 4:30 I was settled in the first.  Conditions were worse than I had thought.  The flow was very fast and there was quite a lot of debris coming down.  I was constantly getting taps on the rod time and the occasional stronger looking pull which would turn out to be a clump of weed.  I moved swims every 20 minutes or so without any sign of a real bite. 

However, in the second swim I fished I did see an otter for about 4 seconds and this had appeared in the background on the video I shot.  Otters are one of the main reasons for the demise of the Windrush as a fishery and so I have rather mixed feelings about seeing one.  This is actually the second I have seen this year.  Most people will never see a wild otter, so there is some pleasure in seeing this one.

I also scared a heron that was only a few yards from me when we came across each other.  They are surprisingly big birds when you meet one close up!  I am still very keen to get some good, close-up video footage of herons.

One effect of the trip was to produce my worst hayfever attack of the year so far, with my right eye in particular being really badly affected.  I have bought some stronger eye drops - it would help if I wasn't tempted to keep rubbing it!

So because it was the glorious 16th, and because I have a small clip of an otter, I have made a video from today's trip.  Going forward, I am not sure there is too much point posting film of blanks, but maybe if something interesting does happen . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdEcbLOd8qk&feature=plcp

Only two more days to go!

Up at 5:00 for a walk along a nearby stretch of the Windrush.  Over the last couple of days, the water levels have peaked and have now dropped an inch or two - still a murky brown colour though.  Ideal for roach and (possibly) chub, maybe passed the peak for barbel.  Nonetheless, barbel are my target for Saturday.  I have been baiting some "old favourite" swims on the Windrush, but the vibe remains very poor for the prospects of catching barbel on this river - even the lady in the tackle shop yesterday had nothing good to say about such prospects.  It's not like it was in the 90s it seems.

A large flock of what I think are greylag geese are in residence on the Thames at Newbridge and I've taken some video footage to use as filler when making fishing videos in the next few weeks.

Mid-morning I went for a second walk, this time along the Thames.  Still up a foot or two, but some swims look really good, especially a couple of new swims where trees have fallen into the water over the last few months.  One or two swims just scream "perch" so I may have a go for them if the colour remains till Sunday or Monday

One of my better wildlife photos - heron near the Thames at Chimney

RAIN, Rain, rain . . . and more rain

We have been away in Italy for the past week - many days on sunshine and temperatures into the 30s.  Apparently back in the UK, it has rained more or less constantly for the past week, slightly spoiling the Queen's Jubilee it would seem.

While this is good for the drought (which should really be over for the summer at least), it has started to cause me some anxiety about my opening day plans for river fishing.  When thinking about all this over the last month or so, I hadn't really factored in the idea that the rivers would be in flood. 

I had intended to visit the river a few times this week to do some prebaiting.  Though I have made a gallon or two of hemp today, I'm not sure I should be throwing it in the river quite yet