Well after a horrendous start to the week, I managed to get out fishing. On Monday morning I discovered that my garage had been broken into and the vast majority of my fishing tackle had been stolen. I was totally gutted. It takes years to build up a collection like that and in just a few minutes some selfish waster has had the lot. Luckily they missed a few bits and I had a couple of items locked in the car. I also found some old rods and reels in a storage cupboard, so all was not lost. I could still get out fishing.
So on Wednesday we headed to the Ivel. The conditions looked pretty good. The river was up slightly on our previous visit and there was just a slight tinge of colour. I opted to float fish for most of the day and then swapped to the quiver later on. I went for a slightly higher mainline than normal, in case of barbel. So setting up with 4lb mainline and a 3lb hooklink, I opted to fish 2 maggots on a size 16 barbless. I also used a 6 BB float. This helped pull line off of the reel and through the rod rings better. I wouldn’t normally have a problem of this sort, if using the Drennan, but alas that had been taken.
I tried numerous swims but the fish were not really responding well to these tactics. Eventually, having waded out to fish a nice run off of a bend, I found a shoal of small roach. Having kept the feed going in, the roach started feeding quite readily. I ended up with 16 or 17 in a very short period of time. I then swapped to the feeder in an effort to find some decent chub.
I moved into a good glide, of reasonable depth. I set up a quiver rod with 6lb mainline straight through to a 4 hook with a large piece of crust. This was anchored using 2 size 3xssg shots. They held perfectly in the flow. Over the remaining hour or so of the session I had a few taps on the bread but no real bites were forthcoming. However a small muntjac deer appeared on the opposite bank and settled down to feed for a while, quite oblivious to me watching on. It was a nice distraction to what had been a fairly poor session. So eventaually we called it a day at about 5pm. Geoff had just missed a really good bite but had at least caught a small chub. Kevin had taken 2 small chub on the float plus numerous roach and gudgeon.
The day was a little disappointing, considering the conditions, but enjoyable nonetheless.
I would like to thank everyone who has offered help with fishing tackle, having heard my bad news of earlier in the week. My friends and acquaintances in particular at The Association of Barbel Fishers and Barbel Fishing World, being particularly supportive. Many thanks to you all.
The River Angler 