Saturday 14 November 2020

Like watching paint dry

Date fished 14/11/2020

7am until 3pm

When Boris announced lockdown 2.0, thoughts immediately turned to "what we are allowed to do?"



I saw many FB posts about,' I will do this', 'You wont stop me doing that' and I am not going to preach to anyone. Just do what you feel safe and comfortable with, ensuring its within the law/guidelines.

I am still going fishing. I will be alone this trip as Ellis is working away. I will be travelling to my usual spots on:

the Tees,

the Swale, 

and when they are not fishable, I will be trying at Ryton.

The weather has been fairly mild of late, but with some heavy rain mid week, when I looked at the levels the rivers were rising. I crossed fingers, toes and other dangly bits that conditions would be right for the weekend, and as I sit here now on Thursday evening, I am still not sure which of the 3 options above it will be!


I decided to head to the Tees today and try for Pike. The river was in flood and dropping. I had seen another angler have success Pike fishing post flood, so I decided to copy. I planned on fishing a couple of areas, they are a 20 minute drive apart so I would use that time to reflect! 

Arriving 10 minutes before dawn (the time of day, not a new female angling partner!) I was set up and walking to the river just as it was getting light. I walked to the furthest swim I was planning to fish and would work my way back towards the car. I cast my float fished Joey Mackerel into the slacks and waited. 


After a few casts around the swim and a biteless hour, I upped sticks and headed upstream. I found a few swims I had never fished before, so I gave these a try too. 

I was soon at a familiar spot. Ellis and I Pike fished here last year. I plonked my kit down and ping! The strap on my Aldi special tackle bag broke. A few running repairs and I was back in action. 


No bites in this swim, so I headed to the car to drive to another section. Being in a club can mean sections of water close together. The club stretches are also spread out a little in some cases so it's best of both worlds. Today I fished a club stretch and an Association stretch, the latter is a collection of waters that all individual Tees clubs share for all their members. It's great to have more water and I still have not fished it all! 

A short drive and it was Pike 2.0 time. I now had Lamprey on the hook, my favourite Pike bait so I was hoping for a fish or two! 

Nothing in the first few swims so I walked on. There was an angler on my bank, so I stopped for a distanced chat. He was a dedicated Pike angler and had some good information. He was also a dedicated angler as he had come on a push bike!! It was electric though, but that's dedication! He only had to come from Darlington, I think from Hexham would be a tad far!! 

He told me that an angler, I had just walked past on the opposite bank had caught a 19lb 6oz Pike a few minutes before! He also told me that he had a take but his bait had no teeth marks, I told him that could be Chub. Now with my Lamprey I was hoping for Pike or a big Chub! You will know, I have had Chub on Dead baits before so is quite likely. 


I was fishing slacks only about a rod length from the bank. I found fallen trees or bushes to also target, in the hope a Pike was laying close to the structure. Nothing was happening so hunger got the better of me.


I fished on and tried swims I had found earlier in the year, that looked like they would hold Pike. They were just not "having it" today, or they were not home! As I crept forwards in a tight swim under a tree, I pushed the bank stick into the ground. Crack!, I broke the angle holder. Today was starting to rack up the breakages!

I enjoy watching the float. Of course I enjoy it more when it bobs, rises and slowly sails away. To non anglers it may seem as dull as watching paint dry, and I accept their opinion. But for us anglers, there's nothing better. So please enjoy.....



7 comments:

  1. The good old Aldi bag, as used by only the most discerning anglers.

    Never done particularly well immediately after floods. I'm convinced the pike are already full from the bait fish that retreated there as the river rose.

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    1. Is a valid point. Had seen this other angler fish always in flood and he did well. Maybe on another day the 19 would be on my side of the river!

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  2. Replies
    1. Don't know anyone called Dawn!! 🤣😂🤣

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  3. Nice to be on the river... Got to be in it to win it...

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, agreed! Was a great day to be out. Plus I want that pike at twenty plus!

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