Last chance saloon

Date fished 4/3/2023

8am until 3pm

The river season is slowly drifting away, and with little fishing time available this year I think today was going to be my last of this river season. I needed to visit the tackle shop to renew club membership, so one stone, two birds.....

I had enjoyed the last trip on the Tees, so decided more of the same for today. Maggot feeders added to last sessions kit for good measure!

Today I fished in peg 127. I had the car park and much of the river to myself. It was cold but wrapped up in the thermals and I was feeling confident. I set up and got fishing. 

I started with maggots on the hook and groundbait in the feeder. The rod was motionless and I thought about the phrase " a bite a chuck". I wondered how I could change my current biteless chucks into the well known phrase. Bites =chucks. The only way I could square this equation was to have have fewer chucks!! Then Bites (zero) would equal chucks!! Hahah. I fished on. 

After trying worm and every maggot colour and breathing status (I had alive and dead) on the hook, I eventually changed the feeder to a maggot feeder. It felt very old school fishing like this, but it did the trick. Two chucks equalled two bites and one roach. I still fished on and when Bites dried up, I had another theory. I put dry groundbait in the feeder with the maggots. This did another good trick and bites came thick and fast. It really was a bite a chuck for an hour. 

The wind got colder and the rain came with it. The hood went up and the trick stopped working.  Again, I didn't rest on my laurels, I made some changes and the groundbait feeder seemed to work again. It seemed today's trick was to just keep changing. Groundbait today had added brown crumb, another new trick!

A good few fish came to the net and then this. I am not sure if it is a bleak or a dace. If its a bleak, it is my first so that equals a pb!! Am really not sure. Maybe with all the tricks going on, I invented a new species!? 

With still only swans and ducks for company, it was soon cold enough to head home. The drip on the end of my nose was falling off and I wanted to be home before it froze. I will leave you with that thought.... 

See you in the "closed season", and rivers, I will see you mid June.