Sunday 25 February 2024

Jack.......

Date fished 24/02/2024
8am until 12.30pm

A short session with Tom on the Tees started with Jack Frost. It meant Tom was late picking me up. Well, that was the excuse. Car loaded, we headed south. No cars parked in the lane was surprising, but not to dwell on this. A brisk walk downhill and we were at Tom's favourite swim. It is a great swim on the Association water. As we are both Jack of all trades, there were choices in the tackle brought. Tom was after pike, me the chubbys.


The river looked perfect, the guage at Broken scar said 97cm and dropping slowly. I was fishing after a few minutes, whilst Tom readied himself. 

Jack the lad, Jack and Jill in the background 


The river lay in front of me, so not quite sure why Tom was 10 yards behind me. It's no longer panto season. 
A feeder filled with bread crumb and cheesepaste moulded around a cork ball and I was set. Casting in the slack, I was sure a chub might want breakfast. 




The sun soon came out and it was a lovely morning. We chatted about everything and soon was discussing breeding, fish not us! A Jack pike being 10lb or less,  Sexual dimorphisim in fish and something different in humans!! I won't bore you with that. 

I cast to the edge of the faster flow, mid river. A bite on the cheesepaste kept me interested, popping up like a Jack in the box. Tom tried the whole area, and stealing my chair and superior rod rest soon found a deep hole where a pioe was sure to be laying up. 
We fished on, the only action was a large fish surfacing mid river. I only just glimpsed it, I think it was a Trout taking something off the surface. 




It was soon time to pack up, trebles of course removed from deadbaits going back in the freezer. Not sure what the deadbait was, but it wasn't Jack Spratt. 

A slow walk uphill followed by a perfectly packed car. A trip to the tackle shop on the way back to renew our club memberships.
Unfortunately the final Jack was our catches. Jack sh&t! 

Saturday 10 February 2024

Gone in 60 minutes

Date fished 10/02/2024

8am until 9am

Flooding, family and friends have been the reasons no fishing for a while. A uni mate came up for the weekend, days out with the kids and more water/snow/ice than the country knows what to do with.  


The weather was mild but after a week of rain, the rivers were high. As the Derwent is tidal, I wondered if it would be fishable. I set off for an early start. The river was similar in height and speed (flow) to last time I fished it. The big difference was the colour. It was gin clear last time and tea coloured today! 


I trotted the float and fed quite heavy. Thinking the more maggots, the more chance of the fish seeing them. 

I kept to one line near my bank and going towards a bush. 

One hour later, no bites, cold feet but I left happy! Weird, I must be some sort of fishing geek.