Fished from 9am till Ellis realised his float was still in, it may still be in!!?
Today Ellis and I fished the Swale at Northallerton. Ellis had recently become a member, so I was showing which swims I had blanked in!!
I was keen to show Ellis how to catch his first chub from this stretch, by taking him to the spot Fred had told me about last time. Unfortunately Fred had not told me what to do when the river was over a metre less full and crystal clear! I had succeeded in showing Ellis how to blank here, and we moved on.
Next we came to the swim where I caught the chub on cheese paste. I could show him something here. First cast, snagged lost trace, weight and favourite pike float, this was going well.
So, you may have guessed, but to confirm. I was after pike and chub. Ellis was targeting pike, chub and Grayling, he just didn't know it yet!
Moving a little bit further around the bay, I cast a fresh rig out and waited. Soon my float bobbed and started to move away. I struck straight away and it was fish on. The pike looked a good size in the clear water, and was soon in the net. After unhooking it, we noticed another trace in its mouth. It was my trace that I had lost 5 mins before. The bait was deep down, but we managed to remove all the wire and one of the trebles. The remaining treble also semi barbed was too deep, we didnt want to cause any damage so hopefully this will be lost and not cause any trouble to the fish.
Weighing the pike, confirmed a double, exactly 10lb!
After no further action, it was time for a walk, finding a little beach area we targeted chub. One knock on my ledger was all we had here so we moved on. Both of us seeing a swim with trees on the far side, looking at another and agreeing "chub", the race was on.
I had cheese paste with bread in the feeder cast to the trees before you could say "cheesepaste".
Suddenly the rod hooped over and I was playing a nice chub in the clear water. As Ellis got the net, the chub had other ideas and the hook came out. I obviously blame my Gillie!
In the next 45 mins, I had 3 more savage bites, some I struck and hooked fish, some I struck and missed. No fish were landed though!! Some bites were minutes after casting, I really had the fish feeding in a small area. It was the most chub action I had ever had, and I was enjoying it.
Ellis was now expertly trotting maggots in front of the bushes and his float sailed away, a Grayling, bigger than the average Tees ones, was in the net. He followed this up with another, just to show me how it's done.
After no more chub bites, I decided to fish small maggot feeder for the Grayling, only to catch 3 minnows!! It seems I didn't learn anything Ellis!
We walked back towards the cars, realising we had been in this peg for a while, it was a good spot and one we will visit again. Near the car, we decided to try for pike. Again, I was the lucky one and a good fish picked up my Lamprey. Unweighed, but about 8 or 9lb.
As we fished on, Ellis's float bobbed and started to move, he was poised for the strike. But the fish must have dropped the bait, cos he was not so lucky. As the darkness quickly descended, it was head torches on to pack up.
Ellis played mum and made sure I didn't leave my unhooking mat, noticing I was walking off with it still on the floor. Everything loaded up, we turned to walk away, " Ellis, what's that float in the water??" I asked.
Ellis had stopped playing mum, and was now playing dumb!
"Hahahahaahahaahah" or words equivalent was the response. Ellis had managed to pack everything away but not reel in, and was about to walk across fields with his tackle still in the water!! I would say " we've all done it" but am not sure we all have!
This is where our trips usually end, but not today. This one was going to have a social side too. It was back to Ellis's house for beers, chats with his family and cuddles with the dogs. It was a great evening meeting his wife, Carole who looked after me as equally as she does Ellis -doing Everything, is words they both used!!
The night was rounded off with a parmo, something Ellis had dangled in front of me a while ago, but we never got round to having. It was my first ever, and if you have not had one, or don't know what it is, then Google! Please don't expect me to share mine with you though, as it was delicious and like those greedy chub I ate it all down without being caught!
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