5.40am until 11am
After the shambles of a trip earlier in the week I needed a day to recover. Fully fit now and ready to go, I thought I would get out whilst I had the opportunity. It won't be long until the days are short and colder and the rivers full of water, so I will be limited to fishing as conditions allow.
Regular readers will know, I have targets and elements in my fishing I want to achieve. But, I am not so hung up on them as to exclude everything else. I still want a good sized Perch, so hopefully that will come from the Tees this autumn or winter and I really would like a 5lb Tees Chub. The fish I caught last winter on the Tees, which would have been bread and butter from the Swale really got me excited about a big Tees Chub. I have also seen plenty of 5lb and 6lb Tees Chub caught by other anglers, so I will be hoping for that this winter too. I also want to fish the other end of the Swale at Morton, where I used to fish it first, again that will wait until autumn and winter I think.
So, that brings me on to today's trip. I fancied a change, so I went to the Swale at Morton, but fished different areas and also thought I would use pellets instead of meat. Here it goes...
As is customary at the moment, a 4am alarm and I was packed up and set off. Arriving at the River, I was fishing close to the car at first, so was quickly at a swim. Robin Red Pellets in 15mm was the bait, to be link ledgered under likely looking trees and bushes the method.
It was a little after 5.30 am and I cast in the first swim, after a few minutes the line tightened and the rod knocked. I missed the bite. Casting back, I waited. A few more minutes and the same again. This time I connected and was soon playing a lively Chub to the net. It gave a great fight in the flow, the light just changing from dawn, all played out below a magnificent stone bridge. If my filmographer had been there, it would have made a lovely opening sequence!!
Un weighed but at about 3lb plus it was a great Chub, I let it rest in the net. A quick video and it was back into the flow.
When It put the Chub back, some sheep came down for a morning drink.
Trying all the likely swims downstream, I continued to the Stockton Club water. As I am a member there too, I climbed the stile and carried on. I tried a few other swims with little interest. Suddenly the rod gave a few taps, I picked up the rod to strike, expecting a lump of a Chub. It was however a 5oz silver, either Chublet or Dace and it flew out the water with the 15mm pellet. Both falling harmlessly back into the water, not stopping for a picture.
I tried many swims that looked so promising, but nothing else happened. I turned around at the corner and walked straight back to the first swim to try my luck in there again. Second time was not as lucky and I left biteless. I unloaded some bits in the car and moved above the bridge. I tried a few more swims but again no luck. Soon, I was sat watching five or six inch fish swimming in the shallows. They were in the warm shallow water and clearly had not a care in the world. Some were Chub and I was sure some were small Barbel.
As I sat and watched the fish, it was getting warmer and warmer and soon I realised I was watching them more than my rod. I didn't realise then that a closure of the A1 would mean I would be driving around Gateshead in the sweltering heat and the homeward journey would take me over two and a half hours. On that journey though, I thought of the small fish I had watched. Their journey is going to be longer than that, and I hope the River will continue to prosper, so I can take their picture properly in many years to come.
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| Can't see them, but we will see them in years to come. |
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