A dry net

Date fished 29/11/2020

7.35 am until 2pm 

The bones had barely thawed and it was straight back out. I decided that whilst conditions were good, I would keep on fishing! I decided to head to the Swale today and target those Chub. 

It was not frosty when I loaded the car,  and alot milder than yesterday. The car told me it was six degrees. I had planned on just float fishing maggots for the Chub but at the last minute I chucked the ledger rod and a few pieces of meat into the boot. That was my back up, but I had blanked with that on my last few trips! Undeterred I saddled up and headed South in search of Chub. 

A quick eggy sausage re-fueling stop and I was all set. I parked up and walked the short distance to the river. I could get all poetic and sentimental here, but let's just say " the river looked Great!"

It was very misty, so I settled in a swim I know. It was the first swim through the gate. I fished here for 30 minutes so the sun had chance to brighten my route for me. I cast the meat to a likely spot and waited. No fish wanted an early feed, so I headed to another swim.

I settled in a spot where I could float fish the far bank against willows. I had decided to fish a waggler instead of the usual stick float. I had seen match anglers using mag and wag tactics to good effect. I set up a 3AAA waggler and put enough shot to just show the tip. It worked well, I had plenty of weight to cast to the far bank, and the float went down the swim nicely. I started firing maggots at the top of the swim and followed them down with the float. In short  I did this for three hours and by 11am I had no maggots left. Not one bite, but I enjoyed the new approach. I will have to try this again soon, my last nice Chub on the float was last December. 

I met the club treasurer, I had arranged to meet and get my members ticket for next year. Looking through my book, I have been a member since 2014! We chatted about likely swims and spots and it was good to share knowledge. 

I now switched to the ledger rod. I headed off upstream in search of a likely Chub hidey hole. I saw plenty, fished them all, unfortunately the Chub didn't play ball. 

I met another angler, he had caught a Pike this morning. It made me wonder if I should hang up the Chub gear and concentrate on Pike?? I used to Pike fish all the time, some blanks but some great Swale fish caught. I will ponder this for my next trip. 

I walked back downstream and fished some more swims. Nothing was happening for me today, so I headed back to the car. 

As I packed the kit back into the car, I thought about the trip. It wasn't all bad I thought, at least the net doesn't need to dry tonight!