Nidd nutter!

Date fished 27/06/2026

6am until 1pm

With the current hot weather, Ellis and I decided to fish early morning. I had caught barbel from two rivers from the Leeds book in two trips, could I make it a hatrick!?

Minimal kit as we were walking a little bit, plus it was a short session. Oozing meat my main bait, but I did grab some 6mm marine halibut pellets and matching paste as I left (at 4am). Either to be suspended under a twin 2SSG shot on a link ledger. 

We arrived at the Nidd, wow, it looked great. Swims cut in, loads of water in a small area due to river bends. It is my new fave stretch to fish!!

My rod

I won't bore you with the photography, I took loads  but this was my best picture. The fishing was quiet!! 

The river is small, like a stream in places. Deep holes, shallow glides and full of streamer weed. Perfect fish habitat but on a warm day, I just wanted to find shade. Eventually I did and a well placed cast was met with knocks. In hindsight it was probably crayfish but at the time I got interested. 

Ellis tried with worms too, in the hope a big stripey would be hungry. Plenty of fish were topping, assume perch chasing too but not our baits. 

My swim

We leapfrogged swims towards where we thought we had parked. We were wrong, the loop and river flow swapping but bank side staying the same had confused me! Am even confused now, not sure I am correct but I know what I mean. Anyway, I sat with pellets and waited. The rod pulled and I missed the bite. Gutted!!

What's funny though was Ellis was doing the same as me. Photography!!

Ellis's rod

I moved further downstream and came to peg 48. I cast in the middle of a narrow stretch, not near cover but just in a bit I thought I could leave it while I sat. The least fishy part of river in the least fishy swim I had been in all morning.

My rod twitched, I picked it up and it slammed around. I was in. The fish, assumed chub swam downstream, then swam upstream towards and under a bush. I manged to get it out and had it in the open water. I saw my chub, it had whiskers! It made for the snag again, but this time I steered it around and quickly in the net. 

My barbel from a third river in three trips. I called Ellis. We rested the fish well and took it out for a quick pic. No weighing, estimated 5lb. After another long rest, it swam powerfully away under the bush upstream. 

Ellis cast in the hot zone!! There were fish topping, splashing about but no more were caught. 

Gathering our bearings, we realised we had walked away from the cars, but we wanted to fish some more, so we crossed the field and we fished some great looking swims. In truth, all the swims look great on this stretch. I am going to struggle to fish anywhere else!!

Our remaining drinking water was back at the car, so we headed that way. 

We left as it heated up, atmospherically not metaphorically, but we had decided to fish today whilst being mindful of fishcare. Nobody told them Nidd nutters though!!

No, not really

Date fished 22/6/2026

9.30am until tooth hurty pm

GCSE's completed and one more day of holiday for me was a perfect mix for me to take Rupe to the Swale to see if he could catch his first barbel.

We headed to Topcliffe as we could not leave at the  crack of dawn and he had a dentist appointment (brace tighten) at 4.45pm which could be on our way back North. 

First swim

Second swim

The weir swim looked good, sounded noisy and ate two swim feeders in two casts! We moved downstream 100m.

This swim seemed better, we cast our ledgerd pellets just in the flow and waited. 

I like fishing with pellets, they are:

Easy

Cheap

Last ages

Stay on the hook

Different sizes, flavours

Child friendly

I don't like some boilies that I have. I won them years ago and have never really used them. I take them with me on many trips and they come home again. They smell like vomit to me. I decided they were going in the river or in the bin!! 

Suddenly, Rupe's rod wiggled and I let him know, just incase he didn't see it through his fringe. He was in. A cute little chub his prize.

I cast too close to the far bank and lost more tackle. 

Today's mission was to hopefully get Rupe his first barbel, so I changed my rig to a vomit boilie on a hybrid feeder, no respectful barbel would get caught on that! 

A missed bite on that, it must work. I kept with it. 

My second of the week (ish). Big smiles all round! On the vomit too!!

Another angler came to fish this swim as I was releasing the barbel, he warned us of some snags. We had none in this swim so far. 

We reeled in. Snag! 

Another lost feeder. Am going through feeders quicker than............ (fill your own answer in here)

The sun burst through the clouds and although we liked the warmth, the fishing died. We watched birds, river critters and a little mouse having his lunch.

It was lovely to spend time with the boy. 

Oh, the title. I nearly forgot. Speaking of things that annoy me. Ask my son any question and his reply is usually "No, not really".

It doesn't even make sense!! 

Love him though!! 

What is this hair!?

Two barbel, five bream, six perch!!

Date fished 18/6/2026

7am until 3pm

Ellis and I went to the Ouse today. We had a great, great session. 

Two rods ledgered mid river or towards the tree lined far bank proving to be the tactic! 

I will let you into a secret, the bait today that worked was worms! Many other pellets laid unmolested, but not the worms!!

I actually can't remember the sequence of what we caught when. But I know, I did catch a couple of bream then a barbel and Ellis caught his barbel whilst I had my third bream in the net!! 

3lb 12oz

4lb 12oz

We have never both caught a barbel in the same session,  plenty of chub but never barbel. We wondered if we could top the day off with a chub each from the Nidd. This proved a touch too far for our luck, so we headed back to Ellis's house for a celebratory beer!!

Trusty sidekick

Date fished 17/6/2025

8am until 4.30pm

Prologue

In a fraction of a second, my rod was bent nearly double. Line was peeling off the reel, fish on! Unfortunately I noticed the line was caught around the ear of my rod rest. I picked up the rod but wasn't connected to the fish. I scrambled to free the line off the rest, this was hard as the fish was pulling! Suddenly, the hooklink snapped and my fish was gone. It was certainly a barbel, definitely a lost fish. Expletives followed!! 

A day guest with Ellis on the Swale was the second day of this season. Arriving at 7.30am it was much cooler. Cloud covered the sky and it had a little chill. We walked the whole beat as the last swim is good, of course there was someone fishing it. 

We settled on another swim with a large bush we could both cast towards. Lots of knocks, we assumed Ronnie and Reggie. Ellis deciding, when he had sorted his reel out, to fish the maggot feeder down the middle. Instant bites and a nice dace his blank saver.

The sun was now bright and getting much warmer. We walked back and saw some chub "partying" with eachother in the shallows. 

We soon found another swim where we both could sit and cast towards a deeper area by an overhanging bush. When I reeled in the luncheon meat, a large pike followed it in right to the bank. No pike gear was carried today though!! 

The bites started when the cloud came over. Suddenly getting darker, we assume the fish were more confident not being seen in the clear water. Both of us getting taps and rattles. We sat for a while and I needed to stretch my legs, I declared to Ellis I was off for a walk and his rod gave the tell tale sign. He played the fish towards the net deciding it was a barbel, then a chub and confirmed as a barbel when we saw it. 

6lb 2oz

It was a great fish and well deserved.

My bite as described above, came a short while later. I had already had a bite and struck far too early. We waited for another cloud coming over to top up the mole hill groundbait and the ever faithfull spicy sausage. Interest for sure to both of us, but the yawns were getting larger as the heat took hold and we decided to call it a day. 

I never did stretch the legs with a walk, but the landing, unhooking, weighing, pictures and resting all needed a trusty sidekick. 

Location, location, location

Date fished 18/08/2024

7am until 3.30pm

Location was key today. The river was low and clear so we had to find the fish. We also accidentally interrupted another angler on the opposite bank. He was hidden and we didn't see him, so firstly just want to say sorry about that. 

Ellis invited me as a guest to fish a Leeds stretch. He got me a visitors day ticket, so away we went. We arrived at the car park at exactly the same time, at least we know that location, although Ellis claimed I parked a few words away from the three he sent me! 

We walked to the river, it looked good, the dark and gloomy morning helping. I did have sun cream with me though!

There was another angler on the opposite bank in the swim we wanted to fish, so we went to find a new one. Ellis was already tackled up (for once) so he was fishing first whilst I got ready. He started with maggots and was soon catching bleak and small dace and attracting attention from pike. I started with meat and was catching nothing. 

As the rain started, I went for a walk. We had both been on the float until now. I set up a rod for rolling meat and Ellis a feeder. I decided to go check on our first choice  swim, the angler had moved so we hot footed down there. This was where Ellis had success last month and we were eager to give it a go. This was where we waded too far and encroached, apologies again. 

We moved off down stream to where a tree on the near bank had fallen in. It looked deep and good for a few fish. My float soon went under and this was a better chub. Still small, but getting closer to what we were after. 

We thrashed the water but no other fish were caught. I hooked and lost one. After a break, I decided to return with the rolling meat kit. The korum touch ledger being chosen. 

Second cast and the rod was nearly ripped from my hands. A spirited battle in the flow and a chub about 3lb soon in the net. After another few casts and with Ellis now stood next to me, I caught another. I now had chub of 1lb, 2lb and 3lb. Perfect. 

As is usually the case in our fishing. We share. I mean, Ellis finds a good spot and I come poach. Well, today was different. The next 10 minutes and Ellis managed a chub closer to 4lb and a barbel of 4-5lb. He had definitely learnt my poaching trick! 

The barbel came to the net in about 10 seconds, not realising it was hooked. But then it did! It swam out and gave Ellis a battle in the strong current until I manged to net it again. We rested it, then when we let it go, it just sat between us. Sat on the bottom, not moving but holding in the current. Was fascinating to see how it 'swam' from so close. It got bored of us, turned its flank and was back to where it wanted to be. 

As Ellis went for a nap, I fished on for my own barbel. Nothing came, so we went to try a different location. 

Thirty minutes here quickly turned into an hour. The sun was warm and with a 90 mim drive home, I decided to head home. Ellis stayed on and sent me a pic as I bombed up the A1. I hoped it was a massive barbel or a piece of kit I had left behind. 

In true Ellis fashion, he had found another good location. No words, just this picture.

Too hot, too sunny, Two barbel

Date fished 29/07/2024

8am until 8pm 

A day at Aramstone today. High twenties forecast with bright sunshine. We got our excuses in early. 

Not as early as breakfast though. A full cooked breakfast at 7am in the pub and we were ready to go around 7.30. A stop to buy lunch and we were at the fishery by 8am. The fishery is a quick Google if you want to know more, but most people know as this........

I have many more like this! 

We (carefully) drove the entire length of the beat. Only stopping when I saw three chub swimming past. By the time Ellis stopped the car, I had counted 14. By the time we got out the car, we spotted over 25 chub circling around an overhanging tree. They might be targeted later, we thought! 

Ellis was unpacking his gear. I was already cast in and ledgering a 15mm Robin red pellet. The rod hooped over and I played the fish towards me. Annoyingly it dislodged the barbless number 10. When Ellis was ready we waded across the fast water and targeted the fish from above. It was very fast and I didn't quite get the angle right, Ellis preserved and landed two of three hooked chub. All whilst I lost another on the ledger!! It was going to be one of those days for me when the excuses are needed. 

As the day got hotter and brighter, I wondered about those 25 chub. Could they be my blank saver? 

We liked the scenery 

We walked up to them and they were still just hanging out. A float fished piece of meat soon disappeared and I had my fish!! Deeply hooked, I tried to unhook it with my finger. The bugger bit me!! It's pharyngeal teeth crushing my pinkie and drawing blood. I guess that was fair!? 

Deciding to wade to another area, I had already removed my waders. Not to worry on a day like this. I waded in my socks and they were soon dry! 

Walking back to the car, it was now boiling. We decided to sit in the shade, away from the river and just chat. We went through all the baits I had brought and finally realised we should be making rigs. So we drank a beer and tied some hooks! 

At 4pm we carried on fishing. We were feeding the area quite heavily, which definitely got the fish responding. Plenty of crashing about on their behalf. Plenty of snagged gear for us! The area was so rocky. We both lost gear but were getting bites, so we persisted. 

Ellis was rewarded at 5pm as his rod hooped over and his first Wye barbel lay in the net. 

5lb 10oz

He lost another one, but at 7pm he was rewarded again. This time 7lb 6oz. A new pb. Well done mate!!! 

The pb was met with a refreshing reward. 

I jumped in Ellis's swim and even used his rod as I had been snagged and lost my gear. I gave it 45 mins but nothing. As I reeled in, I was snagged again. A broken hooklink my reward!! 

300th blog entry!

Date fished 06/07/2024

5.45am until 10.30am

For the 300th blog, I wanted to do something special. However, the special trip to the Wye that Ellis and I have planned has not come around quickly enough (end of July). I had a free day so decided to hit the Swale. Recent matches have proved "peggy" with the fish shoaled up (but still had to be caught) 44 chub and a barbel for 189lb. I would not grumble at that for the 300th blog!

A ledger rod, the usual tactics plus an 'alternative' bait and a raincoat completed the kit list. I set off early and arrived in good time.  Setting up, I realised I had forgotten my bait needle.  It's quite hard to push a hair through meat with a blade of grass, but I managed! 

The first cast went to my right by a fallen tree. I sat and waited. 

Regular readers will know, I usually set targets each year. I didn't this year, with stuff going on personally, I just didn't have the thought. But in reality the targets remain the same, as they are yet to be achieved, even after a few years. 

A 2lb perch

A proper Swale barbel

A 6lb bream

A zander

I have had one Swale barbel before. This little guy on the float.

The rod hooped over and the bait runner sang. This was a fish. I hoped it was 'something' as I played its powerful runs. Then I saw it. It was a barbel, a chap, a bumble. My legs gave a wobble. 

I went down to the water to net it, in truth it took three trys. It giving powerful kicks each time. The barbless hook holding firm as the fish frequently dived down deep. Eventually it slipped into the net. A stones throw from the swim Davey caught his first ever Chub, pretty pertinent this time of year and I am not to macho to say, a tear rolled down my cheek. 

At 6lb 7oz, it was not a pb and not a massive fish. For me, it was my world. I was so happy. A quick look at the clock, 06.17am. 

I put the phone camera holder in my bag 30 seconds before I left the house this morning. So glad I remembered that! 

A Kingfisher fished in the peg next to me as the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. I was actually cold. The rugby commentary on my phone warming me up as England went close to a victory in New Zealand. At half time, I stretched my legs. Seems the fish were waiting for the break too, the rod pulled round and I was in. This time it felt chubby, unfortunately the hooklink broke as I played it near the boulders. I never saw the fish, so who knows!? 

A short walk closer to the tree resulted in more snags. I learnt my lesson in casting too close and a re tackle was required. I chucked some bread crusts in and watched them float away whilst contemplating the tackle change. A loud splash as the bread disappeared. I tied on  a hook and tried my luck. 

A few floats down, of course all the freebies taken whilst my piece remained unscathed. I might of caught if I kept going, but the clouds were getting darker and home called. 

I have watched Ellis catch a barbel on the Swale, I have seen many Facebook friends share their catches. Today, I joined them. I achieved a target! 

Oh, and the alternative bait!? Yeah, it didn't work. But "has potential, must try harder". Just like all my school reports used to say!