Double delight

Date fished 31/12/25

8am until 10.30am

11.20am until 12.30pm

After my double blank earlier in the week, I planned a double success today. I thought I would go full circle on the year and end with a Tees grayling just like the year started on 18/1/25. But also  I hoped to get one from a second river on the way home.

A sharp frost greeted me. Minus two and windows that needed scraping. I was soon on my way though, heading south. I arrived at the Tees and walked quickly to the spot. Its a favourite spot for Ellis and I to catch grayling. No idea why they love it there, but they seem to. 

The island was very different now, loads of fallen trees and debris washed up on it when the river was several metres higher and bombing through. Today it was low and clear  but looked spot on. 

Third trot through and a fish. A grayling. All was well with the world! 

Three different fish

I fished on and in the next hour, I had six fish. Three nice grayling and three annoying out of season trout. The next 90 mins brought cold feet and three more grayling, the last one being the biggest as seen below.  It was time to put my plan in place. 

I drove North and headed to the Derwent, tributary of the Tyne. There are no grayling in the Tyne but they are in here, I have caught two here before. 

Second trot down, the float buried. I played the fish towards me. It was an annoying one though! I cursed and quickly unhooked it in the water. Is hard not to catch these trout out of season, who does not love a maggot on a cold day!?! 

I moved upstream and fished my way back. The highlights were a kingfisher whizzing past as I was wading mid river and getting stuck in a tree for what seemed like an age. Sadly no grayling and I headed home. 

As I pulled up to my house, a parcel force guy was crossing the road. He was holding a big box. He got to my door and knocked. I jumped out my car and gave him the greeting "thumbs up" 

He knew straight away.

"This your house mate? Great timing"

I took the box from him, marked 'Theakstons, handle with care' and laughed with him on the amazing luck of timing. 

Luck in life is not always fish or no fish! 🤣

Game changer

Date fished 15/02/2025

7.15am until 1.15pm

Very cold conditions as I prepared for todays trip. Hill snow, rain and freezing fog. Two tears in a bucket...... (If you know the ending, well done) I was committed, so off I went. 

Leaving early, I parked up at 7.15am and was cast in a few minutes later. Choosing a swim right by the bridge, I have caught in here before. It looked different today. I assume the landowner has removed the tree, doing some bank works, it was very different, but the water looked good.

One rod, hand warmers, waterproof trousers being the game changer today! 

I got my steps in today and walked a fair bit, trying 15/20 mins in every likely looking swim. The chub were not playing ball, or maybe they were. I had no interest on the cheesepaste.

The bridge swim

Finally changing to maggot feeder, it was constant knocks. The first fish was a grayling, the second an out of season Trout, no pics. I value my life. 

I made the effective decision to deliver at pace and collaborating with myself headed upstream. My usual banker, that had not served me or Rupe well in recent visits. I sat on the cold wet ground and watched the rod tip.

I need not bothered, it went no where. The last swim of the day is an old favourite. My mate Giles had a good pike from here many years ago, I was not allowed to say where. So here it is. 

I thought about this as I sat in the swim. I wish I brought the pike rods. Constant taps on the maggot feeder but nothing materialised into a proper bite! 

Heading back to the car, I met Ellis and Carole, they were out on a shopping trip. It was nice to catch up and admire their clean wellies. We must do a parmo soon! 

Heading home I was glad I went out, but now I have had a few beers and some hot food. I am even more glad that I came home!! That's a game changer. 

Wade, warm up, catch, repeat

18/1/2025

8.30am until 3pm

Flooded, freezing rivers since the start of the year. Finally a day off coincided with good conditions. Ellis and I hit the Tees. 

A very sharp frost, localised where we fished meant it was rather cold. I don't think my feet were warm for much of the day. 

We fished our usual spots, me on the float. Ellis had float rod and maggot feeder. The latter proving a good choice as it was a technique that worked well today. 

Ellis caught the first grayling on the feeder, after I had hooked, played and lost three! I had no luck. Ellis's fish was a beauty, at 1lb 4oz. 

A walk to warm up and we fished the upstream section. Again my luck was not here  I changed hooklink and first cast I was snagged and lost it. We worked our way back downstream and Ellis caught another good sized grayling, this time on the float. 

We moved back to the island swim and finally I kept a fish on. In the net and my first fish of 2025. 

Ellis had the final fish of the day, again on the maggot feeder. A lovely fish with a split dorsal, that looked exactly like the first fish he caught six hours earlier!! Repeat. 

Favourites

Date fished 14/12/2024

8am until 12pm

Favourites are difficult. Favourite child, football team or food. Rupe as a boy, Martha as a girl, Liverpool, curry, pizza, I mean burgers! See, its difficult. 

Fishing, well that must be the ultimate difficult favourite decision. I think the answer is "whatever the fishing I am doing at the time". 

The annual grayling fishing at Piercebridge trip was a solo affair today. I have to admit, it's usually one of my favourite trips.

I got my soup ready and set off just before 7am. Arriving as the sun rose, I took minimal gear down to the river. It looked in fair nick. Clear and actually lower than I thought. Perfect for the ladies. 

The rod was already set up, so within minutes I was wading in the shallows and trotting. Third trot down and I was in. Top left above. Four of the next five fish in about 40 minutes were approximately a pound. It was a great stamp of fish. 

Conditions seemed perfect so I fished on. Soon, I had caught eight grayling and two dickhead trout that splashed around like idiots! Barbless hooks meant everyone was released none the worse for wear and I lost a few fish also, which was fine. 

I heard someone behind me. A chap had come to investigate the island swim and had not seen me in it. He apologised, I said nonsense and offered him a trot. He just wanted to see it, as he had seen it on one of Ellis's ' very informative ' YouTube videos and it looked so good!! 

I didn't do the usual and move swims, which also acts as warming up the cold feet. Instead I trudged out the cold river, drank hot chicken soup and started writing the blog. Am actually sat on the bank typing this now. I can feel the soup warming my cold little toes. 

The downstream wind picked up and with the sun so low, the trotting was difficult and cold. Hat, gloves and snood were all applied, the dork hat in my bag just in case!

After a short session, I headed home happy, a successful day if only in a short burst. Off to put my dancing shoes on, strictly final tonight, don't think I am dancing in that! Cold toes to now twinkle toes!!

Just if you wanted to see,  the original fish pics that made the collage. 

If I only fished to catch fish. I'd of given up ages ago....

Date fished 29/09/2024

7am until 3pm

A new river today. Jason invited me to fish the Wear at Durham. He has had some success, so decided to share it. Well, try! 

Lots of rain across the whole country this week, flooding down south but the North was relatively unaffected. The river was up but certainly fishable. It did have quite a bit of colour, which Jason seems to think may of been "the issue". 

However, meeting Jason in the car park, he greeted me with the colloquial "now then?" 

We walked to the river. 

Float rod, ledger rod with swim feeders. Maggots, worms, pellets, meat and cheesepaste. We had it all! 

The chocolate river looked good enough to drink. I started with the float in a swim I thought looked good. Jason went to investigate swims he had fished before, although he wondered if the conditions were right for them.

After a few casts, I was in. A small trout, there would be lots of these! 

Next a lovely grayling, there would be two of these. The first (biggest) jumped back in before a picture was taken. 

A chublet, there was one of these. 

A minnow, again, just one of these. 

Because I wanted to see the areas to fish, we left this swim and went for a walk. We fished lots of perfectly looking swims, although these didn't produce fish. Back to the original swim and more of the same! 

We ended up trying several swims over a few miles up and downstream. Apart from me seeing a huge salmon, we didn't get amongst the fish. Its such a good experience to fish a new river and I thoroughly enjoyed my day. 

I usually fish the same places in the same way, but days like this make me really happy. I feel I am a proper angler now, trying and working out swims, rivers and techniques across my fishing. 

In truth, I love my fishing! 

The title says it all.

 

Lost float 😥

Date fished 14/9/2024

6.30am until 2pm

Driving to the river this morning, heavy rain greeted me in North Yorkshire. I had checked the forecast, 0% chance of rain. I had taken this at face value and brought no coat. It reminded me of a 'joke' a brother told to, and about his sister on Christmas day when I was in Australia. Its not funny or pc, so I won't relay. But it's strange what things go through your (my) head. 

I put my waders on as waterproof and set off towards the Swale. It was still early, a 4am alarm had its effect. I settled in a familiar swim, but I don't recall having much luck in it before. I know it can be good, but not often to me. 

First cast was with a boilie that was still on the rig from the Wye. It was not a proper 'first cast', I just did it to get settled and put some feed in. Rarely for the Swale, I had a feeder with groundbait on. Usually, the hookbait alone is enough for Mr chub to find. 

Now, my proper first cast, with meat on. It had been in the water five minutes, and the rod hooped over. A 3lb chub finding my bait quickly enough.

I continued to ledger for an hour, by then I wanted to be more active. I set the float rod up. Catapulting a few pouches of maggots had the desired effect as after a few casts my float disappeared. I wanted it to be a barbel or a chub. It was a grayling! 

An hour of float fishing was enough exercise for the arms but the legs needed some, so I headed off upstream. I found, in my opinion, the best looking peg on the stretch. It looks so fishy, but no one has told the fish!! Not a touch. They just don't live here. I know where they do or did, so I headed there. 

I wish I hadn't. I decided to change rigs and float fished small cubes of meat, as I was pretty sure some chub would be on the far bank. Disaster struck when I got snagged in a tree, not just hook caught, but more. Pulling for a break, it happened. I lost my favourite bolo float. It has been prominent for so many years. I think that's why, I am writing this in such a sad mood and my usual flair is missing. 

It was now about 11am, so time for lunch.  

I walked back downstream to check what changes had occurred. The fields now had no fences and some swims looked very different. I tried a few but with no luck. I stopped in a swim one up from where I started this morning.  

A very recognisable chub soon in the net. Just over 4lb. A large lump on its head. 

As usual, this got me thinking. I wonder who has caught this before, let me know! 

Ellis and I have chatted a while ago, I think I have mentioned this before. All the chub should be numbered, so we can tick off each one individually. Trying to catch them all, or actually knowing how many chub there are?! I realise I am trying to turn a wild river into a commercial. 

I will just give up there. Off for a beer. 

Oh, I walked firther downstream and  found some fish feeding on the surface too, but didn't manage to catch them either. 

NE16

Date fished 14/1/2024

8.30am until 11.30am

Ryton and District Angling Club has recently acquired a short section of the river Derwent at Blaydon. I still have not fished the Tyne, that flows through the town I live in, so I couldn't ignore this chance to fish closer to home. 

I was hoping for a Derwent grayling.

A leisurely cup of tea and homemade flat sausage muffin and I was soon on the road. A short 25 mins and I was there.  

I faffed around at the entrance, then I noticed someone in the distance in waders. I drove over and it was another club member, Philip. I knew he had fished here before, so it was perfect timing to be shown the ropes. He showed me the way to the river and it looked spot on.

Philip headed off upstream and I fished the first spot. It was fairly shallow, clear with a good pace. Perfect trotting water. I waded and started to fish. No bites, but I was sure this was the spot, maybe later. 

I headed upstream and met Phillip. We leap frogged likely looking swims, plus ones we could get to without slipping over. I think we managed one slip each. It was actually easier to walk in the water from swim to swim, but with potential for deep holes, the bank was the safer bet. 

Eventually the float disappeared and my first Derwent fish found the net. 

A good sized grayling. I fished on, and made it to the top limit. This was a bit of a recce and fish session, so was important to see it all. It's only a short stretch but looks great. I fished back down to the spot I first fished and finally, after feeding heavy got a bite. More a fingerling than a grayling, but it was perfect in miniature and most welcome. 

Phillip had fished hard and was unlucky not to have had any bites. He decided to watch me for a bit before heading home. He enquired if I was off to see Ronald on my way home?!,  My reputation must preceed me!! 

We both saw my float disappear in a spot with both thought was very fishy! This fight was not a grayling, unless it was a whopper! 

The flow was strong and the culprit knew just what to do. Another out of season Trout, but at about a pound and a half, a good fish. 

It sulked in the edge, before swimming back towards the fishy area, I will be racing Phillip to that swim next time!! 

A productive three hours fishing, with only three bites but all resulting in fish. I can see the potential of this stretch and will be back to NE16 very soon!! 

Fatties

Date Fished 13/01/2024

8am until 1pm

The rivers were not my friend over Christmas, and with still waters limited the rods remained in their sleeves. My first free weekend, so I needed to get back on the bank, or in the river. I decided to fish for grayling on the Tees in a familiar spot. 

Trotting gear, waders and frozen maggots were assembled and packed. I headed south.  Parking up and tackling in the semi darkness was perfect. I waded to the spot as the light took over.

I would not advise to wade alone, but I do know this stretch well and I didn't really venture far away from the bank. If you are going alone, always tell someone where you are going and what time you might be home. I told Ellis, which was a great idea as he is in Cyprus!! 

The river was surprisingly low, considering how high it has been these last few weeks. It was also "warm" and very clear. Ideal trotting conditions. Second trot down and the float disappeared. My first fish of 2024......

Out of season but hard to avoid. Took a pic as my first of the year, but the other three I caught, including a 2lb plus fish, all returned from the net, having never left the water. 

A few more trots and the first grayling, a good sized fish to start with. 

In truth, the stamp of fish today were really good. I caught seven grayling from two areas fished. All were 12oz to a pound. I weighed one (biggest, I think) and it was 1lb exactly. 

I chatted with a couple of other anglers, one lure fishing for perch and one ledgering for chub. Ellis and I have fished this stretch most winters and hardly seen a soul, so it was nice to know other anglers were here too. 

It was nice to be back on the bank and amongst some fish. A short session today as I am going to fish a new river tomorrow, so I am looking forward to that. No spoilers, but I don't need to leave the NE postcode.....