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Date fished 11/11/2023

8:30am until 3.30pm 

Two blanks from my last two trips, I was starting to get worried. With cold weather now approaching, the fishing was going to get tough. Looking at the conditions, and discussing with Ellis and Tom, a Tees trip was planned. 

What actually happened was Ellis and I went to a club water for pike and chub and Tom headed to an association water in search of pike. More on him later. 

I dropped in to get maggots and met Ellis at the venue at 8.30. A short walk to the river and we saw the frost waiting for us. In truth, the sun came out quite strongly and we both regretted not having sunglasses (for only about five minutes).

Ellis had pike gear and a ledger rod for chub, I had a chub ledger rod and a float rod for ..............

We walked a fair way upstream, avoiding a suicidal pheasant and decided on a spot, in hindsight the wrong spot. A few casts and some leaves caught.

I watched some bubbles move towards me, I knew what it was. An otter surfaced five feet in front of me, did a 360 flip and splashed away. A moment later popping its head out to look at me again. Was great to see. A few more leaves caught, so we moved on. 

Another spot fished, even more leaves caught here, so we headed back to the start of the beat. 

The fact this whole time was a few hours, shows the type of fishing trip we had, the highlight being a new jetty.

However, as always, it's not just about catching. Ellis and I had a good old chat and a giggle as every swim we fished in together. 

Picking a swim we both fancied, and should of started in. We fished again. After a few minutes Ellis's deadbait was away and a spirited pike swimming around in the deep slack. 

As we fished on, I remarked that we had not seen a Kingfisher. Not ten minutes later, one then two flew past, settled on branches opposite and fished there most of the afternoon. They caught more than me too!! 

With that premonition coming true so quick, I then tried my luck with declaring I had not caught a big chub, Ellis quickly announced he had not won the lottery yet! If he's not around tomorrow, he's won and not told us!! 

The phone was soon beeping with news from Tom's "lottery" win. He had caught a tiddler (his words). At 18lb 5oz, ( A new pb) it was a great pike. Well done to him!!

Soon it was getting colder and a quick move to another slack had me clutching for another blank saver. I had already tried and failed to catch a minnow. Ellis and I had both some snags to our tally though. 

It was not to be and the drive home was spent feeling proud of my mates and their pike! And I just got worms, not those kind!! Oh, and three blanks in a row! 

No Nonsense

Date fished 28/10/2023

8am until 4.30pm

100 miles to today's venue. Time to just sit in the car and think about life. Ellis and I decided to fish the Wharfe at Tadcaster today. 

The weather had the rivers up and down but looking online, asking the right questions on Facebook and watching Shane's video all helped us pick this venue!

We arranged to meet at 8.30 but as is my way, I am always early. I arrived just before 8am. Two minutes later Ellis pulled in to the car park. Perfect!!

Feeders in three, four and five ounces were packed, but I actually could of got away with using two ounces. The river was quite slow and looked perfect for a barbel or 12-15! I informed Ellis we would get a net full of five to seven pound fish. He calmed me down and said, let's just see..... 

We walked to the river, three ledger rods between us, plenty of bait of various flavours! The river was full of anglers, I think I counted about 20 at the end of the day, great to see a club full like that. I think it's down to geography, this venue is in the middle of town, so easily accessible, add to that only £5 on the bank and the chance of a good few barbel, I would certainly fish it a lot if I lived closer! 

It was foggy at first and the steep banks very slippery. I manged to clamber down and fish my single rod from a ledge. Ellis opted to cast from the top of the bank with his two and clamber down to land any fish. The baits were soon in the water and we waited patiently. 

A change from luncheon meat to my home made sausage and I got a definite knock. 

We are not sure if the Wharfe is tidal at this point, but soon where I was stood was getting wet. I retreated up the bank. I went to see Ellis, this was not a place we could chat together, we were sat 50 metres apart! 

Can you spot him? 

Whilst we chatted, he had two knocks. One I saw, one he did. Neither his bite alarm noticed! Hoping for more action, I went back to my swim. 

A change of baits and hooklink length made no difference. The barbel were not on the feed. We chatted to some local anglers and even asked Shane for his secrets. It was no good, nothing worked. We just had to keep casting and try harder. 

Some barbel were caught across the stretch by other anglers but sadly it ended in a blank for both of us. Next time, for sure. 

Before I go, I just wanted to share the best part of the day. It wasn't catching up with Ellis. It wasn't watching a large bird of prey circle really close above us. It wasn't the constant noise of the A64. It wasn't the "history" associated with Ellis's bait. 

Last time we fished, Ellis noticed my jealous gaze of his lunch. He got Carole, his wife, to make me, my own "all day breakfast butties" today. DELISH!! 

As John Smith would say - " Have it!!" 

Minn-ho ho ho

Date fished 14/10/2023

8.40am until 1.20pm

Myself and the kids decided to try our luck today on the river Swale. Rupe still wanted to catch his first chub and Martha was happy with anything she could call "Gary"! (No idea)

The rain had stopped and the river was high but certainly fishable. It was cold and clear as we jumped in the car with homemade flat sausage and cheese muffins. Rupe was up front on radio duty and picked Heart Christmas! At least the sunrise was nice.

A brisk walk to the river to warm up and we were soon fishing. Rupe was ledgering meat in a likely spot by some trees, whilst Martha and I watched on expectantly.

No bites came, but a big splash near a bush further down had us moving quickly there! No luck so we went to float fish for grayling. Martha and I ventured in the cold, clear water and trotted maggots in the morning sun.

It seemed that the Friday 13th bad luck had rolled over, we were having all of it! 

The cold wind picked up and made trotting difficult. There was only one thing for it, we stopped for biscuits and hot juice! 

Another swim and Martha trotted whilst I fed maggots. She reeled in and was surprised to see "Gary" on the end. 

Rupe wanted some minnow action and soon he had two to his name. They declared themselves off the blank! 

One last try at the tree swim, we had primed it earlier so was hoping a chub had come to investigate. Unfortunately Rupe's gentle cast found a snag so it was a quick re-tackle to fish again. A change to cheese paste still didn't tempt a take. Although camo Rupe was hard to spot now! 

We had a great day even without some proper "Gary's". And we sung about snow, spaceships and enquiring if people were aware what day it was... all the way home! 

The right path

Date fished 23/9/2023

7.30am until 1.30pm

I checked the weather earlier in the week and it said 0% chance of rain for saturday. I took that to mean it would not rain!

The heavy rain in the week meant the rivers were up and down, fishable (probably) but I decided to stay local and head to tilcon. 

On the morning whilst eating my breakfast I checked the weather. 30% chance of rain, I packed the rain coat!! I drove to the lake and was pleasantly surprised to see the changes. I had seen on Facebook pics but not seen for myself. 

Where there was a high steep bank before, a path had been cut away behind all the car park swims. I believe it will also help pole anglers when shipping back, but for me it made easy access to the swim. Another angler had just arrived and was in peg six, so I decided to fish in four, I have never fished it before. 

I had float and ledger rods with worm, maggots, sweetcorn, bread and pellets. I did leave the kitchen sink at home! I also had a mix of micro pellets, breadcrumb and groundbait for the feeder. 

The feeder was cast to an island to my left whilst I float fished in front of me. As usual, I didn't really concentrate on either. I would watch one whilst the other moved and vice versa. The drizzle started and was fairly persistent, I was actually pretty wet, I was happy though. 

As I watched the float, I noticed the back ground moving. A large island that I thought was fixed was slowly moving across the lake. In my head, I thought the fish must all be under it, pushing it and using it to run away! 

Eventually I connected with a bob of the float. 

The other angler got smashed up by a carp and decided to pack up. He gave me his bait and I thought it rude not to also jump in his vacated swim. The sun came out and I was soon dry again. First cast another perch. I finished on 10 perch, the biggest being the first one above. Nothing big, but sometimes it's nice to just sit and chill. 

Chub or dace? Who cares?

Yes, I know its a perch 

Date fished 17/09/2023

8am until 5pm

I had not fished with or seen Ellis since December last year. DIY, work and Dorset being the reasons.  Today we met up on the Tees, travelling light with float gear, a few different baits and plenty to catch up on. I arrived at my usual 'early' time and Ellis was already parked up and sorting his gear! What was going on?? 

I needn't of worried, I was ready first and waited for him to faff about, just returning to the parked cars once.

We walked down to the river, to see how it looked. 

Perfect! The answer.

We walked a way and soon found a beach area where we could tackle up then both fit in and fish. The river was fast but we started to fish. Second trot through, I lost a fish. A good sign! 

As we fished a few metres apart, Ellis saw an otter spring from the bank and plunge into the river between us! We watched the bubbles as it swam away. 

A few chublets each here and it was time to move on. I still question every dace or chub but they never confirm what they are!

The second swim we tried again produced fish. It was also quite fast. A fast channel with a slower still bit by the bank where some trees had fallen in and to the left side of the fast channel cut towards the main flow in the river. It turned out to be a fish highway. 

I fished the left side, Ellis the right. I lost a fish whilst Ellis got snagged and had to tackle up again. A size 16 being the best!  I caught a roach from the faster bit that looked like it would only produce grayling. I also caught grayling.

The second much bigger than the first, caught on worm

Ellis tried bread, I have watched many a youtuber catch a lot of fish on bread, it looks so simple. It didn't prove effective today.

A change to worm on the hook, and my float buried and something bigger pulled back. The fast water helping the fish. I played it a while until the 2lb hook link snapped. Gutted.

Ellis was back and fishing, we were both catching fish, then it was his turn for a big one. He played it longer than I did, but then his hook came out. Gutted times 2.

Our luck changed and soon bigger fish found the net, we both had some nice perch from the fast water. 

Ellis noted the fallen trees in the now slack water, the river was dropping. He was sure the perch would be here. As I trotted he cast a worm to the still water and lake fished on the river! It worked and his float sailed away at least five times and a perch his reward every time. 

The faster section was still producing, and as a bird of prey, we are gonna say buzzard, but we "don't know our birds of prey" circled above us my float dipped away. A big smile on Ellis's face as he saw before me. A gonk the surprise! 

As close to a Tees barbel as we have ever come! 

We were chatting and laughing as hard as we were fishing, putting the world to rights as the maggots tumbled through the water. The sun broke through the clouds and the fishing didn't stop. A crazy 10 minutes brought chublets (everyone questioned about being dace) on a bite a chuck basis. Roach also kept featuring. 

Such was the fishing or maybe it was being out of practice, but my arm started to ache. We could of emptied the river here, that was my answer to Carole's question "have you caught anything yet?" But we decided to move on. 

We walked to the swim Ellis fished last time. In those conditions on that day, it was the first fishable swim we got to. Today was very different. We fished a swim each, shouting distance apart. Both from the bank now, allowing our waders to dry, glad my trousers were still dry, gotta love my new waders! Casting mid river and feeding breadcrumb, as it was much slower here, we both caught roach, chublets and perch. Nothing massive, but it was nice in the sun and great to be out fishing with Ellis again. 

Ellis thought we had some dace, I thought they were all chublets. On reflection, who cares? We certainly don't. We just had a great time fishing!

N.b I actually think Ellis was right, I think some were dace!! Ffs, seems I do care...........

The advice of Brian

Date fished 2/9/2023

7.30am until 2pm

After a night of beers it was a 6am alarm. Funnily enough I was up straight away, another day fishing! Jar (Alan) and I were off to a local river to try for barbel. 

For once, my words won't do it justice, but the highlights were:

Meeting Brian

Sausage Sarnies

4 miles walked

Casting to an area of feeding fish. 14 fish in total there. We all watched as a barbel swam away from my cast, waited a few minutes and slowly swam over 10 ft, pushing a chub out the way and took my ledgered bread!! Amazing! 

Putting my hand in nettles

Lucky kingfishers

Swims that needed "special" Casting

6lb 11oz