Sunday 17th February 2013

Weather -   -5c Start and remaining cloudy most of the day. No wind at all.

Following another week of almost constant rain and another bitterly cold start at minus 5c the river is again in a bit of a state as we load up for another session. We don't waste any time trying for live baits as the mooring is also looking like Chocolate soup. As we head towards the city, a shroud of mist is hugging the river making it feel even colder and quite ghostly. 
Neil pilots the boat as i set up the rods for both live and dead baits. 
I'm hoping to catch a few lives when we reach our first swim at the playhouse.
It never seems to take as long when your doing stuff on the way and we arrive at the swim just after half Seven. The mist is not as thick in the city and the river is a tinge of Grey instead of Brown here too. We are only half a mile downstream from New Mills Yard which is where the tidal river finishes or starts depending on which way you come from.

 A misty start to the day

We soon have just one dead bait out each, i also set up and have a go with a small bomb rod for the live baits. The flow is still much more than we like here and we have to increase the size of our ledger weights to keep them holding in the flow.
At just about 9am i get a few plucks at my Smelt followed by a classic sliding under. I wait until the braid tightens then lean into it. The rod goes over nicely and im into what feels like a decent fish. A few seconds later its off.
I reel in and check the bait, its heavily marked but everything else looks fine.
I get a new bait back out and carry on with the bomb rod which up to now has produced nothing.
During the next half hour our baits remain untouched but Twice in the space of Ten mins we see a largish fish swirl on the top on the opposite bank. Its on the outside of the bend here and it looks like the flow is a little slower so we decide to move over there and try fishing in the slower part of the river. 
Another hours drifts by with still no improvement so a proper move is called for and we head back downstream to the Turning Basin at around Noon.
This is another swim where we can moor up out of the main flow and thus keep our baits clean from rubbish etc. I give Neil the back of the boat swim, This is the bush that is always worth a fish or Two even when it fishes hard. 
His bait is only out for about Fifteen mins when it shoots under and he`s in.
A lively fight results in a nice fish of 9lbs 14oz (on a dead Smelt)

9lbs 14oz (on a dead Smelt)

Apart from another missed run also from under the bush, that's the final action of the day. The mist has finally cleared as we head back at almost Three oclock. 
Another frustrating day as i felt despite the river being a little off colour, we should have had a few more runs at least. The livebait rod never produced a bite all the times we tried it. 
Next time......
 



 

Sunday 10th February 2013

Weather - Overcast with Drizzle +2c

Finally the ice and snow seems to have finished for the time being, being replaced today by strong gusting winds from the East.
A later than usual start as we stopped for some breakfast on the way at the Golden arches Restaurant. Two plates of plastic looking Eggs, a Sausage thing and a hash Brown was not very inspiring. Not many Cafes open on Sundays so its the best we can do. Today its only going to be a fairly short session as i have to be home for work by half Four. 
We quickly catch a dozen live baits, prep the boat and head off downstream to the outfall area. Nobody else is fishing as we turn the corner so we moor up tight to the sluice wall and both  get Two rods out, one dead and one live bait on each. The skies are looking very grim and the wind is gusting every few minutes but we are quite sheltered against the wall. We are fishing about an hour when my live bait float buries instantly without warning. I pick up the rod, wind down and strike into, Nothing ! A dropped run.
A quick check of the bait and we can see just the tip of the tail is marked lightly so this little Roach has had a great escape and is released almost completely unharmed. A new bait is put on and re cast into the same area.
This proves to be the only interest we get here and a move back into the boat yard is on the cards at some point.

Just before we do start to move, another small boat comes round the bend and stops almost straight in front of us on the opposite bank. One of the anglers on board then throws a fairly light looking mud weight over the side while the other guy deploys a second one at the back of the boat. They are facing downstream with the wind howling in behind them. They soon have a rod each in the water and seem to be reeling in every couple of mins to re cast. No sooner have they sat down the wind is at them again and then the fun begins... One of the guys who is dressed as an extra from the Red arrows display team is frantically wrestling with his rod as the wind has spun the boat sideways, wrapping his gear round the front mud weight. As they try to un tangle that, the second rod is now round the back anchor and its turning into a comedy show. We both sit and watch as it goes from bad to worse, Rods, Lines and anchor ropes everywhere, the boat now side on being dragged away on the wind and the two guys needing four more pairs of hands at least. We should have really offered to help but to be honest we were in stitches watching it unfold. I put my full balaclava on so they could not see me laughing !

Im not laughing, Honest

  Eventually, somehow they got both rods in, still attached to the mud weights and drifted off out of sight. A few minutes later they re appeared back under engine power and went past us back up stream both looking quite embarrassed as they went past. The guy in the Red boiler suit had a face the same colour !

 The Red Arrows, Ready to put on a display

After all this excitement we headed off back to the mooring to finish off the session and within Fifteen minutes of tying up Neil had missed two runs both on float ledgered dead baits. With the rain starting to get heavier and the wind still gusting we packed up around half Two and called it a day...
A first blank for both of us for quite a while but the entertainment was first class.