First off, I slept through my alarm, which never happens when I'm going fishing, so instead of getting up at 5am I awoke at 6.30. Quickly out the door and I was on my way at 6.45.
The forecast for the day looked good, with heavy cloud cover all day and light showers in the afternoon.
I got to the first swim where mid doubles seem to come from on every trip but only had a jack and a few half hearted knocks from there. On I went and missed a scraper double in the next swim! It then started raining! A few swims later managed one about 9lb off the top so things were looking up! Or so I thought.
A few swims later the lure was hit mid river and as soon as I hit it I knew it was a good fish. As it came up the nearside shelf head first I could see it had hit the big softbait straight across the back and it was wedged in it's mouth, with the head sticking out one side and the tail the other. I could see the underside of the bait which didn't bode well as both stingers were visible. It shook it's head for a bit but when I reached for the net it spat the lure straight out at me! Gutted! I'm not sure if it was even hooked or was just holding onto the lure. The real wounder was seeing it sit there for about 15 seconds in 18" of water! At this point I even considered diving in on top of it and wrestling it in!
A few suitable expletives later and I carried on.The day passed by with me missing a few small fish and landing a couple more but with the thoughts of the lost fish and the increasing rain it was hard going. In the afternoon went back to the car for lunch and to get my chub gear.. I've been having a few recently on the lures which is fun, although I've been disappointed with the fight tbh.
As it was raining so hard I decided i'd take my pike rod with me as well and fish the first few swims again, including where I'd lost the biggie. Got to the swim where there seems to be a resident shoal of chub and promptly missed 2 fish off the top! Put on a crankbait and first chuck had a tiddler about ½lb! After a while decided to rest the swim and carry on to the pike swims. First cast in my banker swim and a mid double hit the lure. It went berserk but I got it in and lowered the net. As the net touched the water the fish thrashed and came off! Arghh! By now the river was rising and colouring and with a few more swims pike fished nothing was doing so went back to the chub swim for a few more casts. It was now pouring with rain and as I'd only got a packable shower jacket I was soaked down to my undercrackers! It wasn't long before a nice chub hit my jitterbug and a 4lb ish fish came to hand. At least I was finishing on a high.. wrong again. Had a couple more casts when I heard a metallic noise and a splash next to me.. it took me a couple of minutes to realise that my pliers had dropped out of my pocket and into the river. I lay on my stomach and reached in, fumbling around in the dirty water up to my armpit, when I nearly went head first into the river! Sod it, time to go... at least I had a reason to leave, although by this time it was 7.30pm and the light was fading anyway.
Not the most successful or enjoyable day! Maybe there's something in this Friday the 13th malarkey?
As for the rain.. be careful what you wish for! I got bucketloads of it!
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