Jack Frost

What a change a few degree's can make
all the swims and glides of the river are
the same , but seeing them coated in frost
makes them different and quite beautiful .
I fished the river a few weeks back on quite
a warm day but the rain had been falling
most of the week and the river was a few
feet up this made for a hard day . It was
the first time Pete had fished the beat and
he was rewarded with a little Grayling .

Today was different I opened the curtains and Scarlett
said it had snowed ? Logan ran to the window I told
them Jack Frost had been out and it looked cold ,
would it be too cold to stop two mad men fishing
Mike soon rested any fears that he is not less
bonkers than me when he rang to say he was on his
way .
A quick cupper and we were off for some bait .
We finally arrived at the river after a few traffic
problems of one kind or another.
Mike said he would not be wading much!!
We stopped at the first glide and and two
minutes later Mike was half way across the
river , you just have too it sort of draws you
in the river , even if your freezing .
I got the first couple of bites but they dropped
off a small Grayling followed and Mike had a decent
out of season Trout . We split up for the next few
hours both of us having little luck.

A new pool which I have walked past a few times
brought me a couple of very cold Trout.
It was now getting really cold the frost was deepening
and I decided to have another move to deeper water.
Looking through another blog it seems the
spiders are as cold as I was !!
The deeper water brought me a few fish a
couple of Chub and a Grayling to finish ,
Mike packed up his line froze to his
rod rings . At this point my line was froze my
centrepin seized and I lost a better fish which I think
was a Grayling .
I like to think the river does the ''lose a decent
fish thing'' to bring me back and keep me keen
although it may be wishful thinking it makes
me happy.

Bloom-in Freezing

I'm sat here now just writing up the days events
and I've just about thawed out ! To say the day
was wet and cold would not do it credit ...........
...it was much worse .
The rain last night had me wandering if our trip
to the Dane would go ahead ? Although a
small river she rises quick but the water can
run off even quicker . The trick seems to have
been over the years to catch the water thinning
down , this means that both the fresh water and
sediment that it carries are settling down ,the
little colour seems to disguise the line and the
fish are on the look out for food after fighting
the colder fast water . I think this was starting
to happen but then the rain came and the river
started to rise not very good .
I lost a couple of fish from a swim last visit and
with the water slightly up I knew the spot would
have some fish waiting for me today .
A change in tactics , I normally scale down
the wall and fish past a large tree which
is partly in the water . The good points
; the tree is a good hiding place for
both Chub and Barbel also even though
a good strong glide runs past for some
20m or so just in behind lies some slower
water ,this is a ideal place for Roach
and for all fish to retreat to in flood .
Bad points ; as you hook any fish it as to
come back past the snagy roots you can
guess the rest ! also that wall is not very
high but slippy when wet .
So today I stayed on top my idea to run
down stream and pull the fish away from
any underwater dangers .
I was soon into small Chub and then a
better one slipped the hook.
Finally I was into a large fish or it was
into me after going up and down the glide
several times it decided to run downstream
50 yards later I past Phil with the fish taking
me for a walk deeper water lay ahead so
something had to give the hooked pinged!
I took several Chub on a hard day when
most seemed to struggle ,the photo
at the top being around the best
(thanks to Phil) a in depth Chub
artical can be found on his blog
http://fishingaddict-phil-k.blogspot.com/
Well worth a look and a good read
We made an early return home both very
wet and cold a good dry week is needed
before my next outing , a bit of fly tying
will make the time pass easier .

Cold Day Warm Glow

Well winter arrived this week , the clocks moved
and the days became short and cold even a bit of
snow.
But you cant not go on the river can you?
So Phil , Mike and myself decided the
Ribble would be worth a cast or two.

Even in the cold a Grayling is always willing
to feed and this was very much on our minds
today.
As we arrived the weather was milder than on
the previous few days even so I put two pair of
waders on and wrapped up warm.
The first place we tried did not bring much
Phil taking a little Grayling on his new Hardy
rod.


I fancied a glide and mentioned to Phil on our way
past we should give it a try ,I had a few fish
mostly Trout out of season but a nice Grayling
just over a pound was a good result.



Phil moved to his favourite spot taking a few Trout
and a lovly grayling pictured below .

It's unavoidable catching the odd Trout a

quick snap and return .

While Phil was having fun with his new rod I

took Mike to a spot Ilike for Chub , he was

soon trotting the float and into a fish and just

as predicted a Chub of around 2lb was soon in

the net . Almost imedeatly he was in again

this one better over 3lb it slipped back before

we got it's picture .

One last cast in Phils glide saw Mike finish with

a lovly little SeaTrout .

Another ver nice day on the river with

good company a cold day that left me

with a warm glow !

A few hours

We have neglected the Dane a little this year
the Ribble and fly fishing responsible for
taking up much of our fishing time, also
Mike is not a member of the water on the Dane
we fish , I've fished quite a lot with him , we have
tended to fish where we can all enjoy the day
and enjoy we have looking back what a good
laugh we've had and also caught a lot of fish
along the way.

So with Mikes time for Salmon running down
he was out on his ''quest'' for old Salmo .
Phil and I decided to try for a few Grayling long
trotting .
We tried first spots at the top of the water
I hooked into two very good fish both
found snags think they were Barbel or
large Chub. Phil meanwhile was into
a shoal of Chub and managed a
Grayling .
We moved to the glide I fished last week
again I was left to regret not bringing
a net , that's two weeks running must
be my age . Hooked into another
good Grayling a lovely cock fish
over a pound . Brought it to hand
a few times before the hook slipped!
phil had another couple and I wandered
down stream to my next swim.
Second cast and as the float trundled
down the glide the float dipped the rod
was pulled round ''more like it'' few moments
later the fish was at my feet still deep
must be a ''Chub? no a Grayling!!!''
now I've been here before and guess what
hook pulled this seems to have been a big
problem last couple of months ,it's got me
questioning hooks , rod too strong and
of coarse technique it may be luck or lack
of it but I cant help but wander ?

I was now intent on just landing one I got a few small
Dace and Chub also a very small Grayling .
Phil came up he was having a move to the fast swim
we had luck with a few weeks back, he was soon
into another fish . I stuck it out and hooked a fish around
a pound and landed it ''HALLELUJAH'' I noticed at this
point a few Grayling drifting up stream past me , it
struck me that while I took the snap with the camera
I had stopped feeding, I think these fish had come up
looking for the source of feed ? I fed and watched a
dozen or so fish feed in a foot or so of water , a quick
call to Phil who I knew would be as interested as me
we took five fish from the shoal all around a pound
taking it in turn .
I spotted a much larger fish lurking at the back of the
hungry pack not sure it was a Grayling but if it was
it could be around the two pound mark , something
to dream about !! a return is now very much in my
mind sooner rather than later.

Put To The Test

I'm no kid but today was a little like a Christmas morning
the chance to try the new rod !! The rain had held off
and the weather turning cold now means you can
fish the River Dane without the plague of Minnows
attacking every run of the float . A little late ''traffic''
I arrived and made my way to a area that produces
a good amount of Grayling . On the way it was
Mushroom city all types and hundreds lined the
meadow.
The tension mounted and I could hardly wait to set up
and run the the float. The water was up but no colour
and quite cold ,I tried my banker glide for Grayling nothing!
gutted I just wanted a fish. I then hooked one in my second
swim ,at this point I realized my net was in the car
anyway the hook slipped as I brought it to hand, a nice one
over a pound but no photo .
Not to worry I have spent a lot of time on the Dane so I changed
swim again and had quite a few Grayling I then bumped a much
better one .
The rod is nice and I could tell it had a good bit of power
lower down but with a fine enough top action to make the Grayling
and Dace good fun in the fast water .
First photo of fish and rod ...... It felt good !
A typical glide on the Dane , at around 3ft deep ,always
look for a gravel bed with a swift flow if you are after
Grayling , normally you get a couple of small ones
the bigger specimens hang off the back .
If you rest the swim and feed a little between
fish you can take quite a few fish from a glide
rush and they spook I got eight from the spot.
Tried a new swim first cast a Dace quite a good
one not quite a pound but after a brief juggle dropped
it before a picture ''oops'' not going to plan .
Next cast and bang !! a great big solid lump was not
expecting a Chub in the fast water after a great fight
landed what was my best from the Dane in over
20 years of fishing her! well over 5lb plus my guess,
not very long but deep thought it was a Carp as it
turned , got a picture need some scales .
It was getting late so thought I would try a spot near
the car, I got a cracking Grayling, I put it down next
to the rod for a nice photo blumin thing jumped in!
Ended as I started but what a lovely day the Chub
put the rod to the test................''Quality''.

Avenger

Well four weeks of waiting finally ended today
with the arrival of my new rod , and much to
my joy what a quality item it appears to be .
The Normark name is very much a item
you associate with river angling and after
a few seasons with my Greys rod I thought
a change may be needed the Greys was
solid but I was not in contact the same way
that I was in the past with the fish , may seem
strange but my older stick float spliced tip was
just an extension of my arm and I only realized
how much I missed it after landing a Perch on
Pete's Drennan which was a dream to use with his
little Shimano reel .
Mike also owns a Drennan 13/15ft but on the
Ribble he worries about its strength with
that in mind I did a bit of research and after
a chat with with a very good angler on the
river who owned the Mk1 Avenger my
mind was set . The big draw back the
£399 price tag the rod retailed more like
£299 but still a lot of money .
So on to the world wide web and after a
search the price came down£260,£240
and finally just a shade under £200 the
fact that Shimano have now taken Normarks
parent company over and Normark in effect
are no longer producing the rod made the
hunt harder . After finding a couple up for
sale on E-bay I thought a bid may be worthwhile
I did not have the money to buy one at full price
and resided my self to a wait but a last minute £120
bid secured it .......... ''yes'' nearly as good as landing
a fish .
My next search is for a closed face reel
this will allow me to carry a few options,
in slow water with a light float the pin
can be a bit of hard work the closed face
will be much better ,also a waggler could be
used and seeing they come with a couple of
spools my options will be increased the
search is on for a cheap Abu 704 watch
this space .

A...n..d ..... Relax

Today was a chance to snatch a few hours
out , I sort of had a plan to nip down to the
river Dane. I was up early with the kids
Logan was doing his school project Scarlett
had found a new love for Mince pie's .

I had just made breakfast when
Melanie's Mum n Dad arrived, we got
talking and looking at old photos
and before we realized the morning
had almost gone.
Mike phoned to say he may snatch
a few hours on my local brook?
I had sort of built my hopes on a few
Grayling alas the better part of me said
I should take the kids to the park
and then catch the last couple of hours
with Mike and so it turned out.

The little brook is shallow and it's hard to
believe the quality of fish you can catch
Mike was busy fishing when I arrived.


Setting up light for the Roach is a must the
better one's are shy fluro line 1.10lbs with
a 20's hook under a little float does the job
I use a pole float it's just rite. Again I use
the same method I feed and don't rush to
fish . A steady trickle of Maggots today's
choice was regularly fed while I fixed up
the rod . First run and first fish not a bad
start . A a few seconds later I was into a
better fish my hopes for a Roach where
dashed an out of season Trout the culprit,
a quick snap , I wrote a few weeks back
on how well marked the fish from this brook
are the photo shows what I mean.

Mike was well impressed he soon was looking
at my set up and was changing his float
and the results were instant.
We both had a good amount of quality Roach
at a rough guess we had 30 odd fish between
us almost all Roach ...... 2 Trout and a perfect
little Pearch.


We carried on into the evening and Mike
finally called it quits when he lost the ability
to see . A nice few hours spent with good
company after a week at work it's a case of
get on the bank..... A...n..d....Relax all ready
for a new week .