First cast of 2012....

Feeling a little despondent with the local, my first cast of 2012 saw me changing venues, with a trip to another river. This is a smashing river, and one i wish i fished more. I've decided to set myself a chub target of 5lb for this year, and decided that cheese paste (the smelliest, garlic flavoured blue cheese paste you can imagine) balanced with crust and feeder fished with liquidised bread would be the tactic. 8lb drennan double strength and a size 8 drennan super specialist hook finished the rig off. First cast in to a likely looking raft of weed underneath a fallen tree showed the odd indication, and i struck at a quick jag of a bite but missed. I decided to let the bite develop, and within 5 mins the rod pulled round confidently, which was met with a strike and solid resistance. I stopped the initial surge for the tree, before playing the fish in open water. This resulted in a satisfing start to 2012, with a 4lb chub the result.

A mention about another recent fishing trip of mine. Between Xmas 2011 and the end of 2011, I had 3 fishing trips that all ended in blanks. The first was a boxing day trip to a small local river. Try as I might, nothing was interested in my float trotted maggots, and the pike did not find my well presented smelt deadbait of interest. Conversely, my brother Jono decided on an interesting little swim with a sunken tree and, using swimfeeder tactics managed to tempt 5 chublets to half a pound topped off by this smashing 2lb brown trout. If it wasn't out of season, i'm sure it would have made a lovely lunch.

Trip no. 2 saw me roving the banks of the middle river  and dropping a smelt into every likely looking spot. Despite being confident, once again i could't buy a bite. Finally, a move to the lower stretches saw me casting a deadbait to the base of the shelf in 25ft of water, a spot which the Pike usually like to roam. However, once more i failed. Prior to these blanks, a night trip to the coast in temps of -3C had me trying for that elusive shore cod. It was a stunning night at, with little wind, clear starry sky and freezing temps. Despite a promosing looking sea, my ragworm / lugworm / razorclam cocktail tempted the one fish only, a whiting, and I left for the comfort of my warm car at 1am.