Just putting the last couple of river outings up Scorching day yesterday (Sunday) in fact too bloody hot, it was a real scorcher but fancied a day on the river seeing as my lad was home Had to work in the morning so bearing in mind how hot it was and how low and clear the rivers been I wasnt in any rush to hit the river during what was a mini heatwave for the Tees, headed off late afternoon with a light lure rod apiece and a bow full of lures, some floaters, a couple of prop lures , a couple of poppers and some suspenders(ooh Mrs as Frankie Howard would say) Anyway the river was as expected, quite low and crystal clear so we bot knew we'd struggle, but the river looked a picture, full of lush streamer weed and in the shallower areas it was a rich carpet of green with stunning flowers, little white lilies, wish I'd taken a pic as they were stunning The fishing was hard as expected and made a bit harder with the amount of silkweed but all that stuffs the lifeblood of a healthy river so shouldnt complain too much, the river was alive with fry of all sizes so things looking good if they manage to get through the first year You didnt get much more than a few turn on the reel before the lures fouled with silkweed so if the fish didnt hit straight away you struggled a bit Managed one good take from a perch through the weed but the drag on the reel was too soft and I missed it Didnt miss this one though Thought it might go anything between 12 and 16 ounces so was more than surprised to see it go 1lb 5oz, that was it for me no thurther interes, got that one on a Diawa Sebile Ross was with me as mentioned and spanked my arse, only the one fish for Ross, but what a fish Light line lure fishing with small rods light line and lures doesnt get much better than this Little bit empty after what looks like a succesful spawning so would expect it to be some 2 or 3 lbs heavier come the back end, had some spawning bite marks on its flanks so hopefully theres lots of little pikies to show for its efforts Couple of pics and a weigh 14lb on the nose, caught on a Yo Zuri floating diver
Great way to be out with your lad. Pleased you got away from work,have your fill on the river then get back out On the boat. Nice report.
Thar was from about a couple of weeks ago Bry, was out again but solo this time on Sunday just gone, will put something up if theres enough interest
This is the last write up from Sunday had a chance of a bit of lure bashing on Sunday but the sun was still a bit too hot for my liking but whilst watching the grand prix noticed that it was starting to get a tad cooler and the wind had shifted round a bit Got some gear together for a light lure session and gathered a rod and reel and net and handle, waders in the boot and a spare set of clothed for just in case Realised that I'd left the net head at home as soon as I pulled up and started getting the gear out, what a dipstick, what I had now was a light line outfit and essentially a wading stick The grand prix had finished on the car radio before I pulled up and parked but the sun had just started to burn through with plenty of heat, not what I really wanted but never mind, on we go Thought I was in for a bumper session as third cast I connected with a nice chub of about 3lb, no pics as I faffed about a bit too much at the waters edge and it spun back into the water, thinking I was to fill my boots I carried on but jeez was it hard going, theres still plenty of streamer weed as seen last time out but theres even more silkweed than before and that creates all sorts of problems fouling the diving vane or wrapping round the hooks and snagging, only good thing about silkweed is even when its heavy you can still pull your lure free so you get your gear back Low water and sometimes poor flows and changes in depths and concentration of weed meant constantly changing lures to suit conditions , sometimes putting on a real shallow diver, changing to a suspension lure, changing over to one with a swinging swimming movement or bottom hugging divers when the run was clearer Lots of changes and casts, plenty of work, lots of water to cover but when it works you can get fish like this Proper chub that pull back and give a real good account of theirselves in the right conditions A shot of it in the water You can see how hard they hit the lure when theyre having it 4lb 10oz in difficult conditions Nice deep well proportioned and fit as hell, the lure's there for a guide and showing the lure of the day, none of the usual suspects worked today but the lure of the day was the Diawa Sebile, a well rated bass lure but one I get a few fish out on , in freshwater, not a hit on the usual Big S's No more fish and back at the car for about half nine
I have my light lure gear in the back of the car.........just in case Well tonight after work I managed to get a quick sneaky session in after work,I'm in Durham at the moment and works a bit manic, at the time of writing I've done 49 days on the bounce without a day off so tonight after work I took the chance to get on the river again, feeling real optomistic as I approached the river and looking forward to chucking a few plastics about, got a real kick in the though when a roll of thunder rang out before I'd even cast a line Bloody rain, never even checked the weather forcast, been dry for ages and I didnt have any waterproofs, it pi**ed down for quite some time, enough to drench to the skin, soaked right through and real hard work tonight Thunder rain thunder and more bloody rain and just the one fish Managed a small chub of about a pound and a half, never bothered with a pic as it was only a small one but it certainly nailed the lure,just the one take and one fish, back at the car for 9.20, hoping for better next time Plenty of rain, might just be enough to shift some of that silkweed that seems to be blocking the river up, can only hope
Was going to meet up with my mate Tom for a session with the light lures yeaterday but never left work till 6pm so very nearly called it off, rang Tom who was stuck in traffic and said sod it, I'm coming, a quick dash the thirty odd miles or so to the venue and I was bankside for 7pm, looked inviting but so far Tom hadnt had a take on the light lures Into the water and working the lures, first in was Tom with this little fiesty thing Splashing about and making a real good account of itself on the light gear he slipped the net under this First blood to Tom, a well deserved pikelet of about 4 and a half pounds, first session of the season and no blank Few yards down the river and a couple of casts later and here we go, this time I connect Not as big as Toms but a fiesty little pikelet of about 3lbs and scrapping like a good un, a quick unhook whist in the water And a smile for the camera, well thats both of us avoided the blank so fingers crossed for a few more A jump out and a walk and a quick look at a pool at the end of a bit of a run Toms in and a nice perch of 1lb 6oz, hes on a roll now, see if theres anymore around as thats not a bad perch on a lure at all Nothing else from there despite thrashing the water a bit so another walk and a move Some faster water in front of us and a couple of pockets of slower deeper water just off the main flow, a change of lure for me and then this Smallest chub I've ever caught on a lure but thats two different species each for me and Tom This is the chub and the lure it took What an appetite, the lures nearly half the size of the fish, a tiny knock but its took it fair and square in the mouth Not to be outdone Tom also got a mini chub , slightly bigger but we're talking grammes not ounces and here it is It might be small but no wonder he's chuffed, not only was I surprised to here its his first chub on a lure, it also completes the hat trick for him, three different species in one session on the lures A bit of a move and ome more chucking of plastics and another change of lure for me to compensate for the slack pool in front of me Bang, this thing followed and took the lure about 6 feet away from me and I saw the lot, seen it was a perch straight away and netted it, brilliant, thats two of us done it, both caught the three different species in the one session , dont think I've ever done that before, two anglers both doing the three card trick 2lb 4oz of Tees perch, brilliant, dont think it gets much better than this Slipping it back in to fight again, see you later buddy Buzzing now, we've done it but that slack was still tempting so worked it a bit more and bang 3lb 5oz on a lure again, good this and the lights fading fast, plenty of bats about as it was a still night as the wind had died down and fly life was abundant Well proportioned fish and feeding well these chub and like previous ones give one hellova fight when they move into the current, they dont half test your light gear Tom wasnt finished, he rounded the night off with a new PB, one specimen sized pipistrell , got caught in his braid as the lure hit the water and the bat was skimming the surface, got it back on the bank and it was fair looking sorry for itself, dont think it enjoyed the bath, anyway a couple of interesting minutes as we untangled it before it came round Managed to crawl up me, up my arm and up my chesties to my shoulder Took a little breather and then launched away non the worse Great night great company and we'll be doing it all again soon
Pleased its not all work n no play. Great pics n report, water level with recent rain help weed dispersion to Improve target swims,fish activity?
That last bit of rain has shifted some of the silkweed Bry and its increased the flow in the river, no bad thing but what it has done is to loosen the dying silkweed and its now free floating downstream, wont be too long before its gone though That bit of rain and the extra river water is probably the reason the sea trout have gotten themselves all excited along the shores edge, getting theirselves ready for a run up river Had another session Saturday evening/night will put that one up shortly
Last trip out here Saturday came along and after work was walking my dog on the beach here at Redcar, nothing in my head just a mind full of seagulls and butterflies, quite happy chucking stones for the dog and relaxing a bit Got a phone call from my mate Tom asking if I fancied a session on the river with the light lure set ups again, ...........well do bears shit in the woods? Needed to get home and sort a few bits out first, one job being to replace a treble on the lure still attached to my rod from the other night, one of the trebles had bust away, must have been a cheapish nickel plated hook as there was only one tang to the treble still on the shank, anyway job done mainline trimmed back by a metre or so to remove chafed line and off i went to meet Tom who would already be there, met up about 7pm ish and in we went First thing to notice was how still it was and how little fly life there was in the air, the river was actually pushing through harder and faster than the previous night and there was more loose silkweed in the water than previously, that bit extra rain must have loosened some of the older stuff and it was now moving In some of the swims it was a real pain to deal with, shallow divers being the order of the day, you had to chop and change lures to get the best of the diving and movement to meet conditions depending on where you fished Tom was first in with this fellow We'd been fishing the river side by side wading through and this pool was no different, big pool with a strong current through the middle and about 4ft deep with a very big slack far bank under the tree Chucking lures under the tree and into the slack I wasnt happy with the way the Diawa Sebile was working so I swapped it for a deeper diving Rapala and worked the same area Bringing the lure back through the deeper middle with the strong current, the fastest bit of the whole pool I came solid and said to Tom I'd just come solid on the bottom Gave it a bit of a heave ho to nudge it free and the rod gave a couple of real big healthy kicks, hey up something decents got hold, thats no rock, its kicking back You could see it was a pike and half decent too, on light lure gear, this should be fun After a nice fight in real fast water and a bit of decent network by Tom, this little thing was resting in my net In the weigh sling for a weight, thought at first it would be 16lb or so maybe even 17lb given its massive length but it didnt have the back or shoulders to do it, certainly a big fish and when it fills out over winter will be 3lbs or so heavier, note to self, get some deads in here come the back end 14lb 9oz of prime Tees pike, what a real nice looking fish, fantastic markings After resting up for a bit and making sure it was fit enough to swim away in the faster water I let go of its wrist to hopefully see it again come christmas time We fished on into dark and all of a sudden the fly life came out quickly followed by a multitude of bats We fished on in the half light and I turned a chub but it didnt hit the lure right and I missed it, undeterred we fished on and I picked up this chub in darkening conditions My specs which usually sit on top of my head fell in the river at this point so goodbye to them, never going to see where they landed on the river bed in this light so after a couple of wet armpits full of river water I gave up and stopped feeling the river bed We fished on but without any further fishy luck but given last time out Tom lassoed a bat, tonight it was my turn, after casting the lure under some trees a bat flew into my loose mono about 6 ft from my tip eye, thats a bat a piece in the last two nights, they dont half make some noise when you untangle them, they really are fantastic creatures, blind and relying on sonar they're fast acrobatic and at certain times very numerous Great night to be out again, the Tees doesnt give up its goodies easily but when it does...........................
