Gary's day

Today was day 2 of Storm Bert. Thankfully we had a bit of shelter along the Backwater from the trees and the high bank but it was still pretty windy. The downside was that any relatively calm areas were where the leaves were gathering. With a bit of colour and some flow we hoped the River would fish OK.

Out of the draw bag came peg 12 for me which seems to be one I keep drawing. It is quite narrow so handy on a windy day and with a bit of shelter – but lots of leaves. A start on bread punch was not overly successful. The light rig was struggling to get through the leaves and when I did get a bite the fish were small. After half an hour of leaf dodging I decided to try between the boats which was a bit clearer and had a small perch quite quickly followed by a few more and after an hour was flying with a good 1lb in the net. Tony down on peg 10 was struggling for any bites and having to battle the wind.

The perch had started to slow and get smaller so I gave it a quick rest and tried the middle with maggots. This got me a couple of small fish but nothing much. About this time Phil came past with his trolley – an emergency call home as his fence had blown down. The rest of my perch line had done it no good – they had gone never to return. The rest of the day was spent scratching for bites from anything with the fish getting smaller and smaller until I was glad of a ½ oz dace. The boat downstream from me was bobbing all over the place in the wind and a few times I thought it was going to be pushed into the boat in front of it – the fish were not keen being anywhere near it. The flow was also all over the place during the day as the wind must have been strong enough it was forcing the river to back up.

How the upstream pegs had fished was a mystery as they were round the corner from me but down at our end it was hard work.

After 5 hours of being battered by the wind 1st Fred Hunt 4lbs 7oz of mostly perch up to 1lb, 2nd Steve Foster 3lbs 11oz and 3rd Gary Pickard 3lbs 3oz. Picture today is my peg with a healthy scattering of leaves on top.