A wet day out on the banks.

 The last week or so I've been trying to plan a half day trip out in search of Chub, the last couple of days I also kept one eye on the weather to see if it was due to rain, Wednesday ( today ) was the only day of the week on the forecast that said it wasn't raining and I woke up this morning to see it pouring down, I wasn't looking forward to getting wet but oh well, I'm not a fair weather angler and these conditions are only a minor setback, an hour or so later and I was at the river, to be fair I was expecting it to be much higher and coloured so it was a bonus, but the rain had soaked through all my clothes and the wind was making everything a challenge.

 My first two casts though produced Chub, the latter a shade under 4lbs the first one was of an average size, 3lb or so, the fights were all pretty good by Chevin standards which put a healthy bend in the Seeley every time, then it went fairly quiet so a little change of bait and depth soon found the fish again and with 10 casts I had four Chub, two of which were over 4lbs, then the small Chub started to move in and nicking small pieces of my bait as it trotted down through the nervous shoal.

 

Biggest of the day at 4.5



 

Another two Chevin's at 4.1 & 4.3.

 

My Chub trotting rig, fished with a size 10 hook.

 

 

Your everyday friendly Swans, de-weeding the river.

 After about an hour of trotting I moved swim as the bites dried right up, the next couple of swims were very overgrown so I didn't bother fishing it, as winter takes hold most of the vegetation will die back so I will visit those spots closer to February time and my foray down stream only provided me with two more Chub another of which was a good 3 maybe a 4lber but I slipped it straight back and maybe hoped for a Roach but the usual tactics that work for the whiley Redfin's didn't today but another time too, after that I decided to have a go for a Pike or two on a lake en-route home.

 

 For the Pike my setup was as simple as can be, a 6ft Shimano lure rod, 6lb line on a light spinning reel and a selection of coloured Rapala lures connected to a 25lb wire trace to protect me from being bitten off by a Pike, it took some serious work though to get a take, 100 odd casts into various places bought nothing but silk weed and leaves which was annoying as it happened on nearly every cast but when it happened it was worth it, the monotony was broken by a sharp thump on the rod and then the simultaneous stripping of line commenced, something had a hold of my gold & silver Rapala and headed off out into the deeper water, my tackle isn't what you would call stout but after a good battle and a couple of tail walks later the magic wand succumbed the Esox and she or he lay in my net.

 Note to self: Remember forceps, it's a darn sight easier to unhook Pike.

8.14 of pure muscle, in beautiful autumn condition.

 

 

A very dingy day but ideal conditions for Pike and Chub, both of which I had caught.

 

 A good solid Pike and for my endeavour I think I earned that one, the wind was in my face the whole time and the driving rain was driving me crazy but I stuck it out and got my reward, maybe one a bit bigger next time would be great. Off to the Royalty again next Wednesday for my brothers birthday bash, a day out arranged for the old man and my two younger brothers, whom are all very confident Pike anglers so it could be a very good days fishing, let's hope they are on our wave length.