Brace of Pearlers.

 Already this calender year has been kind to me, the catches have been nothing short of fantastic. So I'm hoping that streak continues, this afternoon I had a couple of hours going begging, reluctant to sit at home I headed out with the trotting gear. Over the last couple of months I've been on a purple patch in regards to the Dace, hoping to continue that form I targeted them again.

 My tackle, the usual rod and pin but with the added flow I opted for a slightly heavier setup, 6-7BB is usually overkill but in the elevated river levels it was necessary. I have located a good shoal of Dace over the last year or so and believe I have found them in a holding area as opposed to finding transient fish. Knowing this makes targeting them a lot easier, so with that knowledge I set about feeding small amount of mashed bread before running the float through. A few runs through and I came across public enemy one when it comes to primarily targeting Dace and Roach for that matter, a Trout. After tearing through the swim and upsetting the natives it came in with relative calm for a quick snap.

 The run took a while to get going again but the float buried itself right at the bottom of the run as I was about to begin my retrieve, the fish began to twist and turn in a blatant attempt to escape capture. Clearly a very good fish it was played with great care, less than a minute passed and a cracking Dace of 10oz 7dr was put into the keepnet. Just hoped I would get the chance to put more than one in there. I thought weighing them before putting in the keepnet would reduce the amount of time at the end faffing about, more importantly getting the fish back safely without any stress.

Best at 12oz 1dr.

 Bites were very hard to come by and probably at the end of the session were at a ratio of 30.1 cast to bite, very tough going and it didn't get easier either. Although it wasn't all doom and gloom as I connected with another clonking Dace, certainly larger than the first I gave it the same gentile approach, not bad at all. 12oz 1dr she didn't look fat but was long, so it's a fish that has enormous potential. If only I were to catch that in mid-March, I'm sure it'll be knocking on the door of at least 14oz if not more!.

Awesome stuff, not a bad brace at all!.

 But the bites at that ratio got worse and even though I knew the fish were there, it was a case of moving as it was almost futile to continue. In a way I'm glad as it's always a pleasure to see somebody catch a personal best of any species, this fish was impressive as was the fight it, strong lunges, stripping line, simply being difficult to get in the net. But thoroughly worth the effort, I spotted the fish and was about to set up my rod to give it a whirl, I thought, no, I showed my father where the fish was and the rest is history, a personal best Brown Trout of 6lb 8oz. Totally amazing, glad he was made up with it as any angler would be, sheer beauty in fish form, the colour's were astonishing.

Simply stunning.

 The day didn't end there either as I tried to seek out more Dace on other runs that I know/have
known they frequent, but the Trout were very quick to mop up the flake as it made it's way through the runs, a return is already in mind. The day belonged to James Snr for his stunning Trout. Well played.

Home time descending on another session.