November

"My Fishy Tales November 2003"

by Malcolm Clarke

'This is part 6 of my diary that I kept of my fishing season 2003/2004'

November fFireworks But Not From Boris

02/11/03
Having had no luck at all for the whole of October was pleased on getting to the river today, on seeing what looked as near to perfect fishing conditions as you can get for November.
With the river having a lovely colour to it decided to fish the lower reaches of the stretch, where the opportunity to change swims is a lot better, this would not be a problem today as once again I have the river to myself.

Was to be disappointed as try as I might, just could not get a touch, had hoped that the bait Bob had gave me last week up the Wye would do the trick but even this failed this time.
Still will be back tomorrow and hopefully will be a fish or two caught, as Ray and myself have Jim and Rich for company.

03/11/03
What is it with this bloody weather, having left the banks yesterday, with what were perfect conditions the rain was falling heavy and it stayed that way all night long.
This meant on arriving at the river today I was just in time to see Ray bouncing 6oz of lead into a snag, lucky he did get snagged up as next stop for that lead would have been Cardiff Bay.

But then this was to be expected after all Jim & Rich are on there way down.
This very same thing happened on there last visit to the Taff, disappointing was not the word I used on seeing the river had came up by some 3 - 4 feet since yesterday.

Around 9 am Jim & Rich turned up no doubt thinking this is normal levels for the river as they have not seen it any different, after greetings were over we pointed them in the direction of what is in these conditions, one of the only fishable swims that is likely to produce a fish or two. Whilst Ray and myself fished lower down, that's if you can call it fishing.

Back in the mid 70's this stretch of the river was prone to flooding so the EA have over the years, carried out quite considerable work in straightening out the banks and the like. This means that anytime we get a bit of extra water in the river it pushes through at an unbelievable rate, rendering it next to impossible to find anywhere to fish and today we weren't being helped by the amount of rubbish coming down the river.

Ray and myself both checked up on the boys during the course of the day hoping to have some good news, but this unfortunately was not to happen. In the afternoon we were joined on the bank by Chris and Kevin who on having seen the conditions think they decided best not to fish.
Late afternoon saw Jim & Rich join us lower down so this meant there were now 6 of us bemoaning the conditions, who was it who asked for some rain I wonder.

Still a most enjoyable day never the less and we still have time to get together again which seems on the cards, but maybe not the on the Taff again this season.

She looks nice at the right levels

08/11/03
Know this blanking has got to end sometime so hopefully today will be the day, that was my thinking on heading to the river today, that no doubt will be my thinking on my next visit.
As once again could not get me a touch, found on getting to the river someone fishing in what was to be my chosen swim for the day. This turned out to be Nick a good friend of Ray's, told him a bit early to be chasing those monsters just yet, as he's known to catch a big one or two, with his best to date an enviable 14lb 8oz one.
After spending a bit of time with Nick (always find it pays to watch the good ones at work) made my way to the next chose of swim.

This session was going to be into darkness so with that in mind set my gear out so as to have everything in it's place, only to have to move it when a dozen or more bloody kids turned up luckily they didn't stay around to long.
Found the conditions to be more awkward than what they looked as an unbelievable amount of rubbish was still coming down the river.
This was a pain once darkness came as you could not keep your bait out for longer than ten minutes and removing the crap off your line in darkness isn't fun.

The problem was to go away though as the kids who were here earlier returned, only to have a bloody firework display some 15 yards away from me.
That was bad enough but much too tame for these bloody idiots, so they set fire to a rather large old oak tree which in no time was lighting up the river bank.
This brought the sound of sirens and flashing blue lights to the banks, on what should have been a peaceful early Saturday evening session.

16/11/03
Decided to take a trip up the Bibs today, thought this would be my best chance of putting this long run of blanks behind me.
This meant getting up out of bed at 5 am as I wanted to be there for first light, was a nice easy drive for once having not been to work first and being a Sunday.
Was a bit concerned on the way up as the river Usk seemed to have quite a bit of extra water flowing down it, on driving into Monmouth my concerns were founded as the Wye was up quite considerably and the colour of chocolate.

Still here now so made my way down to the deeps to try and find a swim that would be fishable without putting myself at risk as the banks were unbelievably slippery.
Eventually settled down in what looked a decent enough swim, only to find that just about every piece of weed that was left in the river seemed to be washing onto my line.
Moved up to the lower meadow after a couple of hours to see if it would be any better there, but just couldn't get away from the bloody stuff.
Going down on my arse for the second time in quick succession made up my mind that today was not going to be my day.

By now the time was around mid-day and having passed the Taff at 6 am this morning with it looking in good nick thought I would drop off on my way home to see who was fishing.
On getting to the river found John and his son Joe fishing along with Kevin, just could not resist having a go here now after hearing that Joe had recently caught.

When it's not happening for you it's just not happening and I now added another new one to my list, that being blanking on two different rivers on the same day.

18/11/03
Think I need a Boris or at least that was the way I seen it, so instead of going home from work today headed to the river at 6.30 am, was a mild but damp morning so knew I would only fish for a few hours.
Once again the river looked in good condition so surely it would only be a matter of time before they start to come out again, as no one seems to be catching at the moment.
Was beginning to think that this session was to go the same way as the others of late. as 10.30 came around and still no sign of activity.

With the drizzle now getting heavier and the lack of sleep catching up with me decided to give it another 15 minutes before packing away.
When out of the blue the rod wrenched round and for the first time in best part of two months I was in contact with a Barbel.

Fortunately this wasn't a big fish by any means, as I'm sure my over caution in playing this fish to the net would have posed big problems if the fish was a decent size, strange the way you react when it's so long since you've caught.

Well eventually I had a Barbel on the bank again this being a fish of about 4lb but as pleasing as any Boris caught so far this season, quick note in sketch book to thank Bob next time we chat as this fish came to some of his paste.
With the run of blanks over maybe now I can get on with catching that monster that I've been promising myself this season.

22/11/03
Having caught on last visit, that's much better being able to write that, decided today to fish the afternoon into the evening. First time this season the banks were packed, it took my fourth choice of swim before I found one that was vacant.
Still wasn't that bothered about this as that gave me the opportunity to fish a swim I'd been promising myself to fish all season.

Seems now the colder weather is here the Grayling are on the move again, as I was pestered by them right from the start. Looks like they are now more than happy to have a go at the larger baits as well as the maggots, had hoped to get away from them with the water being just that bit deeper and slower down this end.

Around 5 o-clock made a move up river to a much more productive swim, well use to be anyway, as by now I had the river to myself. But this didn't make a lot of difference as all I could manage was a rather large slimy, bloody things, this one managed to eat a lump of meat which he had no right to get his chops around. Am I the only one who can managed to get covered in slime from head to toe or are there others like me.
This was made all the more difficult in the dark with a failing head light, having returned the wriggly back to his home decided this would be a good time for me to do the same.

24/11/03
What a turn around in conditions we have of late, was due to meet Ray today, for a number of reasons we have not got together for a while now, so was looking forward to getting, both together for a session and amongst the Barbel.
But the weather had taken a turn for the worst and the temperature had dropped quite a bit from the mild conditions of the last couple of days. So on arriving at the river was given the sob story from Ray how he had ("I had to scrape the car before I left this morn") yeh and me Ray bloody twice today already.

Stayed far longer than what we should have, as all we could muster between us were a couple of Grayling and go's without saying Ray had his now customary Trout.

Still mid-afternoon the sun did put in an appearance and it was nice to be sat out amongst the early winter surroundings, that was until we got back to the car, where once again it was time to scrape the ice away.

30/11/03
Think I'm slowly getting to realized that those early morning sessions are best kept for the summer months, as once again it's 2.30 pm before I get to the river.
On getting there, did think maybe this was the wrong choice, as the river had came up quite a bit from when I had last seen it some 30 hours earlier.
Well very first cast made up my mind I had for once made the right choice, as before I had time to sit myself down, I find I'm having a right old ding dong with Boris.
Although this fish proved to be no more than 5 and a bit pound on landing, it did give me a tremendous scrap in the extra water that the river was now carrying.

With the river up like it was and quickly rising had decided to fish the 1 rod only, as it was on a regular basis, I found myself moving backwards to stop my feet getting wet.
This had little effect on the fishing as it's not long before I'm into what feels a better fish, once again this one gave a great account of itself and on more than one occasion got into the faster water.

On landing this fish was somewhat disappointed as I knew it was time to make a move from this swim, as I had great difficulty getting close enough to the water with the net and with darkness quickly closing in, had no intention of taking a dip in a high and angry looking Taff.

Dropped down river a few swims and settled myself back down, still expecting more action as the weather was changing and definitely for the better, did not get another touch as is most often the case when fishing this swim from downstream of it, still was good to have the couple as doubt if I'll get out that much in December.

by Malcolm Clarke

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