Dace And Roach On The Waggler.

Friday 28th January, 08:30 - 14:00. Warks Avon at Warwick. 1C > 3C. N breeze.

The omens were against me at the start of this bright cold day.

I somehow snapped the tip off my originally 14ft, more recently 13ft 8", and now subsequently 13ft  float rod. Oaf!

I clipped off the bit of blank with my pliers which was protruding beyond the last eye and set up a 2AA waggler.

Out went a pouchful of reds and a small ball of liquidised bread with stewed hemp.

Second cast, I caught the tree above the peg and lost my hooklength. Calm.

My float set up was simple, just two bulk shot with three no.8's six inches apart by the hook but the fishing was surprisingly technical.

Firstly there was the cast. An overhanging branch on the peg meant it had to be punched out with minimal elevation to avoid being caught up. [FAO the bailiff: It would be a 45 min job with my chainsaw to remove all trace of said branch.]

Secondly the flow. I was fishing two thirds over into about eight feet depth and the nearside was the faster water. This meant that frequent line mends were required to avoid a belly of line building up and the bait being dragged unnaturally speedily downstream.

Thirdly the wind. A Northerly downstream breeze meant even more mending as soon as the float hit the water.

Finally ice in the rod rings. This required clearing with my warm fingers about every five casts until eleven a.m. when the air temperature rose sufficiently to alleviate the problem. Left in place on the rings it grabs hold of the mono and turns the mainline into a pigtail.

The fishing however was worth the effort. I had my first bite on the second cast and became worried if I had two runs down thereafter without a bite.

I caught seventy seven fish in this session, a mixture of dace and roach, say 70:30.

Hoping to improve on my dace weight I was only a little disappointed when the largest fish of the day went five and a half ounces.

I've invested in some new scales to weight the smaller species accurately but that's another story.

Time to go home:

  
 Cheers.