For various personal reasons way to tedious to go into here, my October fishing has been severely limited yet again. It’s all very frustrating as this is prime barbel time as the fish fatten up in preparation for the ravages of the forthcoming winter. The weather has been kind, providing some lovely mild overcast days and nights, plus rain to swell the rivers and get the fish on the feed. My barbel fishing pals are quite rightly ‘filling their boots’, and so they should when the opportunities are there, I just wish I was out there with them.
When I did manage to snatch a few hours I decided my efforts were best spent in pursuit of Chub on my local river Dane, at least there I could maximise my time with a line in the water. Having already dusted off my chub rods in anticipation of the inevitable first frosts that have arrived right on queue, I was ready and determined to continue my pursuit of my target, the elusive river Dane 5lb Chub.
12.10.18
A frantic lunchtime rush to the Dane near Middlewich, straight into the teeth of storm Callum. Fortunately I had just taken delivery of a new waterproof coat that very morning and it was destined to take a battering.
The old adage ‘Fail to prepare, prepare to fail’ has never been more appropriate; as I unpacked the car I realised that I had forgotten my liquidised bread and cheesepaste, so I was limited to just halibut pellets, a bit of groundbait plus a small lump of mouldy paste of unknown origin found rolling around in the bottom of my bag. I hate to be unprepared and this is the reason why!
I found the river in fine fettle, a few inches up and carrying a bit of colour, but the high winds where really shaking the trees so tons of leaves and twigs were in the water column, making presentation tricky.
I chose to fish a mini feeder on a light barbel set-up, just in case I encountered a Berty; 1.5lb test rod, 8lb line and a size 12 hook, hair rigged with superglued hinders ellipse pellets. The conditions were right for them, but after pre-baiting 5 swims and not having the slightest indication in any I packed it away and reverted to my lighter chub gear. I cursed myself for forgetting the bread and cheese, usually very effective in today’s conditions and my go to chub bait on the Dane, I would have been very confident of a few fish. It was my own fault so it was pellet or bust.
I began to work my way back along the stretch visiting the previously fished and baited swims. This is usually a reliable way of tempting a bite or two from fish made confident while hoovering up the freebies, but today they just weren’t having it, until I settled into a (relatively) deep, slow, swim surrounded by willows, where suddenly out of the blue a firm pluck and swift strike resulted in a powerful run from an unseen fish. An impressive and spirited fight ensued as the fish bored for the upstream snags. On light gear it was touch and go but I managed to turn it, and bar a near miss with the overhanging bankside shrubbery I safely slid it into the net. Chub can be a worthy adversary on the appropriate tackle and I was pleased with this one on a difficult day. The swim was trashed so it was time to move on.
Sat in my final swim at dusk, I decided to stick it out for an hour into dark. I always touch ledger for chub so the light doesn’t really matter, but the wind had intensified noticeably. I was deep in a copse of old goat willow trees and thought I was sheltered, but following an almighty crack from above I was walloped painfully on the back of the head by a falling bough. That was the signal to get out of there before I got well and truly brained, and following the theme of the day I packed up in a hurry and headed for home.
One chub isn’t a great return admittedly, but I still enjoyed the short session; I’d had a lovely close encounter with a Kingfisher landing on my rod, a flash of aqua blue and there it was, balanced with practiced ease on the swaying carbon, then gone just as quickly as it arrived. My new coat came through its baptism of fire with flying colours, I stayed warm and dry which is a good job as it would have been impossible to put up a brolley in those conditions. All things considered, apart from the branch on the head it was much better than sitting on the sofa at home.
19.10.18
A different stretch of the Dane, but in reality next door to last week’s venue. Somehow it has a different feel and I am always confident of a bite or 2 here. This time I had come prepared with the bread and cheesepaste I had missed so much last week, and I had filled my reel with brand new line.
First swim, everything felt right, the cast was perfect and the rig rolled nicely under the near bank trees where the fish lie. It only took 10 seconds for the electric shock of the Chubs pluck to alert me and a quick strike followed, I was in business…then I wasn’t because the line parted above the feeder! Now this is almost unheard of, my Dane rig is simplicity itself and the feeder link is attached to the main line by a float stop, so in effect I am fishing straight through from reel to hook, any breakage would occur at the hook knot (the only knot in the rig). I barely ever lose a chub other than the odd one that slips the hook, so I concluded I must have damaged the line in transit to the river or loading the car; I stripped a few yards of line off, re-tackled and had another cast in the swim. I was quite surprised to hook another fish straight away and had no problem landing it, a nice chub of maybe 3.5lb.
On to the next swim and another quick take, this was a better fish and I had to apply some side-strain to stop it getting in the tree roots, but yet again the line snapped, this time between the hook and the feeder. The new line was Daiwa Sensor which I have been using it for all my fishing for a number of seasons, until recently while Barbel fishing I got snapped twice using 12lb breaking strain, in a snag free swim and for no obvious reason. I lost 2 decent barbel and my faith in sensor, and immediately swapped my Barbel reels to Berkeley Big Game, which is a bit more expensive but just about bomb proof.
Now the same problem was happening again in the lighter breaking strains. Perhaps they are having quality control issues, or maybe I have just been unlucky, but if I can’t trust it I won’t use it, so 3 bulk spools of Sensor have now gone in the bin! Obviously I couldn’t risk using the chub gear so was forced to switch to the barbel rod, which was too heavy for Chub really. I wasn’t surprised to struggle for the rest of the time but I still managed to land a couple more smaller fish before I had to go.
The session left me feeling frustrated that my tackle had let me down, I stripped the reel as soon as I got home and put on some more trustworthy 5lb Maxima.
25.10.18
I grabbed the chance of 3 or 4 hours, again on the Dane. Despite the losses of last week at least the fish were biting there so I was encouraged to re-visit the same stretch. A bit of rain had fallen and the temperature had dropped so I didn’t know how it would affect the river. I needn’t have worried; with 10cm on the level and a nice tinge of colour, I caught a fish in each of the first 4 swims I tried, ending up with 7 in total for the afternoon. Worth mentioning was the encouraging variety of sizes of Chub, from about a pound to around 3.5lb; the bread and cheese paste method I favour only seemed to produce the larger specimens last season on the Dane and I was concerned at the lack of recruitment in the river, so todays mixed bag was quite reasuring.
I covered the whole length, staying for 15 minutes in a swim and moving on if I didn’t get a bite; the new line proved reliable and the rain held off. Everything felt right with the world and I walked back to the car with a rosy glow.
My Rig
For those interested this is my go-to chub rig for the Dane and all small rivers. Using a drennan rubber float stop on the main line allows easy adjustment of the distance between feeder and hook and secures the feeder/lead link to the mainline without need for a knot (so no weak spot). The only knot between rod and fish is at the hook. I only use a ‘standard’ feeder rig when longer casts or larger lead/feeder is required.
Arrange the feeder link next to the main line as shown, moisturise, then pull both ends through the drennan float stop. In use the weight of the lead will kick the hook length away from the feeder/lead preventing any tangles.
That’s it; a simple but effective small river rig with minimal knots. I use this everywhere I will be ‘underarm casting’ with light feeders/leads. The float stop is fully adjustable but holds in place surprisingly well, and it is pretty much tangle free.
Unfortunately that was my lot for October, nowhere near enough hours on the bank in one of my favourite and productive Barbel months, but it is what it is, I just had to make the best of the available spare time I had. No Dane five pounder graced my net so the quest continues!
Hopefully next month will offer a bit more opportunity, but the frosts have arrived and my premature conversion from Barbel to Chub will probably continue for the cold spell. Good luck if you brave the weather and wet a line.
Tight Lines
Dave
Barbel Crazy 