Terrible Trotting - 1/3/19 - 3pm

For this session I decided to do some trotting across the road from my home.

My target would be the chub and roach that reside in the straight above the weir.

I was joined by my friend James who decided he'd like to do some jigging in and around the lock and marina, hoping to pick up a nice perch.

The session started well enough with a couple of small roach caught on the first two runs through but then the swim went dead.  Try as I might I couldn't even get a bite after that.  I stuck it out for a while before giving best and switching over to the feeder rod.  Breadflake and maggots were ignored and switching to a lobworm produced a couple of small wasps perch but that was it.

James then gave me a shout, having had a hit on the jig and he'd banked a nice stripey.

A move was in order for me and I opted to fish the run below the weir where the lock cut met the main flow.  It is a lovely spot to do some long trotting and I have had some great sessions there for the chub previously.

However, on this occasion it was not to be.  An hour of feeding and running the float through failed to illicit even one bite.

I moved back up to the marina to join James for the last half hour of light, knowing from experience that I would be able to catch some small roach there.  Even in the toughest conditions the shoals of roach and rudd can be coaxed into biting and a bonus decent sized rudd can often be a welcome reward.

Indeed the roach were there and I managed a few out before the light faded too much for me to see the float.

However, as the light dropped James had a slamming take on his jig and managed a really lovely perch, plump with spawn.

Not the best session for me but it was good to have a social session for once and at least a blank was avoided.

Nic