Winter Fishing Can Be Worth The Effort

With just a few weeks left for coarse fishing on our rivers and stream its now time to get out on the river bank , two fish I suggest you target are the chub and grayling where sport can often be excellent even when the thermometer is giving a reading of 40 degrees F and below. At this time of the year both species will be shoaled up prior to spawning. In the north of England we are very fortunate to have several rivers where you can catch good size chub and grayling. By good size I suggest chub over 4lbs and grayling over a pound and a half. Having written those words it doesn't mean you can't catch 3lb grayling and 6lb chub but as in all aspects of our great sport, or is it a passion, pastime or game, then we need a chunk of luck.



Several rivers spring to mind for you to target during these last couple of weeks of coarse fishing on rivers and streams, they are the Rivers Ure, Swale, Nidd, Aire, Wharfe, Ribble and Wyre. On the latter river to the best of my knowledge you want find grayling buts it’s a good chub fishing river. Two clubs are St Michael’s AC and the Warrington and District AA both have some good water on the Wyre. Day permits for St Michael’s used to be purchased at a garage in the village of Garstang but I am not sure of the position these days.



The River Aire has done grayling to 3lbs and chub over 6lbs, with .perch of 3lb plus. Keighley AC has several miles of fishing on this river, where it will cost you just £23-00 a season or £3-00 a day from Dave at KL Tackle in Keighley. Its probably one of the best value cards or day tickets anywhere. Its certainly far cheaper and more interesting water to fish than many of the commercials. For chub you only need just 1 bait that’s a loaf of Morrison's extra thick sliced bread. A chunk of flake or crust on a size 4 barbless hook to 6lb line with an Avon action rod matched with a fixed spool or centre pin reel is all you need. I pick ten to a dozen likely looking spots. I fish them all in rotation, dropping in a baited hook and no free offerings to start with. If after fifteen minutes I don’t get a bite I then move on. If the water temperature is above 42 degrees I will introduce some mashed bread. Then having fished all my chosen spots I repeat the exercise. It also worth taking a few lobworms, and don't be surprised if you catch a big bream (fish over 7lbs) There are many excellent bream in the river, some probably topping ten pounds. Other club permits for the River Aire are Bradford No 1 AA and Bradford City AA. I have all three club cards. Which enable me to roam up and down river at will I can also fish the Wharfe, Swale, Ure and Nidd on the two Bradford cards



Should the water temperature be above 44 degrees F then barbel could be a quarry worth seeking, if you plan to fish for this species then try to pick a river that has some colour and extra water, what we will all be hoping for is a warm south westerly wind with some rain. If I arrive at the waterside to find my chosen river with an extra three foot of water, a nice colour with a water temperature of 46 degrees F I will think I’ve died and gone to heaven, if there is such a place. Having said that I have had my share of barbel from the River Ribble Wye and Kennet when the temperature has been low. Remember unless we have bait in the water we can't expect to catch.



During some of my fishing sessions this winter the net has often been frozen to the bank side, with our tackle and clothing having a covering of frost, but we still fished on, often until midnight or later and we caught our share off fish.

I well remember fishing a Friday session in January with Mick Holgate of Standish; we chose to fish the Edisford Hall water. The water temperature was a very low 33 degrees F with ice flows coming down the stream, in many areas the water was frozen from bank to bank. I supose we had fished for about 2 hours before the fish showed any interest, then an hour before dark they fed as if there was no tomorrow. We used big chunks of crust on a 1 inch link. Between us in this short feeding spell lasting some fifty minutes we had 14 chub and 2 brown trout. As darkness started to envelope us the fish stopped feeding. Though we carried on for another hour but we didn't get another touch.



Many authors tell us the bites from chub in icy cold conditions are usually light taps on the rod tip. That is not our experience, if I am holding the rod I feel a tightening of the line over my index finger then a solid tightening of the line. If the rod is in the rest, we usually get a slight tap, then a distinct pull round of the rod tip. There have been many times when the bite from a taking fish has moved the rod butt. Other times this winter I have had a flurry of bites and fish, then just before and after dark, then it’s died. For perhaps two or three hours I haven’t had a touch then perhaps around nine o’clock in the evening the fish have started to feed again some times this feeding spell has lasted a couple of hours. At other times no more that fifteen minutes. Then I would rather sit on the river bank than at home.



If roach are your target then why not try the River Ribble, this season the river has been giving up its secrets, with several roach being caught too just over 2lbs, some anglers have had ten to fifteen roach over the pound mark when conditions have been good. The tidal section has certainly been one of the better areas to fish where 2lb roach have been caught. Another area to fish is the Dinkley Ribchester area where Warrington AA has some nice water.

The Environment Agency water downstream of Mitton Bridge left hand bank looking downstream is well worth visit, tickets from the Aspinall Arms at Mitton, from what I have seen the roach have been coming from just upstream of Calder Foot. What surprises me is how the roach and lets not forget the dace have started to show in the past couple of years. These fish just haven’t appeared they have been in the river for sometime.



Still I suppose when everyone is targeting the barbel, then not many roach will be caught. When I go out in search of roach I try to pick conditions where I can float fish, trotting the stream with a cork or balsa on quill float that takes some weight so I can boss the stream and easily mend the line, also by using a heavily shotted float you don’t pull the float off the line your trotting when your mending the line. My other searching method which really does work is stret-pegging, and it’s not an old fashion method of float fishing, but a very successful way of catching fish. It really is excellent for searching the water. Having said that a shot leger outfit with a size 10 hook with bread flake has helped me catch some big roach (fish over the pound mark) If you seek the roach try and choose water flowing over a sandy silty bottom, I find this type of river bed to be better that the normal stony river bed, Looking for a swim with pea size gravel that roach love to haunt is very difficult to find on this river. I try to pick a swim where I have a steady flow of water about four to five feet deep. If the water is fining down with a tinge of colour then my first choice baits are usually bread flake followed by sweet corn. If the water is clear and you can afford the caster or gentles then these baits will work. I start off by putting two small droppers of bait into the swim, then when fishing I keep the feed to a minimum of ten to a dozen casters or gentles every cast when trotting. When stret-pegging, I use the bait dropper as and when I feel I need to introduce some feed to hold the fish. If the river has two or three feet of warm water then I look for the bigger slacks where I often fish with very soft cheese paste, lobworms or three or four red worms. Don’t be surprised should you hook a chub or barbel, it often happens.