Fish at last

 It's been quite a slog this winter and although not exactly a red letter one I had a half decent day on the calder today with my mate JD and we both put a few fish on the bank.

I arrived this morning to find JD walking to the bottom of the length so I dropped into a swim about half way, dumped the gear and wandered down to see him. He told me he had just spent half an hour in said swim with nothing to show. We chatted for a while and it wasn't long before his first chub of the day was in the net, I quickly hurried back to my gear and chose another swim a little further down. With the rods already made up I was fishing in no time and sat back to see JD landing another.

 Now expecting good things I was left feeling rather cold and puzzled after a couple of hours or so with nothing to show for my efforts. JD had had another and was getting a few bites and Rich had come down to see how we were getting on so I upped sticks and moved down near them. First chuck with a piece of steak on the hook and the tip twitched a couple of times before slamming down and a nice 4lb chub soon lay in my net. Next chuck and away it went again, this time we were all surprised to see a nice looking brown trout of around a pound, also falling to the steak.

 Rich left us soon after and it seems he had taken the fish with him as it went very quiet with just the odd tentative twitch so JD decided to move up stream to one of his favourite banker swims while I stuck it out a little longer. His moved paid off as he was soon into another good chub. I quickly followed suit and dropped into the swim above where I had started. I didn't have to wait long before the tip flew round again and another 4lb chub graced my net.

(must remember to remove the polaroids next time)

 I had another cast in this swim before working my way down stream. I dropped into a couple of swims with nothing to show before reaching the bottom end and the swim we had fished this morning, however I only managed two missed chances on cheese paste. I could see JD into another fish so I headed back up there but that one turned out to be another trout, oddly taken on cheese paste! These calder trout have obviously not read the rule book. I settled into my swim but all seemed quiet until JD shouted he was into a good fish. It was putting up a good battle and as it had taken the paste again we were expecting a good chub only for it to turn out to be another trout, this time around 2lb although it was a stunning looking fish with very large, dark distinctive spots and a pale, almost rainbow trout like body.

 All stayed quiet after this and with a drop in air temperature we called it a day. As we walked back to the car I commented on how much of the river bed we could see with it been so low and clear. We left the gear in the cars and went for an explore. This turned out to be a good idea as it painted a very different picture to the river bed than we had imagined, we also discovered a couple of very nice looking spots that just must hold barbel in the warmer months. Roll on those I say.

Is it spring yet?

 The way this winters form has been going I'll be glad when it starts to warm up as there has been a distinct lack of fish recently and today was no different, although on a lighter note it was rather enjoyable. Since having a first proper go at lure fishing last year I had kept telling my self I should buy the necessary gear and do some more. A couple of weeks back I was offered a suitable rod along with a box of bits and bobs plus some lures, the money exchanged hands and today saw me on the bank with it for the first time accompanied by JD.

  We decided to work our way along a local canal that runs almost parallel to the river Calder, then work our way back down the river. We covered a good couple of miles stopping off at likely looking spots along the way, swapping and changing between lures. Diving plugs, rubber shad types, micro rubber lures, we tried the lot but despite our best efforts we failed to even entice so much as a touch between us.

 It wasn't a bad day to be out and about though, especially when out of the wind. It was enjoyable doing something new for once too and its certainly not put me off but perhaps I might be best waiting till it warms up and the fish are more willing to chase bits of odd looking rubber. We did however discover a few new cracking looking spots on the river as we were wandering along a stretch neither of us had been on before.