Calder calling

 Been for a trip back to the Calder today and decided to take Kyle on his first ever river trip in less than perfect conditions as it was carrying around 2 to 3 feet of extra water. Now safety is paramount when fishing with kids and if I thought he would be in any danger at all we would not have gone but I know of a swim that is on a small gravel out crop with good access from the bank and a gentle slope right the way down to the waters edge which continues out into the river, and with a large slack on the inside he was as safe as could be.

 The idea had been to teach him how to trot a float but the extra water had made most swims too dangerous for him to fish from so we opted for a days feeder fishing, Kyle fishing with maggot and worms for anything that swims and my self trying my hand for a Calder barbel although in all honesty I wasn't holding much hope, it was more of lazy excuse for me as I could cast out and leave the rod in view with the baitrunner on allowing me to pay plenty of attention to Kyle. That and also the fact my gear was still rigged up from the Trent trip at the weekend and I had some bait left to use up.

 Despite the conditions looking good for a few fish it was hard going with Kyle only picking a couple of perch and roach up in the first couple of hours until a wayward cast went way past where he had been fishing out into the faster water. I was surprised to see the feeder actually hold station and the tip nodded away in no time with a nice roach on the end. While I sat behind a motionless rod he kept picking a few nice roach and perch up until something a little larger pulled back. The jammy little sod managed to land a cracking looking trout of around 12oz! This is a first for me, I know there are plenty in there but as yet I have not landed any and Kyle was most impressed that he had caught something I had not. I tried to get a picture of the two of them but he decided to let it go whilst doing his best fish juggling impression.

 We carried on for another hour or so and continued to catch a few more perch and roach on mainly sections of worm. Kyle said he was getting a bit bored now but I think he was feeling sorry for me as he kept asking if I wanted to fish with his rod for a bit seen as though mine had not moved all day.