I’m back home at the moment and working local so its back to my couple of sessions a week, the weather is now on the change but still feels a little in limbo for my fishing. The serious winter fishing isn’t here yet but with the temperatures starting to cool and a bit more rain means things are on the change. First session was a short evening trip to the Trent after work with a two hour drive in search of Zander. With the river carrying a couple of foot of fresh water and a full Moon meaning big tides the conditions were looking the best they had for months. I opted to just fish the one rod and give it a couple of hours in each of the swims I had earmarked for such conditions. With regular casts searching out the area with small dead bait Roach, an hour in I had the slightest tremble followed by another, it was at this point I suspected the dreaded Mitten Crabs till the tip jabbed over and in a flash I was connected to a fish. What it lacked in size it made up for it during the fight this fish didn’t want to give up, a quick mat shot and it was released to the depths. I persevered in that peg for another hour hoping it wasn’t alone before moving swims to search another crease, the next swim didn’t offer any more excitement and I called it a night about midnight.

The following week I managed to get out on a local river on the hunt for big Roach, day light fishing seems to be a rarity for me this time of year but with a Sunday dinner time till dusk I wasn’t complaining. The river was in really good condition with the recent rains pushing through and literally top of the bank, it was carrying a lot of colour and looked good for a Roach. I dropped in an area I’ve done pretty well in over previous years in similar conditions. When the river is up and coloured I usually opt for Bread, and introduce liquidised bread via a small feeder. The session started off slow with a quite a few 10 minute chucks without an indication, till I received a couple of delicate taps and a few seconds later the tip pulled over. I struck in to a heavy fish, a slow and ploddy fight ensued with the odd sharp head shake typical roach when your using light tackle. This fish had a couple of spells where the spool would tick off for a few seconds where it’s managed to take line against the drag, after steering it away from a couple of submerged bushes it was about beat. First up came the feeder and with the net ready I stupidly applied a little bit more pressure eager to see my prize in the coloured water, and just as it appeared from the gloom it rolled over and tried diving back down and in that moment my hook link parted and it was gone. People talk about the high highs and the low lows of fishing this was definitely the lowest of the lows I’ve been targeting my local river for big Roach for over a decade and from the glimpse alone of this fish I knew it was the biggest roach I’ve ever seen its depth was insane and could have easily been closer to 3lb than the magic 2lb. If it wasn’t for the fact that I had seen what was unmistakably a Roach I’d have just thought I lost a Chub. I was gutted and stewed over it for about half an hour but a positive to take away from the situation is that I’m definitely in the right area, I carried on right up in to dark and on the last cast watching the tip with my head torch it slammed over. A small Chub graced my net to save the blank, I’ve fished in to dark quite a few times in this area as you often read about specimen Roach feeding after dark but this area always yield’s Chub after dark. The drive home for my tea had my mind ticking over thinking of the next time the conditions fall good again an my return…

The following week we had a lot of rain it rained for 2 days straight meaning the rivers were due to be heavily swollen and they were. The Trent just kept on rising and rising to the point it was too high to fish the area’s I have been targeting on the Tidal river, sat at home constantly watching the river level apps waiting for my chance to pounce. Come Tuesday and the river had fallen back inside the bank I intended to fish but was now falling incredibly fast with each ebbing tide, so I opted to fish the Tuesday evening after work and joined the traffic south on the A1 at rush hour. I arrived at the river a little after 7pm and had to wrap up warm we were now two days in to our first cold snap of the season with frost and even snow forcast, still confidence was high. After the mile walk from the van I was back in the area I felt offered me the best chance of a fish. Again same tactics as the previous sessions small dead bait Roach fished on a paternoster, regular chucks and a couple of hours in each of my earmarked swims.
But the night was incredibly quite without even a tap, I fished on late in to the night hoping to redeem myself with a fish but it just wasn’t to be. I personally feel the harsh cold snap put the fish to ground, it must be the first session I’ve had in that area where I’ve not sat and listened to Barbel rolling all night. I think I’m going to leave it for a while and let the fish acclimatise because this is the start of the proper cold nights and the late Autumn chill is definitely here.

The last couple of weeks of November flew by in no time only managing a couple of short sessions firstly was an evening session for Chub on a Yorkshire Ouse tributary. The river was fining down nice but after a couple of decent frosts, conditions were tough but still a good chance of a bite. Fishing was pretty simple fishing down stream in to a deep hole where the river drops from 8ft in to 12ft before a bend a text book holding area, as the river was still fining down it still had a bit of pace to it and an extra 6in from normal level. A Quiver tip rod was out of the question with the depth and amount of line I would have out the rod would be bent double in the rest. I opted for my 1.75lb test Curve Chimera but fished in conjunction with a braided mainline, this offered me two things it allowed me to keep sensitivity to some degree but also enabled me to fish a heavier lead in this instance a 2oz gripper. I only had a couple of hours to fish so I decided to fish a single lump of my fishmeal paste, some 90 minutes pasted and I received a tap and a few seconds later the rod jagged in the rest and I struck in to a fish. The Chub was only small around the 2lb mark but it saved the blank, I fished on for another 45 minutes without any joy so called it a night and set about the long hike back to the van just before the rain was due to set in again.

My last session of the month was again chasing specimen Roach but this time it was on a local Stillwater that has on occasions chucked up some huge roach for anglers fishing for other species. The lake in question is usually busy with family’s feeding the ducks, so my approach was similar feed a small amount of liquidised bread and fish a small flake on a size 10 hook. The Morning was frosty at first light whilst I was setting up but with high pressure the bright sunshine was soon poking its face over the trees, these to me weren’t ideal conditions for big Roach. The fishing was slow with just 3 bites all morning and plenty of liners but not from the target species, Bream were the only fish that offered to make an appearance. The first been an immaculate fish and probably the best looking Bream I’ve seen in years, It was in such good healthy condition and when lifted on the scale the needle settled on 6lb 14oz not what I was after but a pleasant consolation on such a quiet day. It was soon packing up time and I hightailed it out of there to the promised of a Roast Sunday Dinner.

In summary November proved to be uneventful and other than loosing such a big Roach I felt I didn’t come close to any of my targets this month, hopefully December will be more fruitful and the rivers settle down and I can get back to chasing those Chevins…