Mike's Angling Diary

 Today was beautiful - sunny and with no wind. River still quite high though.  Mostly I legered with a 1oz lead. Whilst I was trotting I lifted my rod at the end of the run bringing the maggots to the surface and a big sea trout jumped clear of the water and snapped at them but missed! Best views yet of a kingfisher - catching a fish from the far bank and then flying across to a bush a few feet away from me. Wonderful.

 I spent 5 rather draughty hours at Wood Mill today with little success. One small perch was all I caught. At least I was wrapped up warm in my new coat and overtrousers. Mostly I legered lobworms, occasionally changing to maggots or sweetcorn. The river was high and fast flowing and it was very windy. All in all an enjoyable session.

 Another session on the lob at Wood Mill. Arrived about 8.45 to lovely weather although it did cloud over and spit a bit later. The river was pretty high after the recent rain and moving quickly. With the shot all my casts were ending up at or around the near bank. After a while I turned to trotting to try and explore more areas of the river but to no avail. Would have had a short leger session but having set it  up I discovered I'd run out of worms - doh! The trout werent jumping today but I did see acouple of swirls on the surface to remind me they were in the vicinity.

 Spent a very wet at times session at Wood Mill today - mostly lob and shot to try and reconnect with the fish from yesterday or one of its chums. Had a couple of knocks but no substantial bites. The river was higher and faster than yesterday which may have been something to do with it. Autumn colours are really beginning to show now. The trout are still jumping.

The image at the top of this post could have been so different..... Having switched from trotting to free-lining a lobworm with a couple of split shot I was feeling the line for bites when the rod nearly jumped out of my hands. As I struck it became clear that I had hooked something massive....I lifted the rod to apply some pressure and the line broke just above the hook. The fish didn't break me, the line just broke. Gutted. Still at least I have ascertained that a free-lined lob is an effective bait - and rekindled my faith in Wood Mill as a promising venue (sob). I saw a beautiful sea trout of around 2 - 3ft long jump out right in front of my nose - wonderful.

 Not a very successful trip to Whinwhistle. Got a 30lb scale just in case though - caught one small perch. Started off float fishing with maggots then sweetcorn then luncheon meat to no avail. Lost my float due to the line breaking for no apparent reason so used my feeder to leger for a while. Cast the feeder into a tree the other side of  the Rail and so drove home feeling rather despondent. On the plus side I saw some lovely views of common darters perching by my feet in the sunshine. At times it was almost too hot in the sun but a little chilly when it went in....

 I spent some time this morning trotting at Wood Mill with a stick float for the first time. Much easier to control the float than with a waggler. Then I lost it on the far bank so I tried a lobworm with just a couple of split shot on the line. All this time the sea trout were jumping spectacularly in front of me. Didn't catch anything but met a guy who was fishing 'my' spot with a lure when I arrived. Nothing today but he had had a couple of pike from there a week ago. All in all though it was a beautiful day to be on the river - mainly sunny with only a light breeze most of the time. As I walked back to the car park I had a look over the side and saw a lovely little sea trout in the main part of the river before the barrier.