I fancied a bit of a change, and thought a quick trip over the Pennines to Huddersfield chasing some ladies would be good fun.
I’ve fished this bit of water in summer and done really well, and grayling feed all the way through the coldest months so why not.
The weather in Manchester was cold, crisp sunny and dry… a welcome change from the horrible 12 weeks of wet windy monsoon of this autumn. River levels looked spot on so in theory everything was perfect for a good mornings fishing.
Then as we were climbing up the Pennines on the M62… the wind started blowing a howling gale, speed limits reduced to 40mph and lorries stopping on the hard shoulder to avoid blowing over. Bloomin eck.
Its only a 30 minute drive, but wow,,, what a change in the weather we encountered in Yorkshire… hang on to yer hats boyo,,, its windy.
The swim we tried first looked spot on, but a strong and gusting downstream wind made trotting very difficult. I gave up in the first spot after a single bite ( long distance catch and release) and we moved to another spot in a more sheltered part of town.
I only had my wellies with me, and not waders so swim choice was limited to one small swim but I was very confident of catching. After half a dozen trots through my spirits were sinking, but then my float sank too. A good thump, the fish kept low, and I knew that I’d hooked my intended target species. A quick faff with the landing net and a nice grayling was landed. Well worth the drive over, and the change of swim.
Next trot through, the float dipped again and a splishy splashy fight on the surface resulted in an out of season brownie. Quickly returned, and a small handful of loose maggots I ran the float through again. The float dipped, the rod tip thumped right down, but sadly the line went slack and then that was the last action of the day.
I stuck it out on the same small swim for another 45 minutes but there were no more fish wanting to play.
Packed up, drove home and back for Sunday lunch.
Good fun.
Would have been much better with slightly less wind, and if I’d brought waders instead of wellies. I think I’ll come back soon properly equipped.
Thanks Mike Cootes for your lovely floats.
