Skimmers Go On The Feed

I must admit to getting it wrong this week because with the weather cooling down considerably and the skimmer sport dropping away over the last few weeks we had planned to have a go at the Great Ouse Roach. As usual we stopped at various points along the Kings Lynn AA stretch of the Great Ouse to see if there were any signs of fish moving about. We had seen quite a few  Roach topping at three locations between Denver and Danby Drove but could make our minds up which area to try and so we drove the whole length again to decide. There were plenty of locals between the chapel and Modney bridge that made us think that they probably knew something that we didn't but it was getting busy along there so we thought we would give it a miss. We carried on and as we got near to the piggeries we bumped into Les the bailiff and had a chat with him to see how the river had been fishing in the week and it was a chance comment from him that made up our minds where to fish. With that we bid him farewell and set off to the area we had seen Roach topping when we were looking there earlier.




Map of Kings Lynn AA stretch of the Great Ouse



By now time was getting on as we had spent so much time messing around trying to decide where to fish and although we had Roach in mind on the pole we thought we would have a start on the feeder just to see if there were any Bream or Skimmers about. Anyway by the time I had set up the pole and feeder it was 10.50am before I launched my feeder 3/4 of the way across the river and unusually I had baited the hook which I don't normally do until I have made a few casts. I let the feeder sit on the bottom for about 20 second and then struck to empty the contents ready to cast out the next feeder full and hey presto a 4 oz Roach had taken the double Red maggot. I then followed this with four 2oz Roach, another of 6oz and  a couple of 8oz Hybrids in the first 15 minutes before it went quite for the next hour or so but in this time I did have a couple of liners which had me thinking I should stick with the feeder for a little longer.
 It wasn't too long though before the tip pulled around  and stayed there and I struck into a decent Skimmer that was close to 2lb, at this point I went to 3 maggots on the hook and the next 40 minutes saw a number of skimmers between 12oz and 1lb come to the net before they seemed to drift out of the swim. The Roach soon moved back after the bigger fish had gone and I had a few Roach of about 4 -6oz before the swim went quite again which signalled that the Skimmers had come back into the swim. The next hour or so was a little slow and although I was picking off odd Skimmers  here and there I decided to have a quick look on the pole line to see what was at my feet. It wasn't long before the pole float dipped and I had a small Roach, anyway to cut a long story short I had about 1lb of fish in 20 minutes but had seen Graham catch 5 bigger Skimmers in this time and decided to get back on the feeder. After a slow 20 minutes back on the tip I got the fish on the feed again and for the last hour and a half caught mainly better quality Skimmers of 1lb + in what was the best period of the session. When I pulled my net out I was pleasantly surprised at the catch as I had lost track of what I had actually caught but I just knew that Graham had done even better than me.


31lb a great catch of Skimmers and Roach from the Great Ouse

I finished the day with 31lb of Roach and Skimmers which is not bad for a days fishing on a river but Graham did me by a clear 10lb with a catch of 41lb 4oz. On the way back we stopped at the chapel as there were still 3 anglers there but it had been a real struggle for them with only a very few fish coming to them, so maybe taking our time today had paid dividends, who knows?



41lb 4oz a great autumn catch from the river

http://www.klaa.co.uk/

www.peterboroughpolerepairs.co.uk