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Fishing in the New Year - With Ade Kiddell
Sadly 2021 has begun pretty much the same as 2020 finished with the COVID-19 crisis still affecting all our lives. Hopefully, the measures we are currently living under, some common sense from all of us and the roll-out of the vaccine programme will see a return to normality shortly.
The good news is providing the guidelines are followed and all necessary precautions are taken, then at least we can still go fishing. The weather here in France has been changeable with everything from perfect fishing weather to bitterly cold winds and blizzard conditions.
The key to fishing in the winter is to;
1. Make the most of the time when conditions are right for a fish
2. Low pressure and rising temperatures are key, even cold days can be very productive when the day previous was colder, often just a slight rise in the river temperature is enough to trigger a feeding spell.
Using Bread as Fishing Bait in Winter
I have written many times before about using bread as bait in the winter, it is simply unbeatable in the right place at the right time. With the river clearing after a flood find the spot where families bring the children to feed the ducks and usually the fish aren’t far away.
With everything looking spot on for the bread, I made myself a bucket of sloppy mashed bread, simply mash up a sliced loaf in a bucket with some river water until its like very thick soup, pass the mash through a maggot riddle until all the lumps are gone and off you go. The mix can be fished in a feeder or fed by hand or a pole cup. I was going to feeder fish, using just a small 20-gram cage feeder. For the hook a few rolled slices of bread and a few straight out of the loaf.
I missed a bite fon the first cast, which I wasn’t expecting, well that’s my excuse and then pretty much a bite every cast after! With a good mix of silverfish, roach, chub and nase coming to the net, I had a couple of hours of really enjoyable fishing before a much bigger nase was lost at the net.
The nase was looking like a 4lb plus fish so was gutted but know just how tricky the hook hold can be with the bony mouth of the nase. Not deterred I carried on and was rewarded with 4 specimen fish in 4 successive casts.
Cast 1: A nase of 3.08
Cast 2: A chub of 4.02
Cast 3: A cracking roach of 1.07
Cast 4: Another nase of 3.08.
Four fantastic fish in less than ten minutes! How I wish it would have carried on but the last Nase was the last decent fish of the session. I gave it an hour but other than tentative plucks it just didn’t happen, I guess a predator in the shape of a pike or zander moved in and spooked the fish.
Problematic Flooding
Unfortunately the next day the river was unfishable, a lot of rain further up the valley brought loads of extra water into the river along with loads of debris and made it impossible to keep a line in the water. Since then either condition haven’t been right or I have been to busy to get out with the bread, but hopefully will report more success with the bread in my next blog.
Barbel Fishing in the Winter
Barbel can be tricky to catch in the winter but again it is about timing and conditions. Last week after a few very cold days we had 24 hours of heavy rain and milder weather move in, I took the water temperature and was happy to see it was on the rise.
I prepared a mixture of Sonubaits cheesy garlic and spicy sausage pellets, the 3mm size are perfect for making a sticky mix simply by dampening the pellets enough to make them stick in the feeder. With the water very coloured from the heavy rain big high attract hook baits are more effective, my preferred choice to match the feed was a cocktail of cheesy garlic and spicy sausage, Sonubaits O pellets.
The first cast with a 4oz feeder was quickly over as the feeder simply bounced through the swim with no chance of holding, I changed to a 6oz feeder and after casting fed out a big bow of slack line, the feeder held and I was fishing.
With quite a lot of floating debris, it wasn’t easy fishing but was confident of a bite or 2, my positivity was rewarded when a nod of the tod tip was followed by a proper rod whacking bite and fish on. A great scrap followed with the fish using all its power to hold out in the heavy flow but I was pleased to slip the net under a decent barbel, my first of 2021. At just over 8lb a nice reward and made the effort worthwhile.
I hadn’t been re-cast for many minutes when again a decent fish was hooked, another tackle testing battle in the strong flow was eventually won and another decent barbel in the net. I fished for another hour or so but no more bites were forthcoming, but I was happy with the two I landed.
Snow, Frost and Fishing
Conditions have taken a turn for the worse again with more snow and sharp frosts, but later this week some milder conditions are forecast, I will be keeping a close eye on the river and either the bread will be out again or a barbel session if it looks likely the barbel will feed.
Don’t forget if you can't get out to fish because of the restrictions or the weather there is plenty to do to keep up your interest. ADTV has a great selection of videos to suit a broad range of anglers, along with thousands of other fishing related content on YouTube.
Should you require tackle or bait during the current lockdown Angling Directs website is working as normal and Angling Direct shops are operating a click and collect service subject to current lockdown conditions.
Hopefully, we will soon see normality return, in the meantime stay safe, use your common sense and take care of those you love and care about.
Ade Kiddell
To view more of Ade Kiddell’s Fishing Articles, click here.