Today saw us back to the River Etherow in search of an elusive big river perch. Not before we tucked into one of Glossops finest breakfasts at Scott's Cafe, near Glossop Caravans. Well worth a stop if you are up this neck of the woods. Set us up nicely for the day.
Went with fellow maggotdrowner Stretford Red (Andy). The weather was wet to say the least, but the river looked in beautiful condition. It was higher than we had seen it on recent trips but had obviously been much higher earlier in the week. We both opted for stick float tactics with maggot as the flow was not too strong. Joining the river half a mile above Woolley Bridge we toiled for a couple of hours without success on swims that generally produce. Today was beginning to look like a repeat of my last visit when finally my float dipped sharply and I was into a fish. Turned out to be the only fish for an hour on one of my favourite swims. A small Brown trout.
By the time we get to this swim we are generally catching regularly but the river was a bit slow today, but at least I had not blanked. Faith restored we moved 100 yards down to the footbridge swim which almost always produces decent fish. I am constantly told by locals to expect chub here but have yet to catch one myself. After a couple of runs through the swim the bites came, and the fish followed, all trout, no perch or chub.
Andy was fishing a swim down, and under much pressure to halt the possibility of a blank being recorded for the world to know about. However Andy has an uncanny knack of catching the biggest fish of the day every time we venture out. Finally he hooked into his first trout of the day.
Safe from recording a blank the fish kept coming, then true to form he hooked into the fish below, a big old brown trout which weighed in at 3lb exactly, bearing a few battle scars. A belting fish though from a lovely stretch of river, the best I have seen out of this river in a long time. There must be bigger.
Somehow today I managed to puncture my waders, I could feel one foot getting colder by the minute. The rain kept coming, my foot got wetter. We both managed a few more fish before it was time to admit defeat to the elements. We retreated to the car, drenched full of optimism for the coming years outings. Gave my new ABU 706 closed face reel its inaugural outing today and was really impressed with the improvements on the new models. I had one of these reels 25 years ago and loved it, but the new model is a classy bit of kit. I need to test it properly on the Medlock though. Midweek sees us tackle the Medlock in search of a monster chub to test. I am convinced they are there.
A lovely fish, well done. Those scars are from using its tail to cut a redd for spawning - they should clear up over the spring.
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