Rainy days and chub fishing

This weekend I've had two fishing sessions.

While the yesterday one was held in the late afternoon, past 5 PM, the today one was held in the morning, from ~7 am to 3 PM.

The weather was contrasting, yesterday it was sunny, really hot and the water was cold, but today the water lever was higher than yesterday, the weather was cloudy for the first part of the day, and it rained a bit  (around half an hour) in the morning; the water was pretty cold, but it got hotter as the afternoon came.

Yesterday I've caught only one fish, at a River2Sea beetle like lure:

Today, when I've first arrived at the river, I've realized that the water level was higher that I've expected, the water was pretty cold and a bit murky. I've tried to test the margins and had an attack, that gave me confidence and I've begant to test new places and new lures. Unfortunatelly, I've caught fish only at one model, from Salmo even though I've tried few other brands.

This is how the water looked like in the first half an hour of fishing:

On the left side's a suspended branch, under it I've had something like a pretty nice follow up, but the fish wasn't convinced by the lure so it didn't attack at it should. On the right side I've caught few small chubs, almost close to the river bank. I think that that's because the water level was pretty high and due to that factor, the fish were forced to change their feeding areas and feedin patterns.

The fact that I've lost a pretty nice fish in the roots on the right side of this place made me persevere and try new places -

After I've saw that the fish were pretty active, at least, the small ones.. I've changed places and kept trying new areas. In the end, I've stopped at one where I've had bad results, one with deep water for this river (around 1 meter and, at most, 1,5 meter depth). In that area, but a bit down, I've caugh few jacks (one can be seen in a previous blog article).

In this area, along the right river bank I've caught my best fish on this river and, maybe, my biggest chub ever. I've wrote 'maybe' because I've didn't measure the fish, nor the others. I've choosed not to put the rod alongside the fish because the fish was on the bank for some time as I've coudn't 'fish out' the forceps out of my bag - I've didn't expect to catch something that needed the forceps.

The fish was caught at around 9 PM at a Salmo Tiny (wasp like) lure. I've didn't expect the fish to attack as I was hiding from the rain under a tree cover and I wasn't really 'fishing' - I've kept changing lures and testing the margins for small chub. The attack came out of the blue - the water was deep at that part and the lure was a floating&top water one so.. in a way, the attack was a surprise for me. In the past, that area gave me few small chubs even though, few years ago, when I was still trying to catch fish at natural small minnows (dace, bleak and so on) I've could catch few perch and small chub; once.. I've caugh a perch at a grasshopper - at that moment, I was fishing on the bottom.

After I've caught this one, I've tried few other places, but.. the fish didn't really like how I've kept retrieving the lure, they were following it, shy biting it and spitting it out really fast.

As I've had some 'dead time' on my hands - the best time for fishing passed and the sun appeared, I've gone to search for an old fishing place, a dear one for me as there I've caught my first big chub, at dead dace on the bottom.

As it can be seen, the water had a strange flow. In the middle was a sand island surrounded by areas with deep water. I've coudn't catch anything in that area at today's fishing session. 

Unfortunatelly, I've coudn't try different areas as the river bank's were 'swallowed' by old vegetation and I've had no acces through it. As afternoon came, the water became clearer.

What I've learned today is that the fish is the one to decide when and at what to bite, especially when as the biggest fish of today was caugh at a area with deep water, cold water, a bit murky and while it rained.

What I need to change/improve in the future is how I 'land' the lure on the water as the 'splash' can scare the fish, there were instances when they've 'jumped' at the lure exactelly when it touched the water, but, after I've began playing/retrieving it, they've became scarred and runed away. I should also be more patient while fishing as some lures need a slower retrieving and because not all fish are active all the time and they need to conserve their energy.

What I plan to do in the future is to test some soft lures and persevere until I'll catch something - there should be some perch out there, but I can't catch it on lures.

Today's tackel:

Rod - Cormoran Black Bull 1-12 grams (...it can hold up to 18 grams, in reality)

Reel - Ryobi Zauber 1000 (back drag)

Line - Trabucco 0.18 

Leader - Cralusso Fluorocarbon (0.25 mm?)

Snap - a duo lock 0 from Sert

Main lure - Salmo Tiny 

Hm, maybe I should mention that I've had to run in the water after that lure for at least two times as I've 'broke' the line in some branches and the lure fell in the water, fortunatelly, I've could arive at time and could see it when I've needed.

Tight lines!

(the fish were released as fast as I've could and they weren't hurt more than it was 'needed')