I had fished the Six Gate Weir pool the previous week after giving up on the Trout Stream. On that occasion I had caught one very respectable roach but missed most of the bites since my Trout Stream chub tackle wasn't really suitable. So I decided to return with a lighter and more sensitive rod, which at 9ft was also better for fishing under the trees. The river level was up after some welcome rain and there was a good flow over the weir. I did indeed manage to hook more of the bites but the better roach eluded me. There were however a lot of very hungry dace!

I had bought half a pint of mixed white and red maggots and also had a few slices of bread, the roach caught on the previous occasion falling to flake. I started with a maggot feeder attached, but after a short while changed to a small bomb leger that was easier to cast and, I thought, more appropriate in the faster water of the weir pool.

I was soon getting bites that weren't a lot easier to hit on the sensitive quiver. But it was an improvement over the stiffer top of my chub rod and I managed to hook quite a few small dace and roach. The dace were attacking the bait as soon as it hit the water and the many taps on the quiver tip were basically these small fish expertly removing the maggots from the hook, one maggot at a time!

I found that striking quite early as the taps started was more successful than waiting, since the wait often resulted in the taps stopping and a bare hook then coming back on the retrieve. There were a few small roach among the more prevalent dace but nothing to match the roach I had caught the previous week.

Bread flake also produced bites but I believe that these were largely the result of small fishes nibbling away the edges of the flake. So I stuck with maggots for most of the time and started to explore different areas in the swim. I found that casting further downstream produced less bites although these were on the whole a bit more positive. And indeed a few better dace were taken as a result. However I couldn't cast too far downstream because of overhanging trees.

And this was then the pattern of the session, which yielded a fair number of dace and fewer roach, none of which was particularly big. I did take one small perch and was surprised that I didn't get more when using maggots. On a couple of occasions something went for the bait as I was retrieving, which I assume were perch, and I suspect a small lure might have been quite effective.

So, that was it. I packed up at 1.00pm, the cloud cover having burnt off and the temperature was rising quite rapidly. My plan had been somewhat successful in that the more sensitive rod had allowed me to hook more fish but the hope of some decent roach wasn't realised. It was a pleasant few hours cocooned in my little corner and sheltered from the sun by the trees above, while enjoying a bit of freshness off the aerated water in the weir pool.