I had just returned from the session on the Severn for 1 small chub. I thought that since the river is 15mins away I would try for a pike on a stretch I had not fished for 20 years. I arrived to see that the bankside had not been worn and it looked like nobody had been fishing it. The river here was a huge slack on my bank with the flow on the other bank. With the high water levels and weeks of floods the small fish move into the area for protection. Obviously the smaller fish being present means the pike move into the area. My setup was simple two rods with identical rigs. A float set slightly over depth and roach for dead baits.

I only had 3 hrs of time, but I thought that was enough. The river was not as clear as it could be which had me worrying. So I cast out and sat back. The baits were just on the bottom in 9ft of water. I had one bite and one fish.

It went 17lbs 10oz. But look at the head on that one. It must have been a big fish previously. Long and lean.

I won’t bore you with all the outings on the H.Avon. There have been plenty of blanks and just a couple of chub. Nothing very large but at least it’s fish. One was caught on a maggot feeder session when the river was still in the fields but at 0.8m high. I hooked and landed […]

The Bristol Avon is very much a spate river and comes up and down quickly. I fish a syndicate stretch around Great Somerford where there are some good roach and dace. Plus the odd good pike. I fished for an afternoon with the river fining down from a flood. I was using some maggots from […]

The rivers have been in a serious flood since November. The H.Avon has been so high it almost reached it’s highest ever 1.36. The Stour has been in the same situation with water in the fields for weeks on ends. I was desperate to get out. Perch fishing was the answer. So I returned to […]

This year we decided to spend 3 weeks in Boavista with our friends Wilf and Jo. We fished for sharks during the afternoon and bait fish in the morning. We couldn’t fish everyday as the weather blew up with huge waves coming onshore. Our friend Mustaffa was there again selling his gifts. We had a […]

It’s been a very busy time at home with many jobs to complete before I head off to Cape Verde for 3 weeks holiday. It had rained cats and dogs for weeks now and the H.Avon river has been over it’s banks and in the fields several times. You have needed waders to find the […]

Dennis had contacting me asking if I could help him catch a barbel. Now coming from Devon there are very few barbel down his way. Our window of opportunity was short as I don’t normally guide on the river Wye after October. We had so much rain over the previous couple of weeks the river […]

I had an opportunity to fish the H.Avon for a few hrs over the weekend. The river had been up and coloured but was now dropping back in height and clearing. There was still plenty of weed coming down in the flow which with other debris can be a pain. The weather though was warm […]