After Andy putting me in a banker swim last week where he had never blanked and I did, never fills me with confidence.

So this was it off to another commercial about 40 miles from home. We arranged to meet at about 7.15am and it was Andy who beat me to it by a couple of minutes. Again he graciously put me into the best swim.

It was a rainy and windy day but drying out as the hours progressed towards dusk. Bait was a jumbo prawn on one rod (ledgering) and a lob worm on the float rod. I sprayed maggots out on a regular basis for extra attraction to to bring in smaller fish.

Andy settled into a swim with a willow branches draped into the lake, a sure fire perch area.

Well after 5 hours of none action it was beginning to look bleak. However with old stripy he likes to feed as dusk approaches. Unfortunately Andy had an emergency call and had to leave for home at about 1pm. I still persevered hoping that the feeding spell would come along.

Float please sail away

At times during the day a fisherman’s friend came along for a feed. These little things always know we just can’t fail to feed them a few maggots.

My mate for the day

At 3pm the float started to move away and slide under. A quick strike met with some resistance and I played the fish which didn’t fight very hard and soon a perch of about 1lb lay in the net. No blanking for me. I had one more chance late on when the float slid away again, this time I might have just pricked whatever was on the end but that was that! A lovely fishery and I’ll be back again soon.

One more venture, out on the Bristol Avon for an afternoon session saw me catch a small roach and chub on cheese paste. Paddy was fishing too and caught a small chub of about 2lbs and that was his lot for the day. I fished about 5 swims but other than plenty of small tugs and pulls the larger chub didn’t want to play ball.

Don’t know why the fishing was poor but it certainly was. The rivers have been up and down again last week and this will continue every time we have rain. With the aquiferrs full there is nowhere for the rain to soak, so the river fill very quickly. I think it’s going to be like this for all winter.

Looking back over November you tend to think that the fishing been poor, however 3 x 6lb chub plus some other good fish is not a bad return.

The river had been in flood for the last week and with the last few nights of frost it was starting to clear quickly. Andy and I headed off to the lower end of the Bristol Avon in search a of few croc’s. Dead baits and sink and drawing was to be the method. Sure […]

My Mate Andy has been promising a trip to a commercial fishery where there have been some large perch coming out for a good few years. He arrived a little earlier than me and bless saved the best swim for me. Well he said it was the best swim! Our bait was to be prawns […]

Having just returned from the Itchen on Thursday evening it was Friday lunchtime by the time I set off to fish the D.Stour and the H.Avon. The method was going to be trotting with maggots being the bait again. The weather promised to be mild for the Friday and Saturday, but with a hard frost […]

I’ve been looking forward to this trip for sometime. I had arranged for 5 other anglers if that what you want to call them to fish the Lower Itchen Fishery. I have fished with these guy’s for more years than I like to say, Colin, Alan, Steve, John and Tony thanks for  very special two […]

With all the rain we had on Sunday I was apprehensive about the state of H. Avon. I was due to be spending a 4 day period on holiday near Ringwood. On my way down I peered over the bridge at Woodgreen and saw the river dirty and high. Higher than I had seen it […]

Driving towards Chew at 7.30am in the morning the rain was pouring down as it had been for the last few hours. There was flooding on roads where I hadn’t seen it before, with the land saturated with water then the extra amounts just poured from fields and lanes. I just made it through a couple […]

Firstly the Bristol Avon colour cleared and it was possible to float fish for a change. Trotting is s great method. You need to keep the feed going in. Feed is normally red maggots. I tried this on several swims and caught in all of them. No large chub but to just under 4lbs, great fun on […]

This was one of my days on the lake that I’ve lived close with since I was a child. This doesn’t mean you know Jack sh^t about it. I’ve never cast a fly. Plenty of dead baits and lures but for little reward. But living 30 minutes away doesn’t mean anything when booking and knowing […]

Well here we go again on the beautiful Wye. Chris was desperate to catch a barbel, he had been with other guides on the more difficult southern waters and had failed. So he contacted me and I suggested we try for the them on the river Wye. Arrangements were made and we meet early on […]