There are several River Colnes in the UK. One, rises in
Hertfordshire and flows down towards Heathrow airport. It is surrounded by crystal
clear gravel pits containing many secret specimens and guarded by even more
secret societies. Another is a small tributary flowing through deepest, darkest
Essex, choked with prematurely discarded white stilettos and sparking with
recently removed vajazzles, it is rarely the topic of fishing stories. And then
there is the great northern Colne, easily distinguished by the dead whippets
floating past, the semi-digested local delicacies on the bank (pies and black
puddings) and the occasional sighting of a flat-capped angler impersonating
Andy Capp on the bank.
Today, I fished one of these rivers. I will leave it to
you to guess which one.
Arriving at about 6am I had a few hours to explore the
river. A pint of maggot, some trotting gear and some time – that’s about as
good as it gets on a June morning. I was hoping to pick up a few fish on the
stick float. I was not in the mood to sit it out for a big fish, just to get
out, get busy and relax.
First task was to find a good peg – there are three good trotting
pegs on this stretch and I wanted to have a go in at least two of them,
hopefully they wouldn’t be occupied, but you never know.
Peg 1, the bottom weir,
was free. A 3BB stick float, 18 hook, single maggot and I was up and running.
The water level was a bit high and flowing heavier than I’d like, but I was
soon ready to go. A few trots through found a clear run and a small dace
appeared (maybe 3oz). Next run through and a strange bottom hugging fight produced
this little fella.
I’ve said this before – I could catch baby barbel all day,
this is a great sign for the river. Over the next hour I had the chase the fish
around a bit. I kept them coming, (including another baby barbel), but there
were gaps too and quite a few fish shed the barbless hook early on. I tried a
16, but this didn’t seem to help.
So having caught chub, dace, barbel, roach, I moved on. Thankfully
the bleak and minnows had not shown that often.
Peg 2, the disabled swim. There are two ways to fish this
peg, trot the flow or fish over in the slack water. Trotting did nothing (it
rarely does) and over produced a few small fish and a 6oz perch. And that was
that.
Peg 3, the bend. The last of the good trotting swims. This
peg had been transformed since last year; the heavy rains had re-distributed
the gravel banks and the runs and depths were completely different. Adding in
the extra water and it was difficult to see how this could be fished. I tried a
several lines and picked up the odd fish, but it was not obvious where the fish
would be or how to present the bait. I was just running through the lower
stretch where it shallowed up when I made contact with this.
Another little barbel. I’d only ever caught one on this
stretch in many visits, so three in the space of a few hours is very good news
indeed.
Peg 4, the inside bend. A couple of chublets and a bleak of
the inside. Much better than the previous season where this peg failed to
produce.
Peg 5, the pub. I looked at this, but the extra water on the
river meant I couldn’t stand out from the bank and trot properly. I moved on
quickly.
Peg 6, the waterwheel. I never do any good here, despite the
rumours of bream and barbel. Today was no different.
Peg 7, the playground. A small roach first run through. Then
nothing. One day I must attack this properly with pole gear and present tight
to the cover on the far bank.
So, my three hours was up. Plenty of small fish and three barbel
(my best Colne haul ever).
Next time I’m going back for some mommies and
daddies.
Catch List:
Barbel 3
Roach 8
Chub 10
Dace 8
Perch 1
Minnow 7
Bleak 3
Total weight 5lb
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