River Cherwell, 27-8-12

Having been given the morning off to wet a line, I nearly, very nearly went to one of the local river sections. But then, at the last minute I had a change of heart and headed off towards Oxford to try my luck on the River Cherwell - a newly acquired bit of club water.

At this point, I should state that I'd never seen the venue and searching the internet turned up very little, so this was a bit of a gamble. Still, a chance to try a virgin water awaited. 

After a bit of a faff, I found the stretch concerned, but not the car park. It's clearly marked on the map, but neither of the two possible areas in real life were suitable, so it was the grass verge (albeit on a quiet country lane) that had to do. 

I'm glad I was traveling light and doubly glad I brought the wellies - over two stiles, through the long grass and there was the river. It was a deep chocolate brown (no doubt from the heavy rain of the last few days), about ten yards wide and a bit pacey in places. 

I walked down about 200 yards before I found a nice even looking swim on the bend - although I'd passed some other nice looking spots, access was a problem with most, this one allowed me to get close to the water's edge for a change. 

A quick set up - a 1 gramme stick float, 0.10mm hooklength to a barbless 18 hook - plumbing up gave me 6 feet of water, a fair bit deeper than I expected. 

One white maggot, a few loose feed and a gentle swing out. As simple as that. A few runs through produced nothing. Nada. And then on run three, a bite. And a 2 ounce chublet. Blank avoided (I could go home now without shame if needed).

Over the next few runs through I picked up a little roach, another chublet and then something that pulled back a bit. It wasn't huge, but steady pressure in the current prevailed and a chub of 1lb or so broke the service and the rather over-sized landing net was called into service. 

I have to say at this point I was impressed. My local river is good, but not for fish like this - it's all small or enormous and not much in between, and to get into fish so quickly was also welcome.

A few more runs through the swim produced some more fish - roach and chub mostly, then another chub of about a pound, then another that felt similar but shed the hook. Then it seemed to slow down. A few more runs through the odd bite, and a nice perch of about 6oz before I decided to move on. 

It was about 200 yards further down when I had another go, but the water here was pacey and the bank very steep, so after a few runs through it seemed that moving on was better. 

Just on from here was a wider area just before a bend where there was just 3 feet of water, but I had to stand on the high bank - not ideal but worth a punt. A few runs down produced a roach. Then a couple of missed bites, then a couple of gudgeon, but it was hard work. I was just thinking of moving on when the float dipped and after a brief fight this little fellow appeared. Cool.

I don't care what anyone else says, but I could catch these all day. There's something magical about barbel and in a real natural venue, these are a great prize. 

Next peg down looked absolutely perfect, slow, meandering river surrounded by trees (so good cover from cormorants), but no fish. Next swim, nothing. 

Next swim, nothing on the main line at all, but as soon as the rig drifted over to the near side, the bites would come. Roach, perch and chublets again. If only I'd had my pole gear I think I'd have caught more in this peg, but you have to make the best of things. 

With a little more than an hour's fishing left I decided to head back upstream to a bridge that looked quite interesting. It wasn't. Fast flowing and shallow, it didn't scream fish like it did at a distance. So 50 yards further upstream it was. 

Several runs through in the main current produced nothing at all, so on a whim I tried the inside line (just a little past the rod tip where I still had some depth of water) bite - and a roach. 

Next put in, another roach of a few ounces.

Next put in, a bigger roach (at least 3 ounces) when the rod tip was pulled down. I had a pretty good idea what was on the line, but I hoped for a big chub or perch. It was neither. Sat in the river with my roach across it's jaws sat a little jack pike. I wasn't hooked, it was just held on by greed. nervously I positioned the net downstream of the fish, and gently coaxed them into the net just as the pike gave up its prey. But they were both caught. 

  

The roach was returned, a little battered for it's experience, but still alive, and then the pike. Quite a nice surprise.

After this I worked the inside line quite hard and a succession of 30 or so fish followed, mostly roach, but with dace, perch, chub and the odd bleak thrown in. 

I did have a quick look at the bridge before I left, but two minnows were not a good enough return in what was shallow and fast-moving. 

So all-in-all a cracking few hours. No monsters, but not a bad session for a first visit and the secret was clearly in finding the slacker areas where the fish were happy to settle.

I never saw another angler all morning - a few dog-walkers in the distance, but that was all. I guess this is what river fishing should be about - fish, bites, variety and a sense of achievement. So I rather this as a nice little stretch of quality water with plenty of scope for future visits. I can see me becoming a bit more of a regular at this rate.

Catch List:

Roach - 30

Barbel - 1

Chub - 15

Bleak - 5

Gudgeon - 2

Minnow - 2

Pike - 1

Dace - 12

Perch - 6

Total weight: 12 lb

River Colne 5-8-12

I don't often target large fish, but every now and again I give it a go. At least initially, then I give in and revert back to my usual approach. Today's session might well have gone that way. 

I decided to have another go at the weirpool that I'd fished two weeks previously. The plan was to start on legered pellet for barbel and then, if it was too quiet I'd switch back to trotting the maggot. I mean, as long as I caught something I couldn't lose, could I?

I arrived at the swim about 0630, thankfully it was unoccupied (that was a relief) and I set about putting the gear together. A heavy feeder rod, 10lb line, free running method feeder with 4mm pellet and a size 12 hook on a 8lb hooklink to 14mm halibut pellet. Not subtle, but the swim was snaggy by the lip of the weir, so I wanted a bit of oomph should I need it. 

The weir side of the swim

The run out of the weirpool (trotting swim)

The plan was to give this about an hour and then see how things were going. 

First cast, and I got a couple of rattles, but nothing that suggested a bite.

Second put in and after about 5 minutes in the water and the tip rocketed down. Contact. The rod immediately hooped down to the right and I started to apply some sidestrain - there was some serious snags at the base of the lip and I didn't want to lose the fish. The fish bucked hard and strong, big lunges being transmitted back to the rod, but I felt I was just starting to win. Then it all went slack. 

Whether it was a snag, a faulty knot, or my natural cack-handedness, I will never know, but a brand new 8lb hooklength was no more. Gutted. 

Rerigged and rebaited and out I went again. Nothing. 

After another 45 minutes, having tried a few different spots with the heavy rig (to no avail) I decided to set up the float rod with a stick float. I flicked on the bait runner on the reel while I did so and just as I was about to put the shot on the line the reel whizzed off. 

I struck on the leger rod and there was a solid resistance. Nothing like as strong as the previous time, but a weighty fish never-the-less. The fish wandered a little downstream into clear water and after a couple of minutes my quarry was safely in the net. 

A Colne barbel of 4lb 12oz. Result. 

I decided to rest that line at this point and have half an hour on the stick float. Bites were taken on a range a lines and depths, which resulted in a range of small fish roach, chublets, dace, bleak, perch and minnows all showed up, but nothing over 4oz or so. But 20 fish in half an hour is not to be sniffed at. Then back to the leger rig for 30 mins. 

Nothing. A couple of tweaks on the line (but not often). So after 30 mins it was back on the float gear. 

By standing a few metres further upstream I found a better position to trot and feed and the fish started to flow. Not as good as the previous visit, but more fish came to the net and unlike the previous trip there were less roach and more perch, but there were a lot of minnows present.

After half an hour I decided to stop float fishing at the next roach. This took about ten fish and 15 minutes to do, and then I settled into the last 30 mins on the leger.

It was about 10 o'clock at this point, (I'd agreed to be home by about 11), so I didn't really fancy my chances, but just as I thought that was that, the tip whacked over and it was fish on again. This felt a little larger as it tried to burrow under the sill of the weir. I applied a little pressure (but not too much after my earlier issues) and after a few minutes the fish started to move into mid-river. 

After that it was easily netted, another nice barbel. 

Colne Barbel 6lb 4oz.

A cracking fish, in perfect condition going 6lb 4oz. What more could you ask for?

I finished off my 30 minute session, no more bites, but my two nice barbel and 60+ small fish wasn't bad for a few hours work. I just wish I knew how big the 'one that got away' was - it was certainly more powerful that the ones I landed, maybe one for next time. 

Catch List:

Barbel 2

Roach 20

Perch 6

Chub 6

Dace 2

Bleak 8

Minnow 20

Total weight: 20lb

Finch Farm 29-7-12

I fancied a change, a full day's fishing on the pole and a chance of a decent fish or two. Since my other choices were blocked by matches, I decided to give Finch Farm a go. It usually produced some small fish, but I fancied my chances of a lump or two. 

For a change I started on the Anaconda Snake lake, a thin channel that is supposed to hold some larger specimens, including some big barbel, so I thought I'd give it a go. 

I set up the pole at about 10m, angled to the side (it was that narrow) and tried a variety of baits over the top. I found the bottom to be very uneven (I suspected some reeds had been dredged out recently) and a little snaggy and weedy. Result was, one hour gone, a couple of vague (missed bites) and no signs of much happening. A chat with the bailiff (Lech) suggested it was hard fishing, so I bit the bullet and headed down to the other lake. 

The Snake Lake

Yes, it really is that narrow

Moving down to the main lake was a good idea. Three put ins on 6mm pellet next to the island produced three quick carp. Not big (half pound ish each) but action was instantaneous. 

And then, slowly it started to slow down. Left swim, right swim, off the island, on the island all produced fish, but not in great numbers. Previous visits suggested that light tackle and small pellets worked best, and so it proved again, but there was no bagging up to be had. 

I tried to get the inside line going - but without much doing. This surprised me, as this had often been a life saver in the past. So I kept on moving around the lines and picking up the odd fish. 

Island swim

Margin right hand swim

A second trip to the margin finally produced a decent bite. I struck and there was proper weight on the line. but no fight. I applied pressure and a big old bream lay there on the top. 5lb 8oz of it. First decent bream from the venue and at least some evidence that they do exist. 

At that point the two swims to my left became occupied and life got a lot more complicated. The inside line dropped off, and the far line became tougher. 

I carried on and continued to catch a few fish from the far side. I wasn't pulling up any trees, but the fish were ticking over. Apparently the open match held the previous weekend had only be won with 18lb, so I supposed I shouldn't complain. 

I tried a few things. Some worked, some didn't, but mostly only for a few fish. A couple of better fish pushed 2lb odd from the far side, but then that died too. 

I packed up as a huge thunderstorm threatened. Not a bad day, not brilliant, but nice to see one of the decent bream. 

Catch List:

Roach 6

Mirror Carp 3

Common Carp 20

F1 Carp 12

Goldfish 8

Bream 2

Total Weight: 30lb

River Colne 22-7-12

Having my usual few hours spare on a Sunday morning (only after extensive negotiation :-) ) I headed down to the local stretch of the river Colne for a few hours. 

My plan was to do the usual - rove the river with a pint of maggot and a stick float rig and see what would appear. I didn't have high hopes, but since the previous trip had thrown up a barbel, then anything was possible. 

First swim was my usual trotting swim. Wade out to the gravel bar (trying not to fill the wellies too much) and trot down to the bend. 

This produced a few small fish, and one better chub of about 3lb (result). However, the roach were awol - some bleak and lots of minnows were showing, but not much else. So, after an hour or so I headed upstream.

Next peg up was the weirpool. Normally I don't bother with this peg, it's shallow, wide, fast moving and best fished with the feeder. But what the heck I thought, why not give it a go?

After a couple of casts to get the depth right (somewhere around 18 inches seemed to be ok) I found an easy run through just behind the main flow on the near side. 

And a bite. 4oz roach. 

Next cast, bite, 3oz roach. 

And so on. 

Over the next 90 minutes I bagged nearly 70 fish. Lots of roach, a few chublets, dace, couple of perch, gudgeon, bleak and minnows. All-in-all, for a river with very few small fish, a complete revelation. A peg that I've walked past and ignored for years, turned out to be probably the best trotting swim on the river. 

Lesson learned I think.

Fish caught:

Chub 8

Roach 40

Perch 3

Gudgeon 5

Bleak 10

Minnow 30

Dace 3

Total weight: 15lb