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| what a lovely place to start the day |
There must be one of those
sad Country and Western songs with a title like “End of Season Blues” but if
not I’d better write one … ‘my girls left, my dogs died, my river’s shut down,
now I can’t even fish no more’… I’ll find a tune later. However, on thinking
about it, is the end of the river season sad … or a relief?
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| the river looked perfect - but was it? |
It’s certainly a relief not
to have to agonise over all those imponderables that we’re told might make a
difference. The air pressure, the phase of the moon, the water temp. rising or
falling, the colour and height of the river, the wind direction, the strength
of flow … or whether someone has beaten you to your favourite swim! You
shouldn’t have a favourite of course but base your decision on the conditions
and that ‘sixth sense’ … sometimes called ‘watercraft’, whatever that is.
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| doesn't look promising today - hard frost overnight |
Anyway, enough of the
quandaries of fishing. Just being out there is often enough but being a roach
fanatic, I badly needed to catch a good ‘un before it was too late, so chose to
spend a day or two at the end of the season on the LAA’s stretch of the
Hampshire Avon at Britford. It was busy of course, as you’d expect of a water
that still has a good head of big roach. But there’s a lot of swims out there
in the water meadows and plenty of choice.
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| the main carrier and roach heaven |
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| the water meadows are a reminder of old English landscapes |
I tried the Old River for the
first time in many years and caught some lovely fat dace, good grayling, some
beautiful brownies up to 3lbs and several chub, the best going 5/8ish. [I was
roving with just rod and landing net so didn’t have scales, but it was larger
than the 5/4 I’d caught the previous week.]
The scrap this fish put up
was memorable because of where I hooked it. River keeper Stuart had pointed out
the swim to me as a possibility for a big roach, a hollow under the far bank
trees followed by a float-losing run alongside densely submerged willows. The
cast to the far bank had to be arrowed through a small gap in the overhanging
alder and the floats hanging in the branches served to stress the need for
accuracy.
First trot produced a nice
dace, followed by a small roach and a minnow. Then I managed to manoeuvre the
float alongside the downstream willows and as it scraped past the branches, it
dragged under. Assuming the hook had snagged on a sunken branch I pulled to
free it but the branch pulled back. Violent thuds deep under the trees left me
in no doubt that I’d hooked a large chub and all I could do was bend the rod to
the butt and pray. Given the dense branches and the fast flow I hadn’t a hope
of landing it but the seemingly inevitable parting of the ways didn’t happen
and once the chub lost ground and plunged in mid stream I felt I had a chance.
It tried to snag me on the nearside brambles, as they do, but in the end,
despite it’s large mouth dragging in the fast flow like a drogue and taking the
thin line close to breaking point, it succumbed to the net. Classic chub
fishing.
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| a colourful grayling off to fight another day |
Most of my time was spent
searching for the big roach but generally they were proving elusive for most of
us, especially as the minnows had reached plague proportions. Add to that the
pressure from numerous anglers and it was hard, so I was pleased to catch one
or two roach to 1/5 and a great big chub on a last cast at dusk that convinced
Trev and I that it was a huge roach. When hooked it rolled on the surface in
true roach fashion and repeated the trick a couple more times before revealing
its true identity. We were disappointed of course but at 5/4 it was still a
fine fish.
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| a chunky chub - it would have weighed more than 5/4 if an otter hadn't eaten half it's tail |
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| a beautiful dawn and feeling lucky today |
On my second visit before
seasons end, which proved to be my last, I tried to find a place where the big
roach might seek refuge from the
angling pressure and arrived at dawn. As the sun rose I flicked my half
sweetcorn bait under a far bank tree and caught a 1/11 first cast. This bait is
reputed to be useless at Britford but at least using a bait other than maggots
avoids the minnows and I always worry about the disturbance to shy roach when
minnows are hoicked out of the swim.
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| river keeper Stuart and 1/11 of pristine roach |
I wanted a picture of ace
river keeper Stuart with one of his treasured roach, for it is due to his
relentless efforts to protect them from cormorant predation while also
providing good habitat that the roach thrive there in the first place. If only
all river keepers were as hard working as Stuart, tireless in
his mission to try to ensure anglers have a good day on his fishery.
So with a good roach photographed it was job done … though I
still felt I was in for a good day, having started so well. Eleven hours later
I caught my next fish, a big fat dace at dusk … but as if to prove I had waited
in the right place, a roach rolled alongside my float as it disappeared into
the gloaming.
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| the magic hour ... and sometimes it is |
No two pound roach this time
but I considered it a successful end to the season, for on the three days I
fished in March I had enjoyed seeing 53 species of bird, along with water voles
and wonderful views of a stoat hunting the river bank alongside my swim.
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| numerous roe deer decorate the meadows |
Non of the birds were rare,
though you can never tire of watching the glorious colours of bullfinches, admiring
a tree creeper mousing up a tree alongside you or the floating beauty of a barn
owl. Stuart and I saw one out in the meadows every day at around lunchtime.
You’d expect to see it at this time if it was feeding young but they never breed in the
winter. Perhaps it’s a result of last years productive breeding season, one of
the best since records began. Perhaps this bird was just learning the ropes.
The previous years breeding had been a disaster so it proves once again that
nature has wonderful powers of recovery when given a chance. Let’s hope the
Avon Roach Project and Stuart’s efforts prove positive for roach. Meanwhile,
seeing a barn owl is always a treat.
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| our barn owl never came as close as in 'A Passion for Angling' |
Birding is just as rewarding as catching another roach – well almost … and I’m always reminding myself that ‘there’s more to fishing than catching fish’.
So sadly, that’s it for another season, one full of happy memories of days spent with friends and their fish by the waterside. It's been an unforgettable one, for I managed three PB's - a 3/5 roach, a 3/9 rudd and an 11/2 barbel. Must try harder comes to mind and I will ... but now it’s on with the gardening and with luck, a tench or two.
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| a spectacular sky to end my season |
Stuart is quite exceptional. His help with both advice and as a sherpa is second to none.
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