Monday, 16 December 2013

14/12/13 - Bristol Avon - Barton Farm

Weight - 4lb 8oz
Catch - 69 Roach, 2 Perch, 3 Minnows
Weather - Chilly, foggy start. Increasingly cloudy & breezy

Something different for Saturday, instead of fishing Lands End, Mark suggested fishing the river at Barton Farm. Initially I said no, but Mark persuaded me with tales of big bags of roach.
 
So at 7.30 the kit was being wheeled down to the river. The early start was influenced by the weather with wind and rain being forecast for later in the afternoon, so avoiding that seemed like a good idea. Another relative mild week, but this morning was a little chilly, after the skies cleared following some overnight rain.
 
I really wanted to fish the rod & reel, instead of the pole, which meant a crowquill set at 10ft and a waggler to fish across in the hope of a few late chub.
 
After feeding 5balls of groundbait (with some added mole hill soil), with a pinch of caster, pinkie & hemp, I started on the crowquill, feeding a small ball of feed every 5th fish. In the meantime I kept feeding maggot across the river, but the waggler only produced a few roach.
 
I certainly had plenty of fish, but mostly very small. I was not bothered since it was nice to get out on the river and dust of the rods. After nearly 4hrs fishing the wind was picking up and we decided to call it a day. Mark finished with a nice net of mostly pole caught roach and a couple of waggler caught pound chub, 10-7. I have no doubt a proper river angler would have caught much more, or if I used a pole, but I had a plenty of bites, just a shame I couldn’t catch anything bigger than 3oz.

1 comment:

Tim Ford said...

You can't beat a good day on the river. If the river is slow moving I find the pole presentation can aid catching bigger roach. But there are days when the shoal in front of you is made up of little uns!