06/03/15 - Bristol Avon - Reybridge

Decided to try for some chub before the end of the river season. One of the things I miss about not fishing the rivers is catching proper chub, since those you catch in commercials just aren't the same.

The destination was my club stretch of the Avon at Reybridge, which is on the opposite bank of Lacock. The intention was to fish the float for most of the day feeding caster & hemp, with either caster or maggot on the hook. A lead rod was also set up to fish either hair rigged meat or maggot/caster. The expectation was the proper chub wouldn't show until late in the day, which was confirmed when I had a chat with a regular. As such I didn't arrive until late morning.

The river itself was quite clear, being able to see about 2 foot down, but there are plenty of deep runs and wasn't overly concerned despite the bright conditions.

The first swim which was a deep glide running towards some overhanging trees was tried for an hour without any bites.

Setting up at the second swim, I nearly ended up in the river, as I slipped down the bank and kept going. Fortunately I halted by slide on a narrow shallow shelf, but not before getting a little damp! The second swim on a deep corner produced mainly roach, a couple of dace and a 4oz chub, mostly on the float. After an initial burst of catching, the fish soon backed off and I had to wait longer between fish.

I had a good look around for my 3rd swim, eventually settling on a long run, which was shallower along the far bank. But the main reason for choosing the swim was the sunken tree stump down the inside which I felt sure would hold a few fish. As with the 2nd swim I had an initial burst of fish, a few roach, but mostly dace this time, plus a couple of gudgeon and minnows.

With an hour to go and the light fading the hoped for chub still had turned up and since I couldn't get a bite on the float, decided to sit it out on the lead. 2 hits on meat, but no fish had me swapping to triple maggot. Just as I was considering leaving there was a couple of taps on the tip, which I thought would be from small fish, but no a chub was definitely hooked, but after a few seconds, I felt the hooklength grating against the sunken tree stump and the fish was gone. It felt like a 2-3lb fish.

There was just enough light to retie a hooklength and within a couple of minutes, a couple more "small fish" taps I struck and connected with another fish, but this one felt bigger. I managed to pull it away from the snag, but it just stayed deep and as I got it under the rod tip, it started moving upstream. Because it was now quite dark, I wasn't sure how far upstream the fish had gone, but knew I had to stop it making a snag and unfortunately something gave way and the fish was lost. Really gutted, because that fish was either a very big chub or possibly a barbel, but will never know.

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 5^th 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.

Bristol Avon-Upper Reybridge

Weight - 7lb 10oz
Catch - 24 Roach, 8 Chub, 4 Perch, 3 Bleak, 1 Pike
Weather - Warm & sunny. Cool start
Match - Club - 1st out of 13

Well today was my first river match for nearly 3 years. I actually like the river although prefer fishing the faster, shallower stretches, which is the complete opposite of the Upper Reybridge being slow and deep, before it goes over the weir into Lacock.

I was in the last 8 our clubs knockout, which was the only reason I decided to fish. So I dug out the river hooks and rigs, as well as lightening up my kit, because the walk to this stretch of river is quite arduous. Fortunately Andy Bradley was on hand with his Range Rover to transport people’s kit over the worst of the terrain. Once at the river the ground was actually quite flat.

The river itself was clear with no flow and combined with the bright conditions I thought 5lb would be a good weight. I drew towards the end of the straight and was pleased I brought my platform, which was covered in thick cobwebs when I retrieved it from the shed.  I could either sit 2ft above the water, which wouldn’t be ideal on a clear river or sit the cattle drink & soft mud.

 

Plumbing up revealed 14ft of water, so I set up a Drennan carbo 1.5g > .08 > 18 B520 at 14m, but even fishing the middle of the river, there was hardly any flow and I could have got away with a 1g float, but expected bleak to be a problem. I also set up a rig 0.75g to fish next to the lily pads with chopped worm and finally an insert waggler to fish maggot/caster along the far bank.

 

I had forgotten how expensive fishing a river can be, with 2kg of groundbait, caster, maggot, hemp and worms. Anyway on the all in 9 balls of groundbait (Match Blend 1kg: River 0.5kg: Black Lake 0.5kg) with a small handful of hemp and caster went in at 14m. First put in I had a roach, which dropped off, however over the next 2hrs I had 24 fish, mostly roach, either on maggot or caster. It was hardly hectic and I’m sure I could have caught quicker if I wasn’t so rusty fishing this way, but I did get it sorted and the 2^nd hour was better than the first.

 

The swim was slowing so switched to the waggler where I had been feeding hemp & caster from the start. First cast I picked up the catapult and had the rod pulled round and a chublet took the maggot. A few more chublets & roach followed before the swim slowed. A further switch to the lilies produced a small perch, then a 10ozer, followed by a small jack pike of 3oz.

 

The last 2hrs was a bit of a struggle. I topped up my 14m line, but never had another bite. I even tried cupping 3 balls of groundbait further down river, but again no bites.

 

The waggler only produced the odd fish and I lost a decent fish on worm by the lilies when it wrapped me round some underwater obstruction. I didn’t have another fish in the last 40mins and was glad I suggested a 5.5hr match instead of 6, as was everyone else.

 

I actually quite enjoyed the match and a different challenge, but this stretch of river is a pig to access. No doubt with a little more colour and flow a very decent weight would be possible.

 

1^st 7-10 – Ken Rayner – p10

2^nd 5-10 – Andy Bradley – p3

3^rd 5- 5 – Nick Pople – p5

4^th 3-12 – Joe Thompson – p1

5^th 3- 9 – Don Smith – p13

6^th 3- 4 – Marcus Hacker – p12

11/03/11 - B.Avon - Lower Reybridge

Weight –11lb 11oz
Catch – 20 Roach, 6 Chub, 5 Dace, 5 Minnow, 4 Perch, 1 Gudgeon
Weather – Mild, mostly cloudy, breezy.

Work is going well at the moment with all my hard work beginning to pay dividends, with good April & May pay days to look forward to. The past 5 weeks has been really hectic and I feel shattered, so with the office monthly meeting looming, a day’s holiday was required. Our monthly meeting are fairly boring affairs with ½ hour spent talking about what people have achieved during the previous month and updates about the new computer system that’s being implemented, whilst the next 2 hours are spend listening to 2 product providers, explaining why their investment funds and/or product is best. As the At Retirement specialist in the office, the majority of the meeting is of no interest, so it’s easier to take a day’s holiday.

With the river season drawing to close on Monday (14th), I still wanted to catch a decent chub, because most of the chub I catch now are from lakes and they are long & flabby, when compared to their river cousins.

I decided to fish our club stretch of the Avon, which we share with Reybridge AC. Well I thought that was the case, but later found out this arrangement was stopped 8 years, which didn’t sound right. So that’s something to double check.

Despite 2 previous attempts I had failed to catch a decent chub and with the likihood I will be getting back to regular match fishing soon I was unsure when I would get another chance.

Tactics for the day would fish the stick with maggot or caster and the lead with bread. I don’t have the patience to sit on the lead all day, so the stick would see the most use. I had brought 1½pt caster, ½pt of hemp and ½pt of maggot, with the intention of giving them some feed and hopefully pull in a few big chub. My stick rig was a 4BB alloy stick, with an olivette bulk, 2 droppers, .11 hooklength and 18 carbon chub hook.

The first swim I chose produced very little, so after an hour I moved slightly downstream and that also produced very little. Although the river had good flow, it was a little clear, so decided to find a deeper spot. My 3rd (and final swim) produced most of my fish. The lead and bread again didn’t produce, so a switch to the stick produced small fish straight away, feeding a big pinch of caster & hemp every cast. After an hour I hooked a decent chub, but it did me in a snag. A further look on the lead & bread still failed to produce. A switch back to the stick produced a furry of small roach mostly on double maggot, I had a few on caster, but maggot was definitely best. Bites dried up a little, before I hooked another chub, this time I made sure it didn’t make the snag and when I netted it I knew I caught what I came for.

At 4lb 11oz, it was 2oz short of my PB, but it was a cracking fish. A big deep set fish with hardly a mark on it, just wish I had a camera. I had to change by hook because it had started to straighten, so chucked out the lead, whilst I tied a new hooklength. Instead of bread, decide to impale 4 maggots size 14. Just I was about to re-attach the hooklength the tip ripped round and a 1½lb chub was soon landed.

A change back to the stick and bites were drying up, I had to keep changing the depth and searching different areas of the swim, but at least I was still periodically catching. However the reason for the lack of bites showed itself. A jack pike was chasing the fish around.

As the light was fading I was feeding more heavily and decided to finish the session on the lead, whilst I packed away the stick rod. I turned my back for a split second, heard the rod being dragged off the rest. When I looked back my rod was pointing straight at the fish as it tried to drag my rod it. If it wasn’t for my reel catching on some undergrowth it would have probably succeeded. At 3lb 1oz was definitely worth it. Again it was on maggot, I suspect the chub had seen quite a bit of bread recently and I doubt they see much caster and maggot.

I won’t be doing much fishing over the next 4 weeks. Need to revise for an exam on 14th April. Know what I would rather be doing!

31/12/10 - Bristol Avon - Lower Reybridge

Weight – 2lb 11oz
Catch – 16 Dace, 13 Roach, 1 Chub, 1 Bullhead
Weather – Mild, cloudy, no wind

Today was a spur of the moment session. The weather had finally broken with a few days of mild temperatures which had seen the snow disappear, although some lakes still had a covering of ice. I had considered going down my club lake, but there was likely to still be some ice, plus all that melting ice won’t have done much for the water temperature.

I fancied trying for some chub again, but when I arrived at the river it was still coloured and slightly up. Must admit I did hesitate about getting the kit out of the car, but the pace of the river wasn’t too bad. As I walked down there was already an angler in the peg I wanted to fish, fortunately he was spinning for pike so was likely to move on soon. We chatted for 15mins whist he unsuccessfully worked the swim. Personally thought there was a touch too much colour for the spinner to work.

I started on the bread & lead, whilst setting up a 4BB alloy stick, feeding maggot & hemp. With no bites on the lead, it took 15mins to get my first fish on the float, a 4oz roach, but it felt cold, so obviously the river still had some melted snow in it.

As the session progressed I caught most of my fish in the slacker water on the other side of the river. I tried the inside line, where there was more flow, but could only get bites on the lead fishing 4 maggots on a size 14 looking for chub. Unfortunately only small fish showed including a tiny bullhead and god knows how it managed to stuff the bait & hook it to its mouth.

After losing my float rig on an underwater snag, I decided to set up a heavier 4AAA Avon, but was struggling for bites. So I decided to rest the swim and try a spot further down river for ½ hour, but I didn’t get a bite. When I returned I changed down a hook size on the lead and caught a few more fish, but the fish were generally small, particularly the dace. I had hoped for a few chub, however except for a 4oz chublet none showed.

A bit of a disappointing day.

12/12/10 - Bristol Avon - Lower Reybridge

Weight – 9lb 12oz
Catch – 6 Chub, 6 Roach, 6 Dace, 1 Pike
Weather – Frosty start. Sunny all day, very clear river

With the thawing weather I fancied a trip to Lands End for the Christmas match, but I left it too late. Speaking to Mike he was fully booked and there was still plenty of ice around, with lake 3 (Johns Water) still quite thick. So to plan B. There was a match at Barton Farm, but that was also fully booked with 54 anglers, due to many lakes still having lids on.

So rather than stay at home, I decided on a trip to the river at Reybridge. I haven’t fished here for a few years, but it is usually good for a few fish particularly chub and I fancied catching a proper river chub, instead of those long flabby stillwater ones. In fact I caught my PB of 4-13 from here, plus 2 other 4lb+ chub.

The overnight weather was colder than expected, so more frost, but when I arrived at the river I was greeted by a kingfisher as it flashed past low to the river.

I settled on a swim that I have fished regularly, with a 5ft deep glide down to a partially sunken tree. 2nd cast on the lead & bread and a 1lb+ chub was landed. At least I avoided a blank. Another hour went by, but no further bites. I had trickled in hemp & caster, trying the stick & maggot, but I couldn’t get a bite on that either and usually there are plenty of smaller fish around.

The rest of the day I tried a couple of different swims, without success. With the very bright conditions and a very clear river it was proving very hard. There were a couple of other anglers on the bank and they were all saying the say thing, with 2lb being the biggest chub landed so far.

With the day drawing to a close I still only had the 1 chub and decided to give my original swim another try. The swim was now sheltered from the sun and I was hopefully of at least 1 more chub before the day finished. As I was getting myself comfortable I noticed a fish top in the back eddy on the other side of the river (its only 13m wide). I had planed to dismantle my stick rig, whilst fishing the lead, but was now glad I didn’t, because 1st cast into the back eddy and the float sank straight away and I had a 3oz roach. Next cast, I had a chublet. It was like flicking a switch, I got a bite almost every cast either in the back eddy or trotting down the swim. I periodically tried the lead towards the sunken tree and it was obvious there was a number of small fish around. I struck at 1 bite, felt a small fish on the end, before it almost immediately went solid. It had to be a pike and the question was where had I hooked it? Fortunately it was under the chin and at 5-11 it was a new PB, beating my previous best by nearly a pound.

I continued to catch until I could hardly see the float and my last fish was a 1lb plus chub on the stick. The only disappointment was losing a very big roach at the net. Regardless, those last 90mins were really enjoyable and I’m glad I decided not to leave early.

A text from Mark revealed that Barton Farm fished very hard with 14lb winning, but Mark only needed 5-14 to finish 6th out of 54. 1 section blanked, whilst another was won with ½oz.

05/12/10 - Bristol Avon - Barton Farm

Weight – 7lb 9½oz
Catch – 74 Roach, 12 Hybrid
Weather – Freezing fog to start. Bright later on but still cold
Match – Trowbridge AC Xmas match – 7th overall, 2nd in section

So where to go? My clubs Christmas match at Ivy House was cancelled due to a frozen lake. Therefore, I had 2 choices, either Lands End or on Marks recommendation, Barton Farm at Bradford on Avon.

Although we had a day of thawing temperatures yesterday, I doubted it would be sufficient to clear the ice completely and thawing ice going into an already cold lake didn’t sound inspiring. However the issue with the river, was whilst it looked perfect leading up to the weekend, Saturdays rain could see salt from the roads, being washed in.

In the end I didn’t fancy breaking the ice, so Barton Farm it was and my fears about salt in the river were unfounded. Speaking to Mark via e-mail during the week, he thought there would be 30-40 fishing, but as it turned out 23 turned up, with the cold weather obviously having an impact.

I used to fish the river regularly, preferring the upper reaches, but Barton Farm is a slow deep stretch between Bradford on Avon town centre and the Avoncliffe weir. I drew peg 16, which on the day was 4 pegs after the path splits up to the canal. Looking back at my records, the last time I fished the river was 4 years ago and I was up against a few good locals who fish the river regularly. Mark drew peg 15 which was 1 away from where he won his section last week with 5½lb. Credit the organisers who were generous with the pegging, so everyone had plenty of room, although there were a couple of pegs that were hampered by overhanging branches.

Tactics for the day would be focused on the pole, plus the waggler fishing the far side as a back up. Not fishing the river for quite sometime required sorting out my kit. I dusted off an old 14ft rod for the crowquill and some 2.5g drennan carbo floats, which would be ideal for the 12ft deep swim. I also dusted off a box of river hooks (those with barbs on!), settling for a size 22 B520 attached to .08 bottom.

12 balls of groundbait (2 parts Black Lake, 1 part River & 1 part Black Hemp Frenzy with a pinch of caster and pinkie) went in at 12m. The 1st 10mins was getting used to fishing with so much line attached to the pole and swinging in a rig on the top 4. However after my first fish I started to get into a rhythm, fishing the rig overdepth, holding back and letting it go though the swim slowly, brought regular bites mainly on single or double pinkie, I didn’t have anything on maggot.

3 hours into the match I was up to 60 fish and as yet hadn’t topped up. I was told that the fishing would slow down after 3 hours, but I was still catching and based on the bank walkers was doing OK. Therefore decided not to bother with a top up in case it killed the swim. Mark in the meantime had less roach than me, but fluked a 3½lb bream (do I sound bitter! – lol) and enjoyed a bit of gloating.

With 90mins left my swim started to slow, catching only ½oz fish and as is always the way, just I was about to top up I had my best fish of the day - a 10oz roach. Rather than top up I thought I would try the waggler. I had been feeding ¾ of the way across, but unfortunately I didn’t have any bites, despite varying the depth looking for chublets.

So back to the pole and I started to catch again, before the swim really died with 30mins left. With nothing to lose I topped up with 2 balls. This brought 5-6 fish quickly before the swim died again.

At the weigh in you could tell we were fishing a river match when I given a ½oz. haven’t seen one of those for a long time.

The top 3 all came from the section below me.16lb won, with 2x 12lb weights 2nd & 3rd. These weights were made up of all roach, but proper roach not the small ones that resided in my part of the river. Mark won my section thanks to his bream with 9lb 9½oz.

Overall, a very good match, bearing in mind the freezing conditions, with most people getting a few fish.
The presentation at the Blue Circle Social Club (Westbury) was 1 of the best I’ve seen, loads of prizes. As well as picking up my section money by de-fault, I collected 6 bottled of Hardy wines, which will keep Sue happy.