There is an expression that March roars in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. March has mainly been a lamb with the exception of some double figure barbel for other anglers. The Bristol Avon appears to be a river of two halves, recently there has been a massive match weight of bream reported recently on our Facebook page. The upper river has proved more difficult albeit there a plenty of silver fish to be caught if you fish for them. My last few days on the river were mixed. In one of my last reports I said that I was going to return the following day and bring heavier weights to counter the flow so that I could fish across into the far bank slacks. I had to use 4 ozs to hold and this did not always work but held me on the crease which was very acceptable. Before I go any further I did not manage to catch a barbel, Kev managed one more from a swim that produces the occasional fish every now and then and weighed around 6 lb My week was steady catching 3 chub on each day, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. All the fish fell to boilies fished with PVA bags and loose feed. I am not sponsored by anyone but the most successful bait was! The last part of HP -------- Friday I wanted a change and I wanted to fish the stick float or a light Bolognese float, both can be held back if required. I decided to fish Christian Malford as the river is more accessible the banks not so high off the water. On previous visits when there was more pace on the river and I had very good catches of roach and dace with the odd chub which was great! I have recently purchased a Drennan Acolyte 14 ft rod for my river float fishing; it a absolute delight too use, accompanied with a close face reel? I bought a DAM CFM from eBay as well as hunting out a ABU gold max 507. You may ask why I did not use my pin I would answer that I find the close face gives me more flexibility, it allows me to fish the far bank. Both reels worked really well and although the DAM sounds dreadful when winding it is very nice to use. Both reels are much better than ABUs latest closed face which I described recently as a bag of ---- Before I continue I have been having a night mare with my Barbel Catcher centre pins, nothing wrong with the reel just the operator. I had taught myself to Wallis cast and I thought I had become reasonably proficient with but I seem to have lost all co ordination at present; I can consistently make bird nests. To counter this I used a fixed spool which took all my problems and frustrations away. I think I need to go back and practice more, I only get problems when trying to fish at a distance I am not comfortable with. Back to the last day when I arrived the river had dropped again and looked perfect. My line of attack was to fish maggot, red and white and run a float through. I walked down the river and chose a swim, I started feeding and third run through I had a chub of 3.5lbs, what a start.; five minutes later I had another and this was spilling maggots and then after that I had nothing. I moved swims and tried to build one steadily, not a bite and then when retrieving and well away from the area I had been feeding a chub to my maggot on the move. I continued to fish this swim and did not have a touch. I moved again to my banker roach swim and started to feed lose maggot, again no bites although I am happy that if I am not getting bites at the beginning I can build the swim with steady feeding. I caught a few minnows and small dace. I ran the float right through the swim and beyond where the maggots would settle and the float dipped and it was another chub around the 3lb mark. On this day the fish appeared not to want the bait, most of the fish were caught and probably would have been caught even if I had not been feeding! I had agreed to meet up,with Kev to fish another part of the river. That is when I wrote a quiet end to the season( rivers) and I cannot wait for June 16th because I rediscovered the joys of fishing running water with a float. Unless there is a change in the river and more barbel are showing I will fish for chub using float tactics when ever possible. It seems that chub are still targeted but nowadays with much heavier tackle, more than likely in case a barbel is hooked which there is every chance as pellets and boilies are used. As I mentioned earlier I am going to move away from these tactics whenever it is sensible to do so. Enjoy your fishing!
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 10:16:02 +0000
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