After the very successful trip to the Avon I knew it wouldn’t be long before I returned. Saturday 21st August saw me making the long journey back down to the L.A.A. stretch just outside the beautiful City of Salisbury with a mate, Steve Waple, who had never fished the Avon but was well up for the trip.
We didn’t get there until 10.30 and after a quick chat with Stuart, the bailiff, we set off up river towards a weir. We cut through the weir and headed towards the old river, hopped over a sty and stood looking at a lovely stretch of water with overhanging trees’, shallow glides, deeper pools, streamer weed beds and lots of fish moving around in the gin clear water.
After a quick chat Steve and I decided on our plan of action, stick floats of 4 no.4′s, fished well over depth and held back against the flow, trickling in maggots & corn on a regular basis.
We didn’t get there until 10.30 and after a quick chat with Stuart, the bailiff, we set off up river towards a weir. We cut through the weir and headed towards the old river, hopped over a sty and stood looking at a lovely stretch of water with overhanging trees’, shallow glides, deeper pools, streamer weed beds and lots of fish moving around in the gin clear water.
After a quick chat Steve and I decided on our plan of action, stick floats of 4 no.4′s, fished well over depth and held back against the flow, trickling in maggots & corn on a regular basis.
Steve jumped in to the river and waded into the middle, finding a safe place to stand, he started feeding maggots and dropped his float in for his first trot through. Before I had even got into position Steve was into his first fish, not a big fish but a nice little Dace.
I went 30 meters up stream from Steve, so I could keep an eye on him, then dropped into the water and waded out to the middle of the stream. I was using a landing net handle to check the depth, even though I could see clearly, you can never be too sure and the speed of flow would mean a lot of trouble if you slipped and went under. I stood on the far edge of a deeper hole with the water dropping off in front of me and streamer weedbeds just in front of that.
I had seen fish moving about, going in and out of the weedbeds and thought it would be a good place to start. Within 5 seconds of starting my first trot I had a take, hooking into a little Minnow. Not the largest fish in the world, but they are quite rare these days, so it was nice to see one. 20 trots and 14 Minnows later I was thinking that maybe I was in the wrong place! Next trot and the float dipped and this time I was met with solid resistance on the strike. This was better! The hook pulled on what felt like a very good fish!
A few muttered choice words and I was ready for the next attempt, this time though I hooked a very nice Chub and got it into the waiting net. Much better, a scale perfect Chub of well over 4lb, a long lean fish with a lovely bronze colouration.
After 3 hours we decided a move was in order as we had hammered the area, catching Perch, Dace, Minnows, Gudgeon, Chub, Roach, Grayling, Trout and Salmon. We took a walk further upstream looking for signs of fish, dropping in for a trot in various areas, catching the odd Perch or Dace. It wasn’t looking too good so we went back downstream, past where we had started and carried on down another 300 meters.
We found a nice looking area, slightly deeper than the last area with a lot of streamer weed and overhanging trees. Steve and I both stood in the water side by side, hanging a net and bait bucket on an overhanging branch. I took the left side and Steve the right, trotting down between the weedbeds. We had lots of little Chub, Minnows and Dace and lost a couple of very nice Chub and Grayling in the weed.
It was now after 5.00pm and was time to get out of the water and get cleaned off, so we took the walk back to the car park and got dried off, packing the gear away ready for the long trip home.
An excellent day made far more enjoyable by the surroundings, many thanks to Stuart, the bailiff, for his help, pointing us in the right direction with where to fish.
I will be back….and soon
I went 30 meters up stream from Steve, so I could keep an eye on him, then dropped into the water and waded out to the middle of the stream. I was using a landing net handle to check the depth, even though I could see clearly, you can never be too sure and the speed of flow would mean a lot of trouble if you slipped and went under. I stood on the far edge of a deeper hole with the water dropping off in front of me and streamer weedbeds just in front of that.
I had seen fish moving about, going in and out of the weedbeds and thought it would be a good place to start. Within 5 seconds of starting my first trot I had a take, hooking into a little Minnow. Not the largest fish in the world, but they are quite rare these days, so it was nice to see one. 20 trots and 14 Minnows later I was thinking that maybe I was in the wrong place! Next trot and the float dipped and this time I was met with solid resistance on the strike. This was better! The hook pulled on what felt like a very good fish!
A few muttered choice words and I was ready for the next attempt, this time though I hooked a very nice Chub and got it into the waiting net. Much better, a scale perfect Chub of well over 4lb, a long lean fish with a lovely bronze colouration.
After 3 hours we decided a move was in order as we had hammered the area, catching Perch, Dace, Minnows, Gudgeon, Chub, Roach, Grayling, Trout and Salmon. We took a walk further upstream looking for signs of fish, dropping in for a trot in various areas, catching the odd Perch or Dace. It wasn’t looking too good so we went back downstream, past where we had started and carried on down another 300 meters.
We found a nice looking area, slightly deeper than the last area with a lot of streamer weed and overhanging trees. Steve and I both stood in the water side by side, hanging a net and bait bucket on an overhanging branch. I took the left side and Steve the right, trotting down between the weedbeds. We had lots of little Chub, Minnows and Dace and lost a couple of very nice Chub and Grayling in the weed.
It was now after 5.00pm and was time to get out of the water and get cleaned off, so we took the walk back to the car park and got dried off, packing the gear away ready for the long trip home.
An excellent day made far more enjoyable by the surroundings, many thanks to Stuart, the bailiff, for his help, pointing us in the right direction with where to fish.
I will be back….and soon
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