BIG FISH COLUMN: Wind and rain welcomed on the rivers

THE BIG FISH COLUMN
The strong winds and heavy rain of last week may have been unpleasant to have been out in but as far as the local rivers are concerned the extra water was long overdue and very welcome.

Locally we did not suffer the flooding seen on some of the other southern rivers but we did get the benefit of a scouring push of water which has gone some way towards improving waterways which were in danger of becoming rather stagnant.

Combined with the continued run of unseasonably mild temperatures there were some good barbel to be caught by anglers who were prepared to brave the conditions too.

The top barbel reported by a local angler was a lovely fish of 12lb 12oz to long-time friend of this column Dave McManus.

Dave has now moved away from his old Holyport stamping ground and is now a little closer to his beloved River Kennet where he spent an uncomfortable evening session last week in squally showers which were just too blustery to allow him to put his brolly up and get shelter.

Despite a thorough wetting Dave was able to get a couple of rods set up and fishing a steady glide which he had previously baited with a handful of broken boilies and a couple of pieces of meat.

Both rods fished 2 oz running leads on braided line with a size 9 hook; the upstream one fishing a small chunk of meat, the downstream one a couple of halved boilies fished back to back.

Given the steadily rising water level and temperature Dave was confident of a fish and although he was frustrated by a lot of debris being carried downstream he was able to fish effectively and was not too unsurprised when his tip pulled around an hour into darkness.

The fish stayed deep and demonstrated the steady power of a big fish rather than the darting speed of a smaller one and he got it into the net and onto the unhooking mat after some five minutes.

Given the state of the river Dave was convinced he might be on for a second fish and he re-baited and sat it out for a further couple of hours before he finally realised it wasnít going to happen and headed home to dry out.

As usual at this time of year future success with barbel will depend on just how the weather continues to affect the rivers during the coming week but despite the improved conditions fishing is likely to be patchy and continued leaf fall will make for tricky going

The mild conditions have meant sport on the stillwaters has continued to be reasonable with numbers of carp still being caught including a six fish haul to Chris Scott who fished at the day ticket Woolwich Green venue last week with a small method feeder on 6lb line straight through to a size 12 hook baited with scopex flavoured corn.

Chris dropped a couple of fish and missed a few bites during the course of his day but was more than happy with his catch which included specimens to 8lb.

Any anglers wishing to report catches may contact me on 07780 755138. I may be emailed on ian@bigfishtrail.com.