It's always great to fish a new stretch of river, the anticipation and excitement can only be tempered or enhanced further on first inspection, so I was pleased to see a river which had a mix of shallows and deeps, twists and turns, overhangs, lush weedbeds, reeds and rushes. It had everything but did it hold fish? I was eager to find out.
I was sceptical having fished a similar looking stretch of Kennet recently which was hard, so I set up on a wonderful looking bend looking for signs of fish but saw none. I'm pretty sure this doubt lead to me losing a good chub first cast as the float buried next to a tasty overhang, this submerged bush went a long way back and so did the chub leaving me to curse my lack of faith and lack of awareness.
With a new hook on I am ready to give the next fish some stick from the get go but all that followed were small chub and dace, I was happy though, whilst it was hard work bites were coming and I was catching, I was even happy to lose that first chub knowing that there's good fish in here.
A rove was on the cards so I made my way first up then down, trotting swims that were mix of awkward, almost perfect or a touch too weedy or overgrown, but that's summer fishing on natural rivers. The club had strimmed a few swims however and I was grateful for their work.
The second swim I tried was a tricky affair but it looked so good with a gap in the weeds under an overhanging tree, once again a decent chub is on but there's not much I can do other than try to keep it in the clear bit, either side of me was trees and in front was some submerged wood, I just hoped it wouldn't see that or the lush weed beds above as I played it with the only angle I could apply which wasn't ideal, an upright rod
I imagined a soon to be snagged chub or a float pinging into the tree above me to add to the insult but neither happened, as I slid the net from the high bank under a chub of around 3lb I was happy I made the decision to bring the 6m net handle right then. Ok this chub is no looker but was so welcome.
I stopped for a coffee to soak up the new river experience, had a look at a really large red kite landing in the meadow behind, all the time eager for some more chub action. Dropping my float in and once again action is instant and although it's a small one the net is used once more.
Aside from a dace no more bites followed in the little clearing so off I went trying more of these lush looking spots, getting a few chub and dace here and there. It was another bright sunny day and although it wasn't super hot it was perfect for sitting on the deck under a tree, whilst the river drifted by. In other words time for lunch.
The afternoon was more of the same with the silvers, not many bites but a few fish in each spot, even managing a few roach and perch to add the the species caught. The only other anglers there on arrival had long gone leaving my car looking a bit lonesome in the car park, I wandered along the bank, looking at the lake as well, being the only person there and not seeing or hearing a single soul was amazing.
I struggled a bit with the new hook lengths I had tied, looking for a decent replacement for my Shimano line that looks like it's discontinued, the chub lost first cast pinged too easy as did a snag so this is a work in progress with the line used today failing the audition.
What cut the afternoon short was noticing my hand was all red and sticky, for some reason I put this down to either the handful of pellets I tried feeding or red maggots popping not noticing that my thumb was cut open and it was blood congealing with maize flour, I washed it with anti bacterial hand wash but only after I had blindly wiped it on a dirty rag and been fishing with it like that for half an hour.
Like a trouper I carried on before losing a hook too easy on a snag, time to pack in if there's little confidence in the hook length and your susceptible to an infection, the cut wasn't big more a paper cut type but in the worst position, not painful but annoying knowing it was there, perhaps the adrenaline of fishing somewhere new lead to my obliviousness.
All in all I was only an hour away from calling it a day anyway and it was a nice one too, to a stretch of river I will look forward to returning to, I had drawn first blood after all.
