‘
‘Perch fishing can often be exciting; either free lining with lobworms, legering or trotting the stream. Remember perch hate resistance but I reckon there is a chance of a four pounder for someone who is prepared to target this species for a season.’
Firstly I’d say, ‘Choose a well-shotted float to boss the stream’. I reckon it’s most important when float fishing on rivers with some flow, to choose a float that takes some weight, the minimum I use would be 6AA; often a float taking 10 AA. I bunch most of my shot twelve to eighteen inches from the hook with a BB six inches from the hook, though this might change at various times during the day. When mending the line, you don’t want to be moving the float; you need something that takes some weight so you can boss the stream.
Once I have chosen my swim I will introduce a golf ball sized bit of mashed bread, repeating the process every ten minutes for the first hour. I don’t attempt to fish for, perhaps, half an hour. Every few minutes I introduce a piece of cheese flavoured bread flake or flattened pieces of cheese paste.
When plumbing the depth, make sure you use a heavy plummet. Why not plaster the base of your plummet with Vaseline? This will let you know if you’re fishing over pea-sized gravel which is so attractive to fish, especially roach. I start off by fishing the bait a few inches off the bottom. If nothing happens after several runs down the swim, I will try fishing the bait a bit higher up in the water. Should nothing still show and I feel I have fish in the swim I will set the float so the bait trips along the bottom. At the same time I will drop a chicken egg sized lump of finely mashed bread and bran every fifth cast at the head of the swim. Should I be fishing a river that is carrying extra water with colour I will try fishing whole lobworm on a size 6 hook; it’s accounted for a lot of big roach over the years.
Stret-pegging or laying-on
If I’m only catching the odd fish when trotting, I will switch to another searching method known as stret-pegging, not to be confused with laying-on. I have used the method with great success since the late 1940s when I was first taught and explained the method by my grandfather. In those days we used fifteen foot bamboo rods; today I use a light carbon fifteen foot rod. For the best success I reckon a fifteen-to-seventeen foot rod with a centre-pin reel a great combination which will often give you your best chance of success. Having plumbed the depth, I set the float about three feet over depth, the shot either BB or AA being bunched between twelve and eighteen inches from the hook, that is unless I am using crust when I will have a shot a few inches from the hook, taking the crust just inches off the bottom depending on the water temperature.
Having cast out across and downstream, I hold back the float on a tight line so that the float will settle at an angle. If after fifteen to twenty minutes there has been no sign of a bite, I lift the rod allowing the float to move a few feet downstream before once again tightening down to the float. I repeat this process until I have hooked a fish, or the tackle is well downstreamso that I need to repeat the process. Bites can often be quite savage; on other occasions the float will just drop flat or move out into the flow or towards the bank.
When laying-on all you need to do is move the float up the line so the bunched shot are resting on the bottom. Holding the rod and using a rest, I tighten down to the float causing it to lie at an angle. A bite is usually signalled by a sharp dip of the float or the float moving across the flow and slowly submerging. Both these styles of angling are a good way of fishing at dusk and into the darkness when I illuminate the float with a torch beam. Why not give it a try?
London Anglers Association – Britford Fishery
A great roach fishing venue on the Hampshire Avon close to Salisbury is the Britford water controlled by the London Anglers Association. Their day permits cost just £10 with a season permit being only £42-00. This is excellent value for money and the river keeper is Stuart Wilson, a very knowledgeable guy; you will not find a better river keeper. The LAA in 1965 had the foresight to purchase the fishery for I believe £65,000 which included a house. It probably cost £1 for each member of the Association in those days. Today I suppose that fishery would fetch millions.
Several LAA chairmen have guided the Association over many years and long may they prosper. Looking through rose-tinted glasses, I suppose the great days were those after the Second World War when up until the end of the 1960s many of the affiliated clubs would run coach trips to the various L.A.A. venues. We learnt so much in those days which has helped us catch more and bigger fish.
Pike, perch, chub, dace, roach, barbel, trout and grayling are spread throughout this delightful fishery which comprises some carriers, the old river and the new, the latter built to alleviate flooding in Salisbury. Roach are what most anglers seek these days, where you still have the chance of a 3lb fish; they are not caught very often but dreams do come true.
There are chub to five pounds plus, with a good head of fish averaging three pounds. Perch fishing can often be exciting; either free lining with lobworms, legering or trotting the stream. Remember perch hate resistance but I reckon there is a chance of a four pounder for someone who is prepared to target this species for a season. Pike are abundant, as are dace. You might just catch that thirty pound pike you dream of.
Rolling meat for chub
Recently I was going to fish for trout but having seen the river with a steady flow and carrying a few extra inches of water with some colour. I decided on a session after the chub. I switched my fly fishing vest for a bait bucket contained bread, sausage and cheese paste; three baits I rate highly for chub. As I drove into the car park a dozen Canada geese flew low over a nearby field. In the middle of the skein was a white farmyard goose which I found quite amazing. Threading the line through the rod guides, I tied on a size 4 barbless hook. A wren chattered loudly from a nearby hawthorn bush and on the other side of the car park another chirped back. The sun was trying to burn through the thin cloud; hopefully it wouldn’t succeed.
Slinging the bait bucket over my shoulder, I picked up my rod then headed upstream. A cormorant flew low over the water; I cursed the bird under my breath. With so many small dace, chub and roach in the river, the last thing we wanted were some fish-eating birds descending on the river. Three hundred yards further upstream, an angler fishing with stick float and double maggot on a size 16 hook was catching some nice roach between twelve ounces and a pound, plus some quality dace.
Half a mile further upstream, I arrived at the area I had chosen to fish; a long steady glide below some fast-swirling shallow and boulder-strewn water. The swim I had chosen to fish contained the odd football sized boulder and a length of alder tree which had been in the river for several months; this was a spot where I have caught chub in the past. A kingfisher with its shrill whistle flew low over the river towards a large willow tree just upstream of where I was sitting, then perched on one of the lower branches.
With a water temperature of 50 degrees F, a nice flow and plenty of colour, my first choice bait was sausage meat and crust fished as a balanced paste, which I would roll down the swim. If it becomes lodged I gently lift the rod tip and the bait usually bounces over the obstruction. The way I fish is similar to check-nymphing. Casting upstream, I kept the rod high then I followed the bait downstream and as the bait passes below me I lower the rod tip, allowing the bait to trundle downstream. As it starts to swing into my bank I strike it off. Then, rebaiting, I start all over again.
Half a dozen lumps of sausage meat paste the size of a bantam egg were catapulted upstream, followed by three orange sized balls of mashed bread. I sat back to enjoy a fresh brew. A group of noisy long tailed tits settled in the willow tree, chattering away as they hunted for tiny flies and other insects. After about an hour, it was time to make my first cast. Fifty minutes later I had a take which I missed. Rebaiting, I cast upstream and as the bait trundled through my swim the rod tip pulled over; my strike connected. It was a chub about two and a half pounds. In the next two casts I had two more chub about three pounds apiece. A dozen casts later I hooked a better fish which weighed 4-12-0. Shortly after catching this fish the rain arrived which continued for well over an hour, during which I didn’t get a single take.
After topping up the swim with more bait sized lumps of sausage meat paste and mashed bread, I walked back to the car for lunch. The float-fisher was still catching. With some hot soup and fresh crusty bread I sat back, watching the river. Lunch over, I made my way upstream under a clearing sky, stopping on the way to talk with the float-fisher, who was getting a bite every cast; mostly small dace and chub.
Back in my swim a barbel rolled and conditions looked good. On my second chuck I had a barbel of about three pounds, quickly followed by another of the same size. Twenty minutes later I had a nice chub of 4-6-0. In the next thirty minutes I had three more small barbel, then followed a quiet spell. I tried crust, flake, lob worms and cheese paste with just one eel for my effort. A good couple of hours followed when I probably had sixteen takes, hooking seven fish which included three chub of 4lb plus and three big chub weighing in at 5-4-0 5-10-0 5-14-0. I fully expected this latter fish to be well over six pounds.
I suppose it was about 4-30 to 5 p.m. when I had a savage pull and hooked a heavy fish which fought strongly, heading upstream towards the alder tree snag. Slowly the pressure started to tell and I was soon able to draw a very long fish over the net. My immediate thought was, ‘This could well be a six pounder.’ The scale-needle hovered between 6-4 and 6-5 and I decided on 6-4. It was time to go home after a great day at the waterside.
May I wish all our readers a Happy Christmas also a Healthy New Year.
Martin James M.B.E. – Winter 2023
You must be logged in to post a comment.