Hampshire trip day 3

Day 3 was upon me and I arose at 4am and made a flask at the back of the van whilst donning a load of clothing as it felt pretty cold out. As I was sorting myself out Rupert and Jim turned up in the layby and we spent the next 45 minutes talking fishing, work and family life.....great to catch up with them both before starting our fishing day. 

Danny and I last saw each other over 20 years ago

I opted to fish the same swim one more time as it had just fished so well the day prior. I started the day off with the same approach as day 2 with a dozen balls of groundbait and dropped the feeder set up onto the money spot. 

Bites were far less becoming this morning and I sat for a good half hour before receiving my first indications of fish within the swim. Two chaps I had met at the tail end of last season turned up around 7am Paul and Chris. 

Two lovely fellas and Chris asked if I minded him dropping in just above me. Of course I didn't mind and it was great to have a little company for a change. 

He had a slow start too on the flat float method but eventually started to catch a few dace and roach up to 1'10. My y old friend Danny Taylor who works as media manager for Rod Hutchinson turned up to fish and we had a wonderful catchup as it had been over twenty years since last seeing each other!

Amazing dace!

My day was much slower and despite introducing plenty of fresh bait at regular intervals, it was a much less productive day. It seemed the case throughout the fishery with many blanks and odd sporadic fish appearing. 

I had around 25 fish by the end of the day but within that were 2 lovely fish. One which was rather special! Around 1pm I cast the feeder down the swim as I had seen fish rising regularly at the tail end. As the feeder was falling through the water column on a semi tight line, I felt a few strong bites through the rod. 

I decided to strike and was met with a good solid resistance. The fish darted around and felt a lot faster than the usual roach fight. It was a dace.....I called over to Chris as he asked what had I got on and I replied 'just a bloody dace, not what I'm after'! 

Well, I have to be honest it wasn't quite the dace I expected and I decided it might just be worth weighing as it looked rather thick across the back and quite tubby round the belly! I readied the scales and a bag and took a reading.....1lb! What? a POUND DACE! I called Chris over to witness the fish and we weighed it on his more accurate scales at exactly 1lb 0oz 2 drams! A new PB! I was over the moon and to top it off I had another of 12oz too! The roach fishing continued to be very slow but just as I was thinking about calling it a day the tip went round with a better roach on. 

A very spirited scrap ensued and after a couple of hairy moments with the fish making its way towards some inside margin weed and roots, I finally bagged a better one. On the scales she tipped 1lb 15oz. What a cracking way to end my 2022/23 River Avon Roach season! I decided I'd pop off a bit earlier and drop into Ringwood Tackle and grab a bit more bait for my final day at Britford on the Avon chasing a chub or two. 

The lads informed me that it was no longer day ticket and that I was basically stuffed! Oh well, home or Throop? I debated the idea of going home a day early and getting some much needed rest, a decent hot meal and my own bed or the potential of another blank on a very patchy Dorset Stour.....I chewed the cud for a few more minutes then decided I'd give it one last chance to give me a good day out. Maggots were purchased and I headed over to Throop Mill where I had a huge tidy up of the van before settling down for an earlier night! I had a swim in mind for the final day and a two pronged attack that would suit the situation if I got the swim I wanted......Alarm was set for 5.30 with a view to going onto the fishery as per the rules at 6.30am in the morning. I laid my head down and got some rest dreaming about a big bag of chub......or a blank!