Hampshire trip day 4

The iconic school bridge at Throop

Well, the final day of the trip arrived and with yet another chilly start to the day, I arose at 5.30am to get on the river for 6.30! The kettle was boiled and a nice flask of hot coffee brewed for the days onslaught. I had high hopes for an area that appeared to be producing an odd fish or two and my mate Mark had caught a couple from there last week. 

I still had in the back of my mind though, the fact that the venue had been pretty unkind to me this summer as opposed to years passed where I had been extremely lucky on there! 

My last 4-5 trips have been blanks or at best, extremely poor in producing anything of value. As I unloaded the van by School bridge gate, another angler turned up. 

Basic loafer float rig

We chatted for a bit as we had half hour before we could venture on to the fishery. I gave him a few pointers on where had been producing of recent and we went off to start fishing. My chosen swim isn't that popular due to it's awkwardness, odd current flows and shallow section of water. There is a shallow run of 12-18" deep that extends some 100 yards and then the water drops off into around 8 feet near the lower section of the swim. 

The swim from above

I decided to set up slap bang in the middle which gave me a good water coverage above and below. I started off using the feeder rod with a black cap and heli rig and red maggots for hook baits. The first few casts were made into the slower section of water in the middle behind a weed/gravel bed in around 6-8 feet of water. 

My trot and where bites came from

The first 40 minutes passed without any action and then suddenly I received a good drop back bite and a good hooked chub. The battle was pretty good in the strong currents and it took a few minutes to subdue the fish. It was a nice chub of 5lb 8oz! A great way to start proceedings.....I made a few more casts into the area but nothing else occurred on the feeder and it was as if the swim was empty! 

first up a nice upper five

I had a brew and decided to put a couple of bait droppers into the swim with some maggot, caster, hemp and a bit of loose damp groundbait. I left the swim for half an hour and went up to see Sean who I had met in the morning to see how he was getting on. There were 5 other anglers on and all were struggling to get so much as a bite from what looked like a pretty tasty few swims. Sean had moved a couple of times and was really struggling too. 

no 2

We chatted a bit then I headed back to see if the dropper had worked its magic and drawn a few fish into the swim. 

The feeder was repositioned back on the money but after half an hour of fruitless activity I felt it was time to change tact and try a new spot. When I say a new spot I mean a spot within a spot.....

So, I set up my 14ft Drennan Acolyte Plus float rod with a very simple Crystal loafer float of 2AA and a 4lb to 14 hook. This was set to around 4 feet and then cast to the head of the swim over the far side. 

It was a bloody tricky little trot in all honesty though and getting the float to perform correctly and not draw across the swim was a real bastard! To top it off there was also a down stream wind beginning to start, which made the whole thing even tougher. Despite the awkwardness of the situation and swim, I soldiered on for a bit and finally I got a cast to run through so perfectly that I felt in my bones I was going to get a bite! I did! 

The float buried and I struck into what felt like the bottom of the river! Once it started to move off slowly I switched the back wind off as it felt fairly heavy on such light weight kit. 

The fish kitted all over the swim in the fast flow and my god was it awkward to net! 

Every attempt was masked by the flow and light gear, as soon as the fish opened its mouth at the surface, it basically became a heavy raft that I just couldn't budge in the flow. 

I watched each time as it rose up and got pulled back into the flow and out of reach of my net handle! I decided to play it differently and went for a low rod approach, drawing the fish above me with each wind of the reel handle. As the fish rose back up to the surface I would then release pressure and net the fish from down stream and behind....It worked! Thank God for that.....Pics taken of another high five and I spent another half hour of the day without so much as a bite. 

I re-tried  the feeder to no avail and felt like I was missing something. I sat with a coffee and 'no cigarette' as I gave up nearly 2 weeks ago and debated the options in my head. Right, next plan.....

I grabbed the rod and headed some 50 yards up stream to the shallow section above me and put my polaroid's on. I couldn't see much under the turbulent surface water but I was adamant I saw a fish turn just down from me in about 3 feet of fast water. 

I had nothing to lose so started spraying red maggots upstream into the fast, shallow stream of water. I did this for about 15 minutes before making my first cast. The actual trot was about 20 yards but it ended up taking me slap bang over the area I had been fishing earlier on the feeder. The swim deepened from 18" to 2 feet to 4 feet to 6 feet to finally 8 or 9 feet at the tail end. The current was boisterous as best and with the growing down stream gusts, it was bloody hard to keep the float in a steady and straight line without lots over mending. 

They kept coming!

And coming

About 5 casts in and just at the end of the swim, the float just disappeared! I struck into a solid lump of fish and had to immediately run down stream with the rod and net in hand. The fish trashed the swim from top to bottom before finally causing me as much grief as the last one to net. The same approach was taken and after 5 minutes of arguing I netted another nice chub of around 4lbs. I was keen to see if the fish had all moved up just above me so went back for another go. 

7 trots later I was yet again into a nice chub of 5lbs. By this point I was feeling rather pleased with myself and thought that would probably be my lot from such a small area. 

Boy, how wrong was I! I put a few pouch fulls of red maggot through without trotting and went back up to see Sean who was still struggling above me. The other anglers had all moved on without so much as a bite and I was feeling rather cocky about my current winning streak. 

Sean wanted to know about the feeder rig I had been using on the Avon this week for the Roach so I gave him some elastic and got him set up with the 'Rupert' self hooking rig. I then ventured back down to the swim to try once more before probably moving to another section of the river. A couple more pouch fulls of reds went out and then I ran the float through. 

First trot produced a nice 3lb 11oz chub and this one was keen on the weed bed! I had to play all sorts of games with it to keep its head out the weed. 

I took a few pics and went back up to the spot. A few more maggot pouches out then the float went through....nothing....and again....nothing....this went on for about 10 casts. 

Had I had everything out the swim? 4 fish was it? Surely not. No maggots for a few trots was the next decision made and the float went through the swim on its own. 

Two trots later and the float buried. Another great fight saw me running back down stream to get below the fish and stop it from weeding me up. Yet another nice low five pounder in the net. What a great mornings fishing, five good chub bagged. 

I went back up to the honey pot and did the same again. Same tactic, same result, another 4 pounder! The saying 'like buses' was now on my tongue and to be honest I was feeling quite elated at the days current results behind what I'd had from the Avon this week too. 

Well, to say it was hectic was an understatement, it continued to produce chub, one after another all day long! 

It was literally stuffed full of fish!

Don't get me wrong, I had to work for them, by upping the feed then stopping it, casting a little further across, dropping shorter. 

It all worked at some point and by close of play at 5pm, I had had 16 fish on, lost two to the snaggy weed island in the middle and landed 14 others to 5lb 12oz! 

What a day, I was physically and mentally exhausted and still had a three and a half hour drive home to complete. 

That didn't really matter though as I had had one of the best few days angling of my life! Utterly incredible experiences that I may never get the chance to repeat again! Tight lines everyone and I hope some of you had as good an end to the season as I did!