I’M THANKFUL THE RIVER IS MY WORKPLACE!
The start of the season has been hard going, so fish early and late or at night
THE start of the season was always going to be difficult on the River Severn, but that’s exactly what I’d have expected.
To be honest, the fish had seen very little bait since November, there had been no real rain for weeks and temperatures topped 30ºC. Life in the opening weeks was difficult for the Severn angler.
Don’t get me wrong, I caught barbel and chub on every session but some of those days out in the sun nearly killed me.
Some of my mates have been fishing the lower river and catching some good barbel well into double figures, but I prefer the beauty of the middle and upper river, even if I am going to catch less at this time of year.
I have already heard anglers saying the river is finished and a waste of time. That’s rubbish! It is the conditions, and very often a lack of angling skills, that result in poor fishing.
Best times to fish at the moment are early morning and late evening when the sun is off the water or, better still, at night, if that’s allowed where you’re fishing.
Here’s how my week went…
MONDAY
A guide day with two lovely people, Keith and Amanda Grace. Keith fished and his lady wanted to sit and enjoy the delightful scenery of the middle Severn around Coalport. It was a hot day, and by noon it was almost impossible to sit out, but we caught a couple of barbel and a chub which took some doing in such hard conditions.
We also saw some wonderful wildlife. You could see a long way downriver from the swim I put Keith in and this made a great backdrop for the trip.
We all retired to the pub for a beer and spoke of another potential trip in the autumn.
I’m looking forward to that already – what’s good about guiding is the nice people I get to take to my workplace.
Keith told me how lucky I am doing this for a living and I replied that I thank the Lord every night for the good times.
TUESDAY
Up early again to meet Paul Jessop of Sodafloat Products to make a short film. The Sodafloat is a float that you can load up with sinking pellets, hemp, maggots, sweetcorn and so on. You simply cast it out and when it hits the water the loosefeed drops around your hookbait. It works really well and I can’t wait to give it a go on lakes for chub and orfe.
Paul caught rudd, roach and carp for the camera while I asked all the questions. It worked well, and we had a right laugh with Matt and Jake from Purple Elephant Media
who were filming it all.
Life is very serious at the moment with all the problems we hear about every day, so fishing is an escape for most of us.
Although I take my fishing very seriously I always have time for a laugh or three.
Paul caught a mixed bag of silver fish and I was surprised how sensitive the float was. On a better day when the temperature is not in the thirties this product could produce. Learn all about it at www.peejaytackle.co.uk
WEDNESDAY
Another guide day, this time with Tony Dilsworth from the USA and his English mate Nick Green, two smashing lads. We had a laugh from the very first time we met, with plenty of ‘Yank’ jokes as you can imagine.
Tony was shocked when the temperature hit 30ºC. while we were talking, it threw it down with rain and we all got soaked us to the skin! But then the sun came out again and we were dry within half-an-hour.
After the rain and under darker skies, the barbel got their heads down on boilies and we caught 10, along with two chub. My guests both said they had had a great time and one hell of a laugh – my job was done.
After we packed away, there was only one thing for it, and that was to treat Tony to a pint of real cider in a local pub. Nick was not a drinker. As we sat looking at the river, a salmon jumped, a grey wagtail walked the margins and the cider was cold. Does it get any better than that?
FRIDAY
An evening to myself with a few hours floatfishing on the River Stour with a pint of maggots. I caught dace, gudgeon, small chub and even a small pike, probably less than 2lb of fish in total, but it was what I needed.
I didn’t want a big fish, I didn’t want to leger with two rods, I just wanted to enjoy a few bites on a float rod… and that’s what I did. Later we had a barbecue around the bungalow with a few friends and family to end a great week.