Keith Arthur’s
...and the bream we catch are young and in fine fettle
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AFTER more than two years away from cameras on the bank it was lovely to be invited by Rae Borras to film for Fishing TV, the video streaming service aimed at anglers.
The company is producing a series on the famous rivers of Britain, and having completed the Severn story my part was to be the penultimate piece of the Thames tale.
You can see the first episode in the series on the Fishing TV app or website right now, and the Thames episode will be appearing in the coming months.
With my reasonable knowledge of the tidal sections, Rae wanted to show angling in London – but access to the foreshore is very difficult so we settled on the TideFest length in Chiswick.
I was a tad concerned, as tides were tiny and we’d had two slight frosts in the days before, but Old Father didn’t let us down.
Despite only having around four hours available, thanks to tide times and the clocks falling back, Rae and I feedered out nine bream – not the old warriors of the recent past but young, spotless fish around 2lb 8oz each.
Rae found a small dace but, aside from the harbour porpoise that cruised around, the stars of the show were roach.
The first was no more than 8oz but then we both caught one over 1lb 8oz. As usual I didn’t have any scales, and while I’m sure mine wasn’t 2lb it was within 4oz, I reckon. Now that gives me something to aim at for the winter, when my immediately local stretch simply switches off.
Thanks goodness Thames Water made the investment in Mogden Sewage Works, and just imagine how good the fishing will be when the Tideway Tunnel begins operating!