Martin Bowler’s Adventures
The later it gets, the better your chances
Our big-fish ace reveals why there’s still time to catch the fish of your dreams...
T HE final few days of the coarse fishing season are often the best time to bag a specimen.
With spawning not too far off, fish are unlikely to refuse a free meal, no matter how cold it is. A December overnight frost kills sport stone dead, but not so in March. Longer days also give you more time on the bank and, as a bonus, fish will be easier to locate.
For most of the winter they push downstream into slow, deep stretches to ride out the dramatic changes wrought by frost and floods. Finding them at such times can be near-impossible, but now upstream weirs and locks suddenly become a magnet for nearly every species. If there are such man-made structures where you fish, give them a go.
BARBEL
A great example of this was at the once-prolific Adams Mill on the Great Ouse. As the season progressed, the magnificent barbel would move ever farther downstream, ending up a mile or so below on another section entirely, known as Kickles Farm. Come mid-February the process
was reversed and, as every day passed, the barbel would gravitate back up to the weir at Adams – a good demonstration of how dynamic the aquatic world can be.
ROACH
Roach will, in all probability, spawn on the shallows immediately downstream of a weir where the largest gravel beds can be found. This is a species that prefers the easy life, especially in winter, which is why a lock cut can give you the best of both worlds. The spawning ground is close at hand, but meanwhile the fish can go about their daily business in what is effectively a stillwater environment.
So popular are lock cuts that every shoal for miles around will pack into a tiny body of water. Catching them is now far easier.
PREDATORS
With this migration of fish it’s not surprising that the pike and perch are also on the move.
But they aren’t just seeking food – if anything, spawning takes priority. March is when predators reproduce, and any snags or reeds close to a weir or lock cut are
where they’ll be.
This is the time to catch a monster plump with spawn, and my chosen technique would be livebaiting. Hen pike are highly aggressive after constant attention from the males, and a moving bait taps into this anger perfectly.
CHUB
Another classic river species is the chub, so when I had an afternoon spare and found the river running clear I knew exactly what I would target, and where.
I settled into a swim with a beautiful crease formed where water from river and lock cut met. A hundred yards above me was a huge stepped weir. I noted that the water was a chilly 39¡F.
Out of the sling came a Drennan Medium Quiver rod with a 1½oz glass tip. Mainline was the same company’s 8lb Method Feeder Mono. A tad robust, maybe? Not when I was targeting big fish and regularly casting a feeder. In any case, my hooklength was a long one, made from 5lb line to a size 12 Drennan Wide Gape hook.
A paternoster rig saw the feeder sitting on a boom running up and down the mainline. A Grippa Stop acted as a buffer bead before a twisted 8ins section of mainline helped kick the bait away and prevent tangles. At the end of this, an overhand loop allowed the hooklength to be connected.
I had liquidised a two-day-old white sliced loaf for groundbait, and because I was after chub I saw no need to remove the crust – greedy fish are very difficult to fill up, particularly with spawning imminent. My hookbait was punched flake, and to make sure it didn’t fall off on the cast or tangle, it was pushed gently into the feeder full of crumb.
This technique is particularly good for building a swim, and the first bite will rarely be your last.
Casting every 10 minutes over an hour, doughy particles filtered downstream and I was pleased, but not surprised, when the tip began to wobble, followed by a slow, sweet pull round.
It’s always a wonderful moment when you hit a ‘brick wall’ like this, and a number of headshakes told me immediately that I was attached to a big fish.
The rod hooped over alarmingly, but soon enough a bronze-flanked beauty rolled over the mesh of the landing net – all 6lb 9oz of it.
This was proof enough for me that locating the fish is more than half the battle, and it’s easier in March than at any other time of year to get it right. Go on, what are you waiting for?