Dave Harrell 10 great river tips to see out the year in fine style

Try these tactics and watch your catches soar

ICAN’T ever remember a more difficult period than the one we’ve just had. All over the country the rivers have been high and all my favourite venues have been badly affected.

I won’t shout this too loudly for fear that the rain gods might hear me, but I’ve had a look at the long-range weather forecasts and things don’t look too bad. I’m really hopeful that all of us who enjoy fishing on moving water will be able to get back to what we love doing most.

One thing’s for sure, when levels are back to normal the fish will be starving, so this week we’re looking at tactics that will bring you lots of bites and put more fish in your net when it does happen.

Hopefully, they will help you to bring the curtain down on 2019 with some real red-letter days!

1 TRY LOBWORMS

Over the past few years I have caught loads of fish on lobbies!

There are many different ways you can use them. A whole worm or three-quarters of a worm on a size 10 or 8 hook is great for big perch. I’ve also caught big roach using this tactic, but generally a section or tail is best for redfins.

2 TARGET ROACH

Roach are my favourite winter species, and between now and March 14 I will be targeting them whenever I can. We seem to be in an era of many venues holding 2lb-plus fish, and this has already been evident on the Wye and Severn this season.

Double and triple maggot or a piece of bread are my bait choices when the river is clear. If the water is coloured, I’ll be using lobworm tails.

3 BIG STICKS WORK

Bulk rigs are often the best way to present a hookbait in swiftly flowing rivers but I can think of numerous occasions when I have switched to a stick float taking as many as 16 No4 shot and caught better quality fish with the shot strung out, rather than bulked.

For this reason, I always set both rigs up when I’m trying to catch big roach.

4 USE A BLOCKEND

On very cold days, a static bait can be better than a bait run through under a float. I use blockend feeders for this with 3ft-4ft hooklengths and two or three maggots on a size 14 hook.

Be patient, though, as chub often won’t switch on to this tactic for two or three hours.

Just keep the feeder going in regularly for an hour or two and then leave it in for longer periods of up to 20 minutes.

Big chub are suckers for this approach!