Dave Harrell
The beauty of fishing small rivers in winter
EVER since I was a young boy, small rivers have fascinated me.
My dad used to take me to places like the River Tern in Shropshire and the River Lugg in Herefordshire, and my love affair with waters like these has continued into my adult years.
Most of my time these days is spent on big rivers in match fishing situations, so it’s always a nice diversion for me to get on a small river when I can.
My latest midweek session saw me on the banks of the upper Warwickshire Avon a few minutes from my home in Rugby.
It’s a lovely little river, and if you can catch it right in the winter months, it offers the chance of some decent catches as long as you are prepared to travel light and move swims.
Joining me for the day was my mate Kelvin Tallett, and I don’t think either of us had ever travelled so light on a session!
One rod and reel plus a landing net each, a box of floats, a few hooks and shot and a pint of maggots apiece was all we had with us, so there was no need for platform barrows on this occasion!
I’d been on this particular bit of river once before, and on that day I caught a lot of small chub and dace from swims just below the road bridge. This time, though, I told Kelvin I fancied fishing lower down where neither of us had been before. As the river here is narrow, I didn’t think it would take long to find out if there were fish in our chosen swims, so half-an-hour or so in each it would probably be, with the option of staying longer if we tapped into a shoal of fish.
It didn’t take long to find a likely looking swim, and in readiness for the afternoon ahead we both set up similar rigs with 4No4 Speci Stick floats, bulk shotted with No4s on 5lb (0.18mm) Pro Match lines. Kelvin went for a short 0.14mm Pro Rig hooklength and a size 16 hook, while I tied a size 14 direct to the mainline. I honestly couldn’t see the thicker line making any difference, as the water was still coloured from the recent floods.
Our first chosen swim had a raft of rubbish a few yards downstream and looked good
for a chub or two. It was only 3ft deep, but with colour in the water we were confident of catching and it was no surprise when the float went under after 10 minutes and a nice bend formed in the tip section of the 12ft rod I. What came as a surprise to me was that the fish was a roach, as I hadn’t seen any on my previous visit.
Several more small roach followed before the stamp gradually got a bit better, with fish to 12oz showing. I got up to 14 roach and bites then slowed down, so we decided on a move, to try and find some chub!
Swim two was a much longer swim and Kelvin opened his 2020 account with a few small roach, but none of any size.
While he was fishing here, I weaved my way under some branches to have a go behind a big snag that was basically a load of drifted rubbish and branches built up around a tree that had fallen in. It looked like a real chub holding place, and although I was right on top of the debris, I managed to land a couple of chub before getting my line stuck in overhanging branches!
Our final move saw us position ourselves upstream of this debris and I told Kelvin to see the session out and try to catch a big chub, which I felt sure would be there.
This swim turned out to be our best choice of the day and Kelvin landed several good quality roach before his first chub of the day.
Two more of similar size followed before he struck into something much bigger, inches before the float reached the debris.
Now it was proper ‘jungle warfare’ time as the fish shot in and out of the submerged branches, eventually snagging the line up good and proper! In fairness to Kelvin, he had no chance on the gear he was on.
As we made our way back to the car, we reflected on what had been a really interesting afternoon.
We want to go back again as soon as we get a chance, as there must be loads of swims like the ones we found all the way down the river and even near the retail parks in Rugby itself.
So if you’ve got a small river near you that you’ve never thought about fishing before, have a walk along it and if you find some fishy looking areas, give it a go.
You might well end up pleasantly surprised!