Experience the joy of fishing summer rivers – we reveal the hottest spots for easy silverfish action on float and pole.
Discover why the Avon is the perfect venue to hone your river fishing skills
IF YOU’RE looking to take your first steps into river fishing then the Bristol Avon could be the ideal candidate to get you off to a flyer!
It’s full of fish that can produce a bite every chuck, simple tactics are required, and the steady flow will ease you into the start of your adventures on running water.
There are plenty of areas that have potential for reliable action but the zone around Keynsham, to the east of Bristol is arguably top of the list.
Silverfish dominate proceedings and there is every chance you could put together 20lb of roach, dace and perch in just a few hours’ action.
Floatfishing rules
Those of you who have previously only fished lakes will be glad to know that you can use pretty much the same kit to score on the Bristol Avon.
Lighter elastics, lines and hooks will be needed but other than that, your pole or waggler rod will do the job.
Up-and-coming star Andrew Cranston is one of the river’s biggest fans and reckons there’s never been a better time to sample its delights.
“It’s no exaggeration to say you can catch a fish every single chuck from start to finish but it is important to get the intricacies of your approach right if you want a big weight,” says Andrew.
“You’ll get bites on the pole or stick float, but a 5m whip or pole to hand is definitely the more effective approach. Once you get into a rhythm you can be swinging a couple of silverfish to hand every minute.
“I make my rig so that it is around 2ft short of the full length of the whip. This makes sure that every fish swings straight to hand, increasing the pace at which I can catch.”
Balling it in
With silverfish on the agenda you could be forgiven for thinking that loosefeeding little and often would be key – but you’d be wrong.
There are hordes of bleak in the river that will eat maggots or casters on the drop, so feeding three big balls of groundbait at the start with regular top-up nuggets is the way forward.
When it comes to rigs, a 1.5g carbon-stemmed float with a rugby ball-shaped float can be swung into place with ease.
Use 0.15mm mainline to a 0.10mm hooklength and a size 18 hook, relying on a bulk of shot close to the hook to bomb the maggot hookbait down to the quality roach and dace.