This golden age of river fishing has been inspiring
THAT’S a wrap on another river fishing season. And what a final couple of weeks it’s been! We’ve had more big fish in our newsdesk inbox than autographs
Ali Hamidi was asked to sign at The Big One Show in Farnborough!
Well, maybe not quite that many, but there’ve been a staggering amount of catch reports submitted.
What’s been particularly enjoyable to see is the wide range of species – everything from huge barbel and chub to massive zander and roach. Specimen anglers really do seem to be enjoying something of a golden period at the moment, where there’s a real variety of big fish to go at – and when you look at the weights of the fish winning the weekly Drennan Cup Awards they’re substantially heavier than they were just a few years ago.
I grew up fishing stillwaters and, in all honesty, haven’t done masses of river fishing over the years. As such, the end of the season has never impacted my fishing too much. This winter, however, largely inspired by the fish which keep dropping into our inbox, I’ve spent much more time on running water.
So, with no jobs or tasks that I was required to do at home, on the Sunday before the rivers closed for the next three months I chucked my chub fishing tackle in the boot, along with a ball of cheesepaste, and headed out for the afternoon.
Thankfully, my rain radar app proved to be accurate. I left home in the pouring rain, but as the app stated it was dry just 20 miles up the road and stayed that way for the rest of the day.
I may not have caught any fish to challenge those on pages 10 and 11 for their slot, but I had an enjoyable few hours catching chub to just under 4lb.
Roll on June 16!