Silver fish provide a precious opportunity Coarse angling

Despite the cold weather and poor conditions there have been some good silver fish catches from the River Stour at Fordwich, writes Paul Mercer. In a morning Keith Etheridge had over 20lb of good roach for a most memorable winter fishing session. During the 2017/2018 season new platform swims were constructed on the Fordwich Straights and thousands of roach, bream, chub and dace introduced then have improved that stretch of the river. The recent informal ‘Old Codger’ match at the Fordwich Straights saw K. Hopson win with 23lb14oz ahead of K. Cunningham with 13lb 6oz and third placed A. Caine with 8lb 14oz. Catches have been scarcer on the Fordwich Lakes complex but a few pike anglers have connected with their quarry – the areas of deeper water proving more fruitful. At Stonar Lake the catches have been similarly affected but a few anglers braving the conditions have been successful. Unusually two big chub have been caught from the Sandwich still-water. Mike Chandler’s tremendous brace of 4lb 7oz and 3lb 13oz also fell, with bream to 3lb 14oz and a weighty common carp of 17lb. Continuing the theme-of-theseason, another big eel has been caught from Stonar with Alan Ashdown reeling in the 4lb 1oz specimen along with several bream to 3lb and a small common carp. Alan Plant banked the best bream of late with fish to 6lb 8oz and James Norris more to 4lb. Lots of small carp have been landed by anglers connecting with bream including by Mark Cavanagh who reported bream to 3lb and a 12lb common. A good brace of commons to 15lb fell to Paul Sturge while Brian Martin caught a small common, another of 12lb and a heavier mirror carp, of 19lb 8oz. n The Canterbury & District Angling Association fly tying classes for 2019 have been scheduled to begin on Wednesday, February 6, at 7.30pm at CDAA Headquarters, 14 Mill Road, Sturry, Canterbury CT2 0AF, and they will run for eight weeks. Subject to replies there will be two separate classes, one for absolute beginners and a progressive class. The beginners will start with an introduction to the tools and the basics of tying, leading to the first steps of tying simple flies. All tools are provided for those without the necessary equipment. The classes will be taken by members of the Fly Dressers Guild and two fly patterns will be shown, which