The Big Fish Column

The recent weather may have been rather poor but cool temperatures and rain have finally shifted the local river sport up a gear and on the smaller venues at least last week saw a marked improvement in sport.

From a barbel point of view double figure fish featured with a good deal more regularity and there were reports of good fish from the Kennet, Loddon and St. Patrick’s Stream although the fishing remained slightly below par for the time of year.

On the River Kennet local barbel fanatic and Big Fish Column regular Holyport’s Dave McManus got amongst them on the Reading and District beat at Lower Benyons.

This popular section of river is not one of his usual haunts but he spent an evening social session there with his brother, Stewart, who was recently arrived back in the UK and fishing back on home soil for the first time in two years.

It took a couple of hours of steady baiting with PVA bags of hemp and pellet to get the fish moving and feeding in their adjoining swims and Dave, courteously fishing the upstream peg, netted the first fish for his brother late in the afternoon and estimated it at around the 8lb mark.
Shortly afterwards Stewart got the best possible welcome home with a lovely double scaling 12lb 6oz.

Dave finished the session with another good fish of 11lb 12oz.

Both anglers legered pea-sized paste baits on a size 10 hook to 12lb braided hooklength and 10lb main line with running leads of 2oz.

On the Loddon at Twyford the chub and perch provided some entertainment for Gary Pearce during the morning of a day-long session as his feeder fished red maggots took chub to 3lb and perch to 1lb 12oz along with a few bits.

As the afternoon wore on and the light began to fade Gary stepped up his light feeder outfit for a slightly heavier one but stuck with the previously successful maggot approach putting a bunch of six reds on a size eight Drennan Barbel Hook and testing his luck by fishing them below a large flat block end feeder.

After several thumping line bites, which Gary somehow managed to avoid striking in error, the tip pulled around in earnest and after a powerful five minute fight in shallow water he netted a barbel of 9lb 14oz.

Thinking the big fish would be his only bite of the evening Gary nearly packed up straight away but decided to have one last chuck as he tidied his swim in preparation for leaving- (he is glad he did as the rod pulled around within two minutes and the result was a fish of 10lb 10oz) -a lovely classic Loddon brace.

Although the smaller rivers started to come into form, the Thames remained indifferent for the most part, due mostly to the strong flows which continue to make presentation at range tricky.

For close-in work Marlow remains a good bet for anglers with the bream shoals feeding well, especially after dark with the groundbait feeder a noticeable success at the moment.

Cookham has been slow but the odd good chub is showing and Bourne End is similar with perch, chub and the occasional bream making up small mixed bags.

Boulters has started to show some decent form with perch to over the pound mark to pole anglers off the rails and around the lock and the occasional small barbel downstream.

Prospects on the smaller rivers are likely to continue to improve this week so if you have not yet made a start on the local rivers, my advice is that there is no better time than right now to start getting down to it.

Any anglers wishing to report catches may contact me on 07780 755138 or ian@bigfishtrail.com