Big Fish: River season begins to pick up summer speed

Thankfully the second week of the new river season brought a slight improvement to returns as anglers began to get a little more in tune with the barbel and the barbel themselves began to drop back into their more usual runs and start to feed, albeit in limited numbers.

The Kennet was the first of the local rivers to show any sign of form and although it remained out of sorts there were good fish caught from both Benyons and Calcot with a few smaller specimens and increasing numbers of chub showing from most of the other beats from Newbury downstream.

The Kennet grapevine has also been buzzing with rumours of an 18lb fish but I suspect rumours are all they are likely to be as a summer fish of that weight from the Kennet remains highly unlikely; but as always watch this space for any updates.

As to the fish which were landed there were sadly precious few to local anglers but Woodley’s Tim Chambers managed to connect with a terrific early season fish from the RDAA beat at Lower Benyons.

Arriving early afternoon for an evening session, Tim found the venue typically busy but managed to find a decent swim on the upstream end of the fishery on one of the deeper runs below the weir.

Setting up a simple running rig, Tim presented a monster crab flavoured pellet on a size eight hook to a 15lb braided hooklength and 10lb main line and he fished it on the inside line under a line of overhanging trees with a PVA bag of smaller pellets as groundbait.

Not expecting to get a bite until the light faded late in the day, Tim was taken aback when his rod pulled around violently shortly after his second cast and after a five-minute fight he netted his first barbel of the season - and at 11lb 6oz it was a cracker of a fish to start with too.

Despite keeping a regular trickle of feed going through the swim, Tim’s early barbel was his only one of the session, although he was rewarded with a chub of around the 3lb 8oz mark at the end of the day.

Moving along to the Thames and conditions throughout much of the local river remain challenging for angling with a good push of water making for tricky bait placement, especially on those so important far bank features.

Steadier glides have started to produce the occasional fish though with bream in particular showing at spots throughout Bourne End and Marlow and after dark sessions with the feeder are already beginning to bring rewards including a five-fish catch to Cookham angler Joe Gray who fished a maggot hookbait on a size 14 hook to 5lb line in conjunction with a feeder packed with brown crumb and chopped worm.

Much of the Thames was unfishable for the prime summer and early autumn feeding spells last year due to the flooding; hopefully we will not see a repeat of those conditions this term as the Thames continues to improve as one of the most important local venues for big barbel, carp, chub and perch as well as being a great venue for simply getting a few bites.

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