Return to Pallington Lakes and the Frome

I have made three long trips south this season to fish the Pallington Lakes in Dorset, starting with June 16th when Anthony Morris and me started off the season fishing the lakes for tench with the odd foray onto the River Frome for its wild brown trout and grayling. On that first trip I was to learn quite a bit about the Pallatrax paste baits which have certainly proved successful. Not only at Pallington but on other stillwater's and the rivers Aire, Kennet and Loddon.

On that first trip Simon taught me how effective his paste baits were. I well remember Simon casting a bait into my swim, within a minute perhaps less he was hooked up to a good carp. 'Lucky devil' I though. He wasn't, Simon caught a succession of tench. There was something in this paste. the fish liked. I decided to use the method mix and paste on one rod. while I continued to fish my other baits on the second rod. I immediately started to catch tench, from the same swim where I was only catching the odd fish on green lipped mussel, corn, worms or bread. I was impressed. For two days I continued to catch tench, the odd carp and some good size eels all on paste baits, two eels were over 4lbs. It was time to move on.

Next day it was off to the River Kennet where hopefully Anthony would catch his first barbel. When we arrived in Thatcham our first stop was to seek the advice of Paul Smythe who is without doubt one of the best all-round coarse anglers today who is catching quality fish from stillwaters, river and canals. Apart from his 17-4-0 Kennet record barbel, he has caught another big fish of 16-12-0 plus many other double figure fish. Karen his girl friend is also a good angler catching double figure barbel, carp well over 20lbs big perch and other good fish. Both fish matches where Karen and Paul have their fair share of success.

After a chat with Paul we drove off to a stretch of the Kennet he recommended. Having put Anthony in a swim which I though might produce barbel, I advised him on the tackle, rig and bait to use. As he sorted everything out I put the kettle on for a fresh brew.

Half an hour later who should appear on the bank but Paul. After some good banter during which Paul said to Anthony. "Bring your tackle in and we will move to another swim" To my surprise Paul chose the 'Watering Can Swim' which I always thought was ignored by everyone except myself. As Paul and Anthony moved off downstream I grabbed my cameras hoping I could get some action shots. Within ten minutes Anthony had his first fish, not what he hoped for. It was a chub. Half an hour later under the tuition of Paul, Anthony had his first barbel weighing 7-8-0 on a hair rigged halibut pellet. It was the end of our fishing trip and time to head off home.

Back to Pallington and the Frome

On my second visit to Pallington I followed the advice gained from Simon Pomoroy, deciding to fish the method mix with Elixir 6 paste baits for tench, it was certainly sound advice from the master. Not only did I catch my share of tench, including a male fish just over 6lbs. I also had a mirror carp of 20-8-0 on tench tackle. The 6lb Gamma line, 4lb hook link with a 12 foot soft action rod were quite capable of taming the carp. As was my old 1953 Mitchell 300.

Despite the dry weather the Frome a delightful chalk stream looked magnificent. The gin clear water swirled, snaked and gurgled its way to the sea in Pool harbour. In the lower reaches of the river, there are deep slacks, so beloved of the pike and big roach, fast shallows full of minnows,occasional a big trout would be seen laying up close to the water crowfoot. The Pallatrax water further up the valley is a grayling and brown trout venue, occasionally a seatrout or salmon will be caught. On this water I could see lovely gravel runs with a plentiful supply of rich green coloured water crowfoot. In between the crowfoot which swayed from side to side, I sometimes spotted a good trout. Further upstream were a shoal of good size grayling. Moorhens, dabchicks and a family of swans could occasionally be seen. Kingfishers zipped up and down the river throughout the day. Water voles inhabited the river bank, sadly they were are hunted by the mink, the biggest killer in the countryside. It was a fly fishers dream. With my local river Ribble at an all time low, how pleasing it was to be on the banks of this delightful stream.

Hooked Up To A Big Grayling

I well remember one late evening session, I had left Kate fishing the Rainbow lake for tench while I tried to temp a trout on a dry fly. Fishing a sedge pattern upstream and across for about the tenth time as darkness enveloped the countryside, I got a take. The strike connected with a powerful fish which shot off downstream. With a 3lb tippet and a 4 weight rod I had to give line then follow the fish downstream. Slowly I worked some line back on the reel. For a minute or so I thought I had hooked a seatrout, then I felt that familiar twisting fight of the fish realising I had hooked into a grayling. Though I hadn't seen the fish, I had this feeling this wasn't just any grayling. This was a big fish.

Suddenly in the half light the fish swirled I spotted the big dorsal fin, I was right in my first estimation of this fish. It was a big one. The fish dived I gave some line. Then all went solid as it buried itself in the weed. Various thoughts went through my mind the strongest one being should I leap into the water. The deep dark swirling weedy water looked dangerous. Instead I decided to try and get above the fish and hopefully work it out of the weed. I moved downstream pushing through the Himalayan Balsam, nettles and reeds dragging a long handled landing net with me.

As I reached the area the fish suddenly freed itself and shot off downstream. I let it go, after a few yards it stopped. Slowly I worked it back upstream, by now it was quite dark. Suddenly it swirled a few yards away, in the light of the full moon I could see this grayling was big, no huge. It was nearer 4lb than 3lb. I pushed the net into the water and cramped on all the pressure I dare, slowly I was getting in a few inches of line. Suddenly the fish swirled and tried to twist itself out of the water then crashed back throwing the hook. I was gutted. I decided enough was enough winding in the slack line I made my way upstream.

Looking across to where Kate was fishing I could see she was hooked up to something big. Quickly making my way across to where she was fishing I could see something was pulling the string in a determined fashion. I said Take it easy that's a good fish as I picked up the big landing net. I suppose the struggle lasted five or six minutes before I could see Kate had hooked a big eel. After the fifth or sixth attempt I got the fish in the net. I looked a good 4lbs. Out with the scales and weight bag, my guess was right it weighted 4-10-0. I went off and found Simon Tarrant the fishery manager to come and witness the weight. We all agreed on 4-10-0. After a couple of pictures we watched it swim off strongly.

The next day I was back on the River for a couple of hours trying to catch the trout and grayling. I enjoyed some fine sport with brown trout up to 2-7-0 and grayling of 2-1-0. All too soon it was time to pack up and move on to Ross-on-Wye. My stay had certainly been a good one and most enjoyable in some of the most delightful countryside one could wish for. All to soon I was on the M5 heading for the rural retreat of Ross and the delightful river Wye.

Within a few days of arriving home I was heading back down the M6 AND M5 for my third visit to Pallington Lakes, this time my guest was Southport angler Ewan Turner. After a few days we then we planned a move onto the river Kennet. Target fish for Ewan at Pallington was a 6lb tench and 20lb carp. Sadly neither fish graced his landing net on this occasion. As always we enjoyed our time on the lakes and river Frome where I had a rather special session one morning catching 14 big grayling. Not a fish under two pounds.

Stret-Pegging Corn For Grayling

Having left my chest high waders at home I had no chance to fish the river as planned, instead I decided to stret-peg various swims in the hope of luring a big grayling. Perhaps hook up to the fish I had lost on my last visit. No doubt many of today's anglers will think that Stet-pegging is an old fashion method that has no use in modern angling. Nothing could be further from the truth. Its a winning method that helps put big fish in the landing net.

Stet-pegging, isn't Laying on. The former is where you fish the faster water searching for the fish, while the latter is fishing the bait on the bottom in the quiet water. Conditions today were near perfect with an extra few inches of water, which certainly had the trout and grayling moving around up and downstream looking for bugs, shrimps and nymphs which were being dislodged from the gravel and being swept downstream. by the extra water. I also spotted two brown trout both well over 4lbs. Magnificent fish which any fly fisher would love to catch. These were not flabby stocky fish, but truly wild fish which wouldn't know or eat a pellet if they were offered hundreds of them.

My chosen tackle was 13 foot soft action rod, centre pin reel, 4lb Gamma line with a size 12 Pallatrax barbless hook tied direct to main line. I chose a cork on quill float taking 5 AA shot which were lightly pinched on the line about 12 inches from the hook. Bait was 2 grains of corn. Starting at the bottom of the beat I slowly moved upstream peering intently into the water, studying each area for several minutes, As the water crowfoot swayed to and fro I looked for my quarry. Moving a hundred yards upstream, I spotted three good grayling in a slow deep area. Plumbing the depth I found six feet of water then set the float at nine feet. Filling the bait dropper with corn I slowly lowered it onto the clean gravel then watched the golden grains get deposited on the river bed. Within a minute, two fish slowly moved across and started mopping up the free offerings.

I moved several feet upstream where I could present the bait without disturbing the fish, burying myself in the Himalayan Balsam. I made an underhand cast dropping the tackle a few feet above the baited area, with the baited hook settled on the bottom I watched the float hawk like. A minute later the float buried itself, I connected with a good fish. Soon Martin Tallant the fishery manager had netted a nice grayling, it weighed 2-7-0. I quickly had two more fish in three casts. Ten minutes later with no more bites I moved off upstream.

As I watched the swaying water crowfoot, I spotted a good grayling. Chucking some grains of corn upstream I watched them drift down through the water, a grayling moved out from the weed cover to intercept a grain of corn, then another grain. That fish was for catching. Moving into position, the hook baited with two grains was dropped into the swim before it had even settled on the bottom it was taken. Soon another 2lb plus grayling was netted. I moved slowly upstream looking for more fish. Coming to a deep hole with very little movement I spotted a fish. Baiting the hook I lowered the tackle two feet upstream of the fish. Immediately the fish moved forward and sucked in the grain of corn which was quickly netted. This was excellent summer fishing. Dropping in half a dozen grains of corn I stood and watched the water, all too soon another grayling appeared from the swaying water crowfoot. Dropping in the baited hook I watched it taken, after hooking the fish I kept on the pressure. This fish didn't dash off, as the other had done. It just went around in circles as if it was on a Merry go Round. After doing this several times, it suddenly shot off upstream leaping clear of the water like a seatrout then it threw the hook.

During the next couple of hours I hooked 16 fish landing 14 of them, nothing under 2lbs. Without doubt this was the best days grayling fish I have ever experienced. I have had days where more fish have been caught, but not with such a high average weight. It was incredible fishing. About 12 noon there was a tremendous storm, it seemed more like a cloudburst which lasted for about an hour. Certainly monsoon conditions. Quickly the river rose and changed colour from being clear to a horrid kaki colour. The fishing was over until the river cleared. It was back to the lake where the fish didn't want to feed.

On The Kennet

The next day Ewan and me were on the delightful river Kennet which looked promising with a ting of colour, Having met up with Paul Smythe to seek his advice, we went off for some lunch before moving onto the river. Day seemed to change to night the sky changed colour from a leaden grey to the colour of soot. Lightening streaks appeared in the west followed by loud claps of thunder, it sounded like a battle ground, not the English countryside. We sat eating and drinking in silence watching the lightening flicker across the darkened sky. Ewan was deep in though, no doubt thinking about the Kennet barbel.

With the passing of the storm we drove off to the Kennet, as we arrived the rain once again sheeted down. By the time we had got our tackle sorted out we looked a bedraggled pair of anglers. After we had been on the river about an hour it coloured up, in fact it had a dirty muddy look about it. No doubt much of it running off the roads. I started to doubt our ability to catch fish under the prevailing conditions. I decided Ewan should hit whatever rod gave the indication of a bite. After that we would concentrate on our own rod.
The first choice spot was the 'Big Oak'. No barbel, just a small chub for Ewan and lots of crayfish bites. We moved on. In our second swim known as 'The Rushes' Ewan had a typical chub bite, two sharp wraps on the rod tip which he missed. Moving on to the 'Watering Can Swim' we were again pestered by crayfish. Fifteen minutes later its in the 'Jungle Pitch'. same result. Nothing. It was then back to the 'Big Oak' With darkening skies overhead, the sound of thunder in the distance my rod top whacked over. Soon a good condition barbel was netted by Ewan. We fished on for another thirty minutes, with monsoon conditions we decided to call it a day and head off north.See pictures