The End of My 65th Season

With just over two weeks of coarse fishing left on river and streams in England and Wales I decided to travel south to fish the Rivers Kennet, Loddon and various gravel pits, my target fish were chub, barbel and perch. At the start of the season I set a target of trying to catch 20 perch over 3lbs I needed another 3lb fish to reach that target. I would have liked a 14lb barbel; even another 7lb chub would be welcome. Also I promised several anglers that I would spend time helping them to catch a dream fish. New Gamma line in various breaking strains was put on my reels; my sausage meat supply was rather low so I had to get my butcher Roy Porter in Chatburn to make me a few pounds in double quick time. I ordered 300 lobworms and a few pints of gentles from Tadley Angling; purchased a dozen loaves of extra thick sliced bread from the supermarket. In the days leading up to my trip south my wife Kate cooked hot pots and cottage pies which were frozen in readiness for my extended stay in Berkshire.

I left home on the evening of Tuesday 26th with light traffic on the motorway I made Thatcham in just over three and a half hours, by 11 o’clock I was sitting in the cabin having my first mug of tea listening to the owls calling. An hour later everything was shipshape. Having sorted out all my gear, checked the worms and gentles that Will Carter had collected and delivered, I was ready for bed. I suppose I spent the first couple of hour’s listening to the radio before dropping into a deep sleep, not awakening until gone nine in the morning.

In Search of Perch, but I Caught Tench
My first three days were on Aquateks Lake where I targeted the perch, in the first hour I five fish averaging 21/4lbs. Then nothing for two hours I moved to the other side of the pit, not a bite. 3 o’clock I moved back to my original spot where I caught 4 good tench which weighed 6-5-0 5-12-0 5-14-0 and 6-2-0 all caught on lobworms. Certainly a surprise catch but most welcome. At dusk I went onto the River Kennet spending some time with a bow saw clearing away a huge tree which had crashed across the path and into the river. Job finished it was back to the car park for a fresh brew, chucking out a chunk of sausage paste I caught two barbel one about 4-5lbs the other a good fish of 9-14-0. My next two days were blanks. Saturday I fished Aquateks with Gary Newman, Paul Smyth and Nigel from Teesside, fishing was extremely hard, one perch between us. Sunday another blank.

After another blank session on the Monday, I changed venues on Tuesday too the Wasing Fisheries Shalford and Bottle lakes for perch, switching to the river Kennet for evening sessions. It was a good choice. Tuesday and Wednesday I had artist David Miller who specialises in painting fish as my guest, his first book ‘Beneath the Surface’ has just been published by Langford Press. A picture on page 65 features Chub and Bistort is really excellent. Why not check out his website www.davidmillerart.co.uk. With the fishing on the River Kennet on the tough side we concentrated on the perch, a wise decision as we both caught some good fish just ounces off 3lbs. I also recorded an interesting interview with David for my At The Waters Edge programme on BBC Radio Lancashire.

Great Perch Catch

Thursday fishing Shalford Lake turned out to be an exceptional days fishing with lots of perches and pikes, sadly I didn’t catch my three pounder to give me 20 for the season, I had twenty one perch with my best weighing in at 2-15-0 and three at 2-14-0 I reckon the average was about 2-8-0. The best pike probably went 12lbs with an average of five pounds, most pike falling for dead roach, but the best fish was caught on float fished lobworm which put up a great fight on 4lb Gamma line. On Friday I again fished Shalford Lake choosing to use small dead roach on one rod, with paternoster lobworm on the second rod. I had five perch, but one weighed 3-4-0 which gave me a total of 20 over 3lbs for the season with the best at 3-13-0 I caught back in the summer from Aquateks gravel pit. I called Will Carter to see if he could come and shoot some pictures for me; his answer was “yes”, saying he would swing round on his way back from a job. When Will arrived the light conditions were perfect for photography. Thank you Will.

Saturday and Sunday I am back on the River Kennet where I had a few chub and barbel, my best barbel weighed in at just over 8lbs. During the last few days of the season I got tremendous enjoyment from helping Windsor angler Jon King to catch a personal best fish of 11-4-0 on a big chunk of garlic flavoured meat. As Jon said an hour later “I am still shaking” Another angler to join me on the River Kennet was Martin Oates of Suffolk who had barbel to 9-4-0 and chub to 4-15-0. Will Carter fishing the Kennet on the last day caught a magnificent chub of 6-10-0 on legered meat. During the evening I had a couple of barbel the best just over 8lbs and so another season had ended