Back on the Avon.....

Clear as gin

Well, I didn't get the chance to fish last weekend, due to one thing and another, and with every river in the land still low and crystal clear, it was never going to be easy. I opted to leave work early, and spend the last few hours of daylight, and the first hour of darkness on the river. Venue of choice was a new stretch on the WA, below Pershore, which offered deeper water, which I feel offers a better bet in clear conditions.....and clear it most certainly was, probably the clearest I've ever seen it.

A walk along the first few swims and I could see the cabbages three or four foot down.

I found a swim with a bit of extra flow close in, about ten feet deep, and comfortable too, so I chose to drop in there. I droppered about three pints of hemp in, spread over two areas of the swim. Hookbaits were pellets on straight leads, just 1.5oz was all I needed, elips on one rod, and a single 12mm crab pellet on the other.

An autumn gold bar

Twenty minutes in, and still on the first cast...a screamer on the upstream rod, a fish that gave a good account of itself for such a small fish, it was probably somewhere between six and seven pounds, I didn't weigh it, but it was a stunning fish, beautful bronze flanks and perfect fins, one of the best looking fish I've taken this season, beautiful.

No other fish decided to put in an appearance, although I got a few twitches on meat as the light faded, I think the river is just too clear right now. I'll be back to this stretch though, I know for a fact it holds some very good fish indeed, and once it's coloured I'll be after them!

A quick update....

Well, it's October already, four months into the season and it's gone very quickly indeed. For various reasons, mainly not having much to blog about, I haven't really had much to report on the barbel front, it's been a very difficult season indeed. A number of factors have led to this, the first being the usual summer problem of not having much water around, infact, the only significant rainfall we've had was in August, which put just two or three feet of extra water on the rivers I fish, which quickly ran back off. As I write this, both the Severn and the W.Avon are running at summer lows, with the water clarity being that of Gordon's Finest.

A Lower Severn 9.4

The second reason has been the amount of time I've spent fishing the Lower Severn, which at the best of times is a tough nut to crack,

I've put a few on the bank here and there, mostly at Pixham Ferry, with the best coming from Severn Stoke(see pic), but it still wasn't a double, and still now, a Lower Severn double eludes me after umpteen trips at both venues. The Lower Severn still captivates me though, it has a mystery all of its own, remains underfished compared to the middle river, and you never know when a huge fish is going to smash that rod tip over.

Seasons best, 12.11

For the same reasons that I've already mentioned, I haven't published any YouTube videos either, something which lots of people keep asking me about. I've been surprised at their popularity, and my dozen or so videos now have more than 40,000 views, something which I never would have expected. I must try and do some more!

In between my various Severn trips, I've managed a couple of Avon sessions too, with various levels of success/failure, infact, an impromptu session on the Avon just last week on the strength of the river being up a bit, led to my best fish of the season, an absolutely stunning fish of 12.11, which i took on pellet shortly before dusk.

I still think the best fishing is to come, November can be very good indeed, and surely (I hope), we will get some significant rain to lead to some feeding fish. I shall mainly be concentrating on the Wavon and Lower Severn when the rain finally arrives, and maybe even a Wye trip if I get time....I'll also try and keep this blog a bit more up to date!!