Pleasure Fishing on the Itchen.

 

 To kick off the year I paid a visit to the Itchen with my younger brother Rich and the plan was to drown some maggots and catch what we could. The river was up a bit with some colour but absolutely fishable, the plan was to move around and trot areas where I know fish hold. The main target was Grayling but hoped to locate some Roach which I know frequent a couple of areas.

 We woke to find the car enveloped in ice and took 10mins to get the car loaded before leaving, the patterns are pretty awesome!  

 The banks were just as cold too as the lines froze with every cast, that made the first 2 hours very difficult, I must remember to bring glycerine to help! 

 It took a while to finally get some fish on the bank and the first fish of 2025 was a 1.8 Grayling, on the Wylye these are below average, for the Itchen these are good fish! The Grayling came at decent intervals with the average being below a pound but was just happy catching, Rich struggled to get bites and the line lay for him was a constant struggle as when he did get bites he wasn't able to connect owing to the pick up costing him tension, I wanted him to get more on the bank but he battled with his own presentation as well as fleeting taps on the float, I combated this issue early on as we started on the same 7BB floats but switched over to a 5.6g titanium trotter where the additional bulk made the taps more pronounced and hittable but Rich didn't want to make the change over.

My best of the day, 1.10 but that dorsal fin!!!

 It just shows ringing the changes makes a big difference. As the day wore on the fish came steadily with more Grayling but very few Trout, the consecutive nights in the minus digits must have slowed them right up. As dusk approached the fishing ratcheted up a couple of notches as I opted to fish bread as I knew where we finished up held Roach, soon enough the Roach and Grayling started to come with another 4 fish of 1.6-1.10 coming to the net and two lovely little Roach, typical that happened. Dusk came and went with little time to extract their bigger shoal mates but know where they are and will return on the tip. Just what the doctor ordered :) 

Bars of Silver!

 Once the mercury dips below 5c consistently over two or three consecutive days the thought of Roach immediately come into play, the prospect of a days trotting after my favourite species is always an exciting one. I'm not entirely sure what could be better than running a float down a treelined section of river with the possibility of the "next" dip on the float resulting in a battle with a large bar of silver.

 ***Below are a couple of specimen Roach caught around 8-10 years back when this particular river threw up numerous 2lb specimens with some regularity, not anymore regretfully.***

A wonderful 2lb+ Roach taken on bread.

Another specimen Roach over two pounds.

 The tell tale plodding and head shaking a big Roach often give you as you apply the pressure, then that inevitable sneak peak of the big red dorsal fin cutting the surface layer of the river, swiftly followed by the obligatory roll as it shows itself off and really puts the fear of life into you as you go from playing a fish to playing a special fish! The complexion of how the battle concludes changes immediately. The sense of nervousness creeps in as it gets closer to the rim of the net where some battles are lost, the froth whipped up by the Roach' desperate attempts to escape cover the top and sometimes the fish disappear eerily before resurfacing a few yards from where you thought it was, thankfully more often than not these encounters ended with enormous amounts satisfaction as I got the chance to marvel at those wonderful broad bodied slabs of silver laying in the folds of my net, that moment is unrivalled in angling.

 On Tuesday I headed out in search of another one of those special moments that I have enjoyed so many times over the last 15-20 years. There was a slight caveat to the proceedings and that was I wasn't just Roach fishing, that would come slightly later in the day as I would wait for the cloud cover to come in and fish for the Roach in the murk of an arriving storm, before that I took the chance to dust down my MKIV split cane and pin for a Barbel, but not just any Barbel, a double figure Barbel! 

 This particular river has given up one of its treasures albeit below my target size (7lb 8oz) so I decided on a roving approach with a massive lump of meat in the margins, the river had dropped around 2ft over the previous 24/48hrs so it meant the areas the Barbel would hold up in would be reduced thus, in theory make it "easier" to locate them, that key word "easier" does make me chuckle a little as this river like so many in the south are far from easy! a low stock of predominately big fish, with averages of around 9lbs seems to be the perceived size, with a sprinkle of low doubles and in the past has done them to around 12/13lbs which considering the size of the river is rather impressive.

 One major issue here is snags, the river is littered with them, some small and easy to get free of, others are so robust and heavy that I end up pulling from breaks or bending out the hooks. It is a trade off, lose some gear with the slight chance of winkling out a real gem, it will happen...the question is when. Luckily for me its a river I can get on pretty easily and all I have to do is put my Barbel brain into gear and keep searching.

Poised for that moment to strike!

 I spent six hours moving around, with a big piece of garlic meat I gave each swim 30-40 mins, plenty of time for that smell and oils to permeate the flow and attract an unwitting Barbel, unfortunately for me that typically successful tactic didn't reap any rewards this time but it may do on my next visit, who knows!

 So with that aforementioned cloud cover rolling in I decided to bang the Barbel fishing on the head and broke out the trotting gear, my swim selection was a densely covered trot of around 30 yards, with a steady depth of 3.5ft, which at the end of the run tailed off to 2.5ft approx, within a few trots the Roach began to show up and not long after one fell to my trotted flake after prepping the run with a small amount of mashed bread.

 With only an hour left of light the fishing was fairly brisk, not looking to dwell too much on the finer details and just keep my hook bait working the line 3ft from the far bank vegetation as this seemed to be the hotspot which was worked out fairly quickly. Over that hour I managed six Roach, nothing big but all very pretty and in great condition. I will be back down there soon to hopefully contact some bigger fish with 2lb specimens a possibility, in truth it is just nice being there and catching them.

Another Season on the Bank.

 

 Well what can I say about the 2021/22 season. It was bloody brilliant, lots of lows but amongst those lows I caught some big fish to really keep me focused and well and truly on track with my target for a double figure Barbel off of forty rivers across England, Wales and Scotland. So here is how it panned out!

 May:

 I only fished once in April so there wasn't much to write about there and May wasn't too different, a single trip out in search of Golden Orfe and Tench resulted in a success on both fronts, a cold spring did make fishing difficult on the day but did finally come good.

A nice G.Orfe, but not what the lake used to produce.

7lb 7oz

 June:

 

 Again it was a very lean time for me fishing wise as the birth of my second child meant I was helping out at home and being Dad, I did manage two trips (1x Medway and 1x Mole) but these resulted in blanks.

 

 2 trips / 2 blanks / 6hrs / 0 Barbel / 0 Doubles.

 July:

 I found time slightly easier come by on the bank as I was back to work, this gave me the opportunity to fish a bit on my way home and did start to have some successes, two of the six rivers I had fished in the month of July produced double figure fish for me in the shape of these below. Apart from that I had the odd Chub too and three smaller Barbel to 8.13.

R.Colne 11.07

R.Medway 13.09

 11 trips / 7 blanks / 40hrs / 5 Barbel / 2 Doubles.

 August:

 Again, in August I found myself getting about quite a bit with most of my trips being conducted after work, but I did also manage a superb road trip up north where I struck gold on multiple fronts. Nothing could have prepared me for the achievement I was to receive. A tough start on the Mole did come good on the sixth time of asking with a stunning double figure Barbel slipping over the rim of the net, I also rocked up on the R.Derwent, having never been there before and had a red-letter-day to rival all!

R.Mole 12.10

R.Derwent 13.13

PB Chub 7.04!!! EPIC.

 Trips 12 / Blanks 8 / 51.5hrs / 4 Barbel / 2 Doubles.

 September:

 

 This was yet another lean month for me and considering its possibly the best month of the season to target Barbel I simply couldn't get away from work and family matters, which in the grand scheme of things is more important, said no angler, ever! When I did get out I had some successes on the river Lea and Nene, but most notably was my incredible capture of a R.Ivel Barbel and a double at that. A river touted by many as a river in serious decline over the last decade through varying factors, it only took me 11 hours in total to manage the feat...child's play this Barbel lark :). Plus I also managed a big Kentish Stour Chub of 6.01 whilst rolling meat for Barbel, quite a turn up as that's a huge fish for the river.

A big girl for the KS!

R.Nene 8.07 (not a double but a great start)

R.Ivel 10.14 (A fish I thought would take me years to catch)

 6 Trips / 3 Blanks / 35.5hrs / 6 Barbel / 1 Double.

 October:

 A few trips were made through October and I had high hopes for a couple of the trips, however things were starting to go against me as I found conditions weren't in my favour and was missing the good conditions to be on the bank, I was quickly finding out that learning new rivers in the cooler months was hard going as I found it difficult to locate and stalk fish/potential areas. This will be a recurring theme I'm sure and ended the month Barbel-less, in fact the only fish I did catch were off of a R.Test tributary in the shape of some beautiful Grayling to just over 2lbs.

The best of a dozen taken on the float.

 

 6 Trips / 6 Blanks / 37.5hrs / 0 Barbel / 0 Doubles.

 November:

 My Barbel fishing by this point had taken bit of a nosedive and given the cold crisp conditions I sought out other species to target and although I did try on the odd occasions for Barbel it was the Grayling fishing that proved most fruitful. Two trips to the splendid R.Wylye in Wiltshire provided some of, if not the best Grayling fishing I've had the pleasure of experiencing. Numerous two-pound plus specimens were caught whilst trotting with the best in November weighing 2lb 7oz. I did also manage a stonker of a R.Colnbrook Chub too weighing a massive 6lb 6oz which was taken whilst in search of the elusive Barbel that do call this river home, not that I can catch them!

R.Wylye 2lb 7oz.

R.Colnbrook breezeblock, 6.06

 4 Trips / 4 Blanks / 29hrs / 0 Barbel / 0 Doubles.

 December:

 Just two Barbel trips were embarked upon in the last month of the year and given how poor my previous couple of months were for the species I didn't hold out much hope, but what do you know! A mild spell just before new year produced a super looking R.Lea powerhouse which bought an end to my mini drought, but also my time on the river which to be fair had been tough, well earned and one of the hard ones taken care of. Also as the weather got colder I fancied a go for some river pike and was rewarded with a superb mornings sport, two Pike were landed but both well worth catching with the best just missing out on twenty pounds.

R.Lea 10.05

19lb 9oz river Pike in the winter morning sun.

 2 Trips / 1 Blank / 17hrs / 1 Barbel / 1 double.

 January:

 A month of almost seemingly endless frosty mornings, could only mean one thing, Grayling! A return to the R.Wylye produced my best ever days sport for the species and taking no less than 7x 2lb+ fish to 2lb 9oz, quite a day it was. The Itchen was also on my radar and although the Grayling didn't show for me in numbers the Roach put in a surprise appearance and managed a few to just under 2lbs.

R.Wylye 2.09 - (2nd best ever)

R.Itchen 1.14

 0 Trips / 0 hrs / 0 Barbel / 0 Doubles.

 February:

 A couple of trips out for Barbel were had, one on the R.Severn and one on the Colnbrook as I hoped with the slight increase in river temps would begin to stir the Barbel into feeding. That didn't happen. All I can remember was an expensive night trying to get out of a field....

 2 Trips / 11.5 hrs / 0 Barbel / 0 Doubles.

 March:

 At the turn of the year I had my sights firmly set on having a 7-10 day assault on the rivers towards the back end of the season to try and find myself another river double to boost my tally even further, and it could not have started any better as I joined friend and fellow blogger George for a morning (wasn't planned this way) on the Warks Avon to target a Barbel, I left the river at 1pm having not only bagged a monster Chub for the river, but also a big Barbel too. The blanks that had mounted up were all but forgotten, it was a brilliant mornings fishing and to share it with George was wonderful! 

 I then went on to fish the R.Severn, R.Bourne, R.Dorset Stour, R.Itchen all with the view to maybe adding one last fish to that now very impressive list, much to my dismay however I drew almost a complete blank on all of those barring a few modest Chub. It wasn't until the penultimate evening on the R.Wey that I got a chance to wrap up the season with a bang, that said the Barbel I hooked had no inclination to stick around and after a brief battle a large unseen fish smashed me up in a nearside tree, thankfully for me whilst still cursing my rotten luck and thinking of drowning my sorrows did my rod hoop over again to produce another double figure Barbel, I got that grandstand finish I had dreamt of. It was not the way I planned it, but when does it ever go to plan aye? What an end! Eight different rivers chalked off my list in just this season alone, which now brings me up to 13 rivers out of my overall target of 40. Can I reach 20 and the half way point by the end of next season? That will be my target.

R.Warks Avon 12.06

R.Warks Avon 6.03

R.Wey 10.04

 9 Trips / 75.5hrs / 2 Barbel / 2 Doubles. 

Little Catch-Up of Recent Ventures.

 

 Fishing has been a little thin on the ground of late, I have managed a couple of shorts sessions out for Barbel with no joy which is hardly surprising given the venues I've been targeting, no joy in the summer I don't expect it to be any easier in the cool of winter. I know double Barbel exist and I also know there aren't many around so the task set out for a R.ColnBrook double is going to be possibly one of my toughest foes. 

 On the stick and pin the other day I had a good morning where I choose a peg that had a decent inside slack behind a fallen tree and on close inspection a few days before I could see silvers turning on the gravel, so I knew that would be a good place to start my Dace fishing. Once valentines day is out the way Dace are firmly in my plans as the Hens start to gather with spawning in mind around early April. The window of opportunity looked to be quite short on Saturday too as the stiff winds looked to return, bringing with it heavy rain for about 4 hours in the middle of the day.

 So once I got in to the peg I began feeding white maggots every 30 seconds for around 5 minutes before my first trot and fish came from the off. A couple of small chub and moderately sized roach slipped into the net early doors where I then had to continually alter the depth I was fishing at to keep the bites coming, also at times I needed to rest the swim and keep feeding as bites did at times dry up, this tactic worked wonders and enabled me in the end to amass a bag weighing 13lb 7oz of quality Roach, 1x Dace (8oz), 1x Rudd and a couple of small Chub. 

Best Dace in two trips so far.

 Then the rains came which shifted the water level up quite rapidly, losing my spot where I was standing to get my trots in thus having to weigh in and move. Unfortunately for me the river everywhere just became unfishable and with the water table already full the levels increased faster than I'd anticipated, but not a bad couple of hours to start with, I will be back at least a couple of times, I haven't had a monster Dace now for a couple of seasons. A pound plus fish is certainly a possibility, it has previous, so I must keep trying!

Absent Grayling and Houdini Roach.

  For nearly two years the Itchen Grayling have been put on the back burner, however the conditions were so good I could not ignore them any longer.

 A quick phone call to Brian the day before and we were set, but not before we both had a mad morning  searching for maggots, the tackle shop in Bow was shut as I was on early call-out and wasn't close by for the rest of the day and Brian hacked it over to the local Decathlon just to be told they had absolutely none to speak of. It was all beginning to unravel before we had even set off, fortunately I was getting through my diary at a good rate, so I made the journey over to my local tackle shop "Caterham Angling" and picked up 2 pints of red and white....life saver!! 

 Given the density of my diary my local I thought was right out the window. Anyway, the next morning we set off for the wonderful R.Itchen for a change and not searching for a Barbel which is a nice switch of species because they are annoying the life out of me. This time around it was for the enigmatic Grayling, a species I have done very well for so far this winter, but would it be just as good on this trip?

 The fishing started really slowly with very little happening until the above Grayling slipped up. Within the first hour I was on two....I am still not sure why it was sluggish but as the temps crept above zero the fishing didn't get a hell of a lot better, another five fish to just over a pound came to the net before I had a spell of trout and nothing more.

 

 Around 1pm we arrived on a deeper slower section hoping to find some more Grayling, not before long however we both caught a glimpse of some Roach and the thought of Grayling was banished, those Houdini Roach were all I could think of from that point on. The first Roach did take a long time to come and then had to suffer another hour or so before I got into my rhythm, the free offerings of maggots followed by a switch to bread did the trick. The next two hours provided some wonderful sport as I did battle with some superb Itchen Roach, the same fish that are notorious at hiding and when located basically impossible to tempt, last Saturday it all came good.

My best of the day!

 It wasn't until around 3pm when I finally connected with a "big" Roach, the solid deep lying fight had me thinking that I had finally come across one of the really big fish and took me a good minute to finally see what I was connected to, nervous throughout I didn't force it and when she did come to the surface and roll over I had an inkling this would be the "one" I wanted, that said, as the dial settled my quest for an Itchen two-pounder continues. 

 A few more good Roach came to the net but none bigger than the 1.14 pictured above, given how poor the preceeding hours were that couple of hours amongst the Roach was excellent and quenched my thirst for some Redfin sport.

1.14 top and then some back up's.

 Best three of the day were 1lb 14oz, 1lb 10oz and 1lb 9oz, one day I will hopefully cross paths with my Itchen two pounder.

A Round Up of 2020.

  2020, the year that if I could, start all over again, roll the dice and hope for a much better outcome!

 January: Very little of note was caught apart from a superb brace of tiny chalkstream Chub, four pound fish are still considered good fish. After plenty of searching myself and Brian located where there were some fish, a steady stream of maggots and dollop of patience was enough to take three super fish, topped off with a 6lb 3oz brute which was braced with a 5lb 4oz fish that in itself was good enough to walk away feeling a great sense of achievement.

 February: Was even more difficult as I only went fishing once, Whilst away in the Caribbean I did get some fishing done but as they were caught in March they don't really count, so this lovely marked Brown Trout will have to do! Oh and I had a lovely Barbel the evening before I flew out, 10lb 7oz.

 March: Once I got back to Blighty I fancied a trip out after Grayling and ended up having a great day out, with numerous fish to just under 2lb and also a lovely brace of Roach which again just missed out on the two-pound mark but were amongst a shoal of much larger fish, one of which I did lose.

 April: Owing to the pandemic sweeping the globe our freedoms were stripped to protect the elderly so we were told to stay at home, so thats exactly what I did, the fish could breath a sigh of relief and my house got a lot more attention than I thought it would. No Pics, apart from copious amounts of Gin!

 May: Well, what can I say, most of it again was spent at home until restrictions were lifted slightly, with that I decided the Catfish needed a good seeing to, so Brian, my brother Richard and I did just that where I landed fish to 39lb 9oz and my largest UK caught fish ever. Plus I had some beautiful small farm pond Tench that ranged from 5lb to nearly 8lb, everyone a worthy adversary as all of them battled tirelessly for freedom amongst the thick pads.

 June: Opening day of the new season Brian of Navareth ( formerly Brian of Sreatham ) came along for a 48hr session out in the boat after Rudd....3 hrs later we came in, hole in the boat we decided we'd stick to dry land, I managed a nice old warrior of 2lb 5oz, not bad for a session that was littered with poor decisions (mainly weather related)

 July: July looked to be my 2020 turning point as I went out in search of targets and got close to some and achieved others, a big chub of 6lb 4oz (early season) slipped up during a short morning session on a small chalkstream, then a canal march was decided upon. Although no Carp were located a big Bream decided a lump of slow sinking bread flake was too good to ignore, 8lb 14oz. Then I made my Wrasse debut where I had a few stunners off of Portland west side, a great experience and one I will certainly go for again.

 August/September: These were both very lean months in terms of angling and found myself scratching around for the odd Chub and Barbel, all of which weren't big therefore not really worth mentioning! Not that that is the criteria of course, just this is a highlights!

 October: By the middle of October I hadn't managed a trip, then I gave myself something to think about that put a foot up my arse, as my fishing was going stale and quickly losing my mojo. The plan isn't necessarily a short term goal but will give me a sense of direction for my angling. That target is to achieve a double figure Barbel off of forty different rivers across the country, some obscure and some alot more obvious. I started off with the not so secretive (Trent) and blanked then went off the radar and banked a huge 15lb 12oz Barbel on my fourth visit to that particular river. A few days later, I went back up the Trent and banked an impressive 13lb 9oz Barbel on the first evening, two rivers checked off in 5 days I think it was, not mention beating an 8 year old PB (originaly 14lb 6oz from the Hants Avon).

 November: The blanks started to mount up at an alarming rate but one I could have foreseen as temps started to fall away, the only thing that was good about November was a chub session I had on the float, 16 fish teased out of one pool where the remainder of the river seemed empty, glad I found them!

 December: The blanks continued on at the same rate, but for another session on the float for silvers it was fairly dead, on the float was great fun and to finish off I managed a beautiful mirror around 6lb on 2lb bottom, size 16 hook and a light float rod.

 Lets hope 2021 is a darn sight better in many respects, although 2 PB's isn't a terrible return I must admit.

 I wish you all a very happy new year in blogland and wish you peace and prosperity for the year ahead. Tight Lines all.

 James.