Welcome to my fishing blog… June 2022

June 19th – River Avon, Crane, Keynsham, Bristol

After a 3 month enforced break from river fishing, I was absolutely gagging for this match. The Crane section is very unpredictable, which in one way adds to the suspense because you never really know how it’s going to fish or what you’re going to catch. On the other hand, it can be quite disappointing when the bream and big shoals of roach don’t show. Well today, I didn’t care one way or the other. I just wanted to see my float gliding along the surface, and with a bit of luck, it would just dip under now and then.

So, this was a club match with my Kingswood & Hanham RBL club. We had 14 anglers turn up, which is not a bad turnout for a small club. After the usual banter, we began the draw. History shows that all the best weights usually come from the higher peg numbers and so that means a long walk. I didn’t really want a long walk today as my back had been playing up for weeks but I was content to let fate decide. So, into the draw bag and out comes peg 2. Phew! That will do nicely I thought.

I strolled over to my peg and immediately could see it needed some work doing as there were overhanging branches to my right, which would make casting a little precarious. Luckily, Brian, our club secretary was in the next peg and I know he always carries some swim-clearing gear with him. I borrowed a pole saw and cut off 4 or 5 branches, which gave me a clear overhead space for casting. This particular peg is deep, deep, deep. The last time I drew it was many years ago but I have never forgotten that it was all of 17 feet deep.

I decided to leave my pole in the rod holdall for this one, preferring to concentrate on the feeder with a crow quill set up for up in the water at various depths. It’s a very wide swim too at around 40 metres from the bank to the far side boats. My plan was to start on a bread feeder with a large piece of bread on the hook, fished tight against the boats for chub. The boat dwellers often open a port hole window and throw out the remains of their breakfast and leftovers from dinner so the chub are usually there waiting.

I decided I would give it 30 minutes only on the bread feeder because if the chub were there then they would surely have it right away. 30 minutes later and not a sniff so it was time for plan B. I reset the line on my line clip to about three-quarters the way across or about 30 metres, and loaded my groundbait feeder with a 50-50 mix of brown crumb and Pro Natural Bream Mix. I didn’t want to put too much feed in to start with as I felt I needed to feel my way into it so I didn’t add any extra feeder loads or ball-in anything. Bait was 3 red maggots on a size 16 Guru micro barb.

On the 5th cast to the same spot, I was just slowly tightening up the line when the rod tip flew round. I picked it up and it was solid. It felt as though I was hooked on a snag at first but then it started moving. That typical nodding lunge meant it could only be a bream. But this was no ordinary bream… it was big… very big. I can’t believe I was actually shaking with excitement, something I haven’t done for a very long time. (No not that long!). It’s strange what goes through your mind in this situation. My first thought was I’m going to lose this fish… how negative but then I thought this one fish could win me the match… very positive.

Realising I was attached to a real specimen, I took my time coaxing it up and through the water but there was a lot of water between me and that fish. I was hardly putting on any pressure but still the thought of losing it was at the forefront of my mind all the time. It was very reluctant to come up from the depths, much preferring to nod along the bottom using its sheer weight to stay down deep. I just hung on and prayed. When I had it to within about 10 metres of the bank I started to put on a bit more pressure but it resisted.

Now, as I had it to within 5 or 6 metres of the bank, all I had to do was bring it to the surface so I could marvel at its size and net it but it had other ideas. As I put on more pressure in a vain attempt to get its head up, it forcefully kited to the right, towards an overhanging tree. Then as I tried to steer it away and pull it upwards, we parted company. What a feckin bar steward! I knew that was probably going to cost me the match. On inspecting my terminal tackle, I couldn’t believe that this fish had actually broke me on a 0.15, 5lb BS hooklength.

I’ve never lost a bream on this setup as far as I can remember. Not even in Ireland when catching fish, which were close to 8lb a piece from Lough Canal, and Irish bream really do give a good account of themselves. So, what do you do when you lose a big bream? You carry on fishing for them in the hope that there is another one nearby. However, on this occasion, it wasn’t to be. I did have a few small roach and skimmers off that line and a few bleak on the float to end up with just 2-3-0. I still managed to win my section somehow, which shows how hard the fishing was. Just 5-13-0 was the top weight on the day. 

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January 2023

…………………

June 2022

   12th – Whitehouse Farm, Earthcott Green

   19th – River Avon, Crane, Keynsham

   26th – Lido, Fishponds, Bristol

July 2022

August 2022

September 2022

October 2022

November 2022

December 2022

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