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Barton Court Trip


Rusty

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River Kennet, Barton Court, Wednesday 14th November 2012

 

My second trip this year, the last was in January when the water levels were very low and I was concerned about the fishery's future given that spring and summer were to follow. I needn’t have worried, levels are now at the highest I’ve ever seen (apart from when the fishery flooded) and it’s not a mud coloured mess either, it was in perfect condition. The sluices were sluicing and the network of carriers and side streams were all flowing healthily, what with the mild overcast conditions I was convinced we were in for a fantastic day.

 

‘We’ were a party of four, Keith, Paul, Steve and myself. Keith and Paul were relatively new to trotting and we thought that BC offered the best chance of success. The narrow streams and lack of heavy bankside vegetation meant they could concentrate on controlling the float rather than casting and dealing with trees. Paul has an old Allcocks catalogue introducing the then ‘new’ Allcocks Match Aerial centrepin, as a child angler he drooled over the reel but never quite took the plunge preferring instead to opt for fixed spool reels which seemed to make everything a lot easier. It was fitting then that he should now get his chance and I set up a Harrison rod with a Match Aerial for him to use on the day.

 

Paul and I arrived half an hour before the others so Paul used the time to try the rod/reel combination in the car park pool…and bagged a trout within ten minutes;

 

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With a blank saved Steve & Keith arrived shortly after, we introduced ourselves and then set off in different directions, Paul & I along Herron’s Delight towards Willow Stream and Steve & Keith along Park Stream. We’d meet up again for brunch at 11 o’clock. My plan for the day was to avoid trout at all costs so I concentrated on areas where I hadn’t really fished before on the basis that I didn’t know what might be there. The first was this stunning weir pool at the top end of the fishery;

 

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The plan worked flawlessly, I avoided trout….and every other species I could think of. I was amazed not to get a single bite, the pool looked as if it should be stuffed with fish but if it was they weren’t co-operating. The next section for me was the Railway Slip, little more than a reed lined ditch which is quite difficult to access. The high water table made access worse on this occasion, wearing only wellies I couldn’t get close enough to the bank edge to see my float over the reeds, later in winter the reeds will die back and it won’t be so much of a problem. Quite disheartened I slowly made my way back to the hut to start preparing brunch, I foolishly thought that I might get some sympathy from my angling colleagues but there was none of that. Paul had caught trout and chub, Steve trout, roach and a few other tiddlers (which he later claimed gave him victory in the species race) and Keith had caught trout & chub. They all thought it hilarious that I hadn’t even had to strike at anything and weren’t backwards in coming forward with any number of ‘tips’ to help me out.

 

The break was very welcome for all of us, it’s a big venue. It took an hour out of the fishing but there’s something good about meeting up for a proper cup of tea and exquisitely cooked (by me) wild boar sausages. The Kitchen, note the plates. I was trying to introduce some civility into proceedings but it fell on deaf ears;

 

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Anglers poised like rapiers for the afternoon session;

 

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With lunch finished three of the rejuvenated group set off for more success, one of the group set of in the hope of catching his first fish of the day. Dog Kennel was my target trotting Park Stream on the way, I’d allowed an hour for this before going back to the hut to pick up my drop shotting rod for some lure action. Thank heaven for Park Stream, it looked wonderful in autumn colours and it gave up a chublet…hooray…I was an angling god again!

 

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Further down I caught a trout so that was that, time to change tactics and change swim. In preparation for the lure fishing I’d bought a lure (always a good idea). It was a Rapala jointed floating perch pattern which cost me £11.50, there were others but this looked nicest and most like a fish so I was well and truly suckered. It seemed to work really well, I could feel it vibrating as I retrieved so hopes were high as I made for the aforementioned pool which undoubtedly contained monster pike. This lure fishing session accounted for the most amusing occurrence of the day, I’d caught a trout on the Rapala and was just about to phone Steve to let him know when the phone rang. It was Steve calling to say that he’d just caught a trout on his Big ‘S’ lure. The session also provided the numpty moment of the day, I cast my posh lure into a far bank tree and lost it. Back to trotting then, by my reckoning it’d cost me about £1.10 per cast to lure fish.

 

More jolly japes followed when Keith relayed my tale of woe to Steve who subsequently wasted no time in texting me about the Appleford Lure Retrieval Services Co, available and at reasonable rates apparently. I almost took him up on the offer, it would have been highly entertaining watching him clamber up the offending tree.

 

Where to go from here? Well I decided to spend the remaining daylight hours at Gunters, Steve had caught lots of roach from there earlier and it was a place that I knew would be devoid of trout. It was at the other end of the fishery but that was where I would pitch up for a last ditch concerted effort. Again the water table was a problem but sloshing through reeds using the landing net as a staff got me close enough to flick a lobworm into a pool of slack water. The first perch was a tiddler but where there’s one there’s usually more and so it proved, they began to increase in size and it wasn’t long before the adolescents were stepping up to the plate;

 

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A few perch of that size started to salvage my day but the bonus was still to come. In relative terms this fish weighing exactly two pounds wasn’t a monster but in the context of my outing it was huge, I nearly kissed it;

 

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The crayfish moved in after that and their arrival prompted me to leave enough light to get back to the car and pack up, the rest of the party were already there. It’d been a brilliant day, Paul & Keith hadn’t experienced much chalk stream fishing before and were bowled over by the fishery. Paul caught his first ever grayling and did well to do that, we could’ve taken him to a much easier venue (probably still will). Keith thoroughly enjoyed the occasion and caught trout, chub & crayfish, he also provided a superb Victoria sponge cake.

 

Thanks to everyone for making it a memorable occasion and in particular Steve for keeping an eye on Keith and making sure he was ok. No records but if every fishing trip was as enjoyable as this I’d be a very happy person.

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Mate A GREAT day as always even if no monsters were caught ,great banter and company and a few fish......and your lure fishing exploits made me chuckle for hours.........................................

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