River Itchen - Twyford Meads 0800 - 1100

Itchen Navigation - Winchester 1130 - 1430

River Lambourn - Shaw - 1530 - 1700

WET. Rain, continuous, unrelenting rain. Mild - 10ºC and no wind (so that's alright then).Did I mention the rain?

Twyford Meads - 9 Grayling, best 2; 1lb 5oz & 1lb 3oz the rest all small.16 Salmon Parr, 1 Brown Trout.

Itchen Navigation - Blanked.

Lambourn - 4 Grayling 1 small the other 3 12-14oz. 1 Brown Trout, 1¼lb

Late passes granted to both Paul and I from TWMBO - but Paul's impending Grand parenthood had meant we hadn't booked in anywhere. Even 24 hours out the trip was in some doubt. In the end Paul got the all clear so we went off to explore some new water. A couple of locations we'd heard about and even done a bit of recce-ing in the past - but never fished. And Paul had an alterior motive - he needed a salmon parr for the species race he has entered this year!

So 1st up was Twyford Meads - a lovely looking bit of river - though we were a bit unsure of the fishing boundaries (still are in fact). That didn't stop us and before you could say 'Here's the bailiff' Paul was landing a pound and a quarter grayling. A great start - though he wouldn't get another!!!! I was quickly into some small ladies and kept losing goodish fish before managing the 2, pounders in quick succession. Paul and I leapfrogged swims back down to the road - but pretty much the only fish that would bite were salmon parr - they were everywhere - bit like minnows in the summer - so Paul got that box ticked!

3 hours and we'd fished the length of it so it was back to the car for a coffee and some respite form the rain - before moving up to Winchester to another free stretch we'd heard about. Arriving and looking at the river didn't exactly fill us with anticipation - it is a canalised stretch of water and pretty featureless. We walked the length of it hardly dropping a float in - and it probably would have stayed that way if we didn't see some encouragement in the margins - this took the form of a dead roach - freshly dead it was a LARGE dead roach - not quite a 2 but certainly north of 1lb. The top part of the section has at least got a bit of flow and it was here we concentrated our efforts - I fished down the stretch without a bite but Paul managed a very decent lady of 1lb 11oz and lost a much bigger one.

So back at the car for a late lunch, another drying out session and a debate about what to do next. Avoiding the rush hour seemed a good idea - so we headed back to Newbury to finish off with some 'easy' grayling - and maybe just maybe the rain will have passed through by then. Wrong on both counts - I only found fish in one swim and Paul didn't find fish in any and if anything the rain got even heavier!

Twyford Meads