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Mon 28th December 2.30 - 3.30pm


The Flying Tench

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Temperature 2 degC. Where should I go? The prime aim was to find a stretch of river where the fish wouldn't be put off by salt from the recent melting snow. I thought it should have washed through from the Lambourn OK, but being a bank holiday I feared that other anglers would have had the same idea, so went to a similar sized stream where I caught a few roach last year. A passing dog-walker last year had assured me that this stream was full of the most enormous fish including roach to 1.5lbs, but I never caught anything greater than 8oz. But I feared that the EA might have killed all the fish off by shutting off the relevant sluice last summer, so part of the aim was simply to find out if there were still any fish in this stretch of water.

 

I should say in passing that the male dog-walkers of Newbury are an amazing breed who can encourage any angler as long as you are sufficiently credulous! They all seem to be anglers, certainly the ones over about 50, and they mostly have tales to tell of huge fish. The only problem is that they don't always distinuish between what was 20 years ago, and what was last week!

 

In case you think roach was a strange choice on such a cold day I should mention that last year this stream had a temperature about 5 degC higher than the river. I forgot my thermometer today, but could tell by dipping my hand in the water that a similar condition applied.

 

Anyway I arrived at the stream and quickly realised that, for today, it was a truly idiotic choice of venue! Far from being free of salt there were office forecourts opposite which I should imagine had been thoroughly saltified, and with the limited flow very little would have washed away. I don't know how long it takes fish to adapt to greater salt content. Certainly many species can live in brackish water, but I wasn't optimistic for today. I was pleased to catch a few 3 inch roach and dace as at least that showed that piscean life had survived the efforts of the EA, but it was pretty cold and hot tea and christmas cake soon won the battle.

 

The flow in this stream is minimal at present, and it is gin clear, so made a mental note that if I return it should be after some heavy rain.

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