River Kennet, Newbury, Sunday 5th September 2010

Having found a couple of decent perch swims and fished them out of ‘prime time’ I decided to see how they faired during the productive dawn/dusk times of day. My wife was visiting friends during Saturday and staying over so Sunday at dawn was the preferred option.

Two swims were to be fished, the first where I’d caught a 2lb 8oz perch last week and the second where a 2lb 12oz specimen had graced may landing net a couple of weeks earlier. Taking care not to arrive too early (I had to navigate a 10 minute jungle walk and didn’t fancy it in the dark) I was set up and ready to fish just after first light. Expectations were tempered with the thought that I’d previously re-visited hot spots only to find the fish weren’t there and I’m afraid that was the case on this occasion. The signals were up bright and early though and ready for a lobworm breakfast, a number of pretty large beasts were landed and then promptly despatched with a satisfying crunch. I’m getting quite adept at identifying signal bites, lots of gentle taps with the float then submerging slowly as the perpetrator drags the bait off to its lair. Very different to a perch bite.

Having done my bit for the eradication of these pesky creatures (and caught no perch) I explored a bit further downstream of this swim. What a regular aquarium it turned out to be with roach, dace, gudgeon, perch and chub all being caught quite easily. None were large, only a couple of the chub & perch needed the net, but they were all of sufficient size to warrant a bit of care when playing…well, maybe not the gudgeon.

At about 9:30am a couple of things happened, the heavens opened and I noticed a number of gear laden anglers arriving. These guys were obviously here for the duration and it was then that the penny dropped. A quick check of the match dates card confirmed that it was match day and I shouldn’t be fishing there. I’m sure I could’ve tucked out of the way somewhere but the match would’ve prevented me exploring another swim so I decide to leave.

Northcroft beckoned, a venue I hadn’t fished for a while and it was on the way home so quite convenient if the rain persisted. Approaching the car park it was obvious that there was some sort of event taking place. Cyclists and runners were everywhere so my immediate thoughts were of a triathlon but that would have meant the swimming taking place in the canal so I downgraded the event to a biathlon.

My time here was well spent, a number of trees have been cleared which has both opened up some swims and ruined others. My first choice, a reliable chub swim, has had the overhanging tree removed and so the textbook chub environment has sadly now gone. I gave it a try anyway with totted double red maggot and whilst it was enjoyable catching roach, dace and perch it wasn’t really what I was after. The rain continued to fall and continued to fill the backplate of the Witcher with water and crap, I could clean and oil the reel to restore performance but it was getting a bit tiresome so I made a mental note that it’s not the best rainy day reel and trudged up the to weirpool. A great mini session ended the day and the lobs stock, simply trotting the float around the slow running perimeter of the pool tempted a perch every cast, it was almost too easy. The largest weighed in at 1lb 9oz with most others being around the pound mark and a few tiddlers thrown in.

So a day which started with a plan sort of fizzled out into a ‘make the best of it’ day. I did just that so went home contented.

Next trip will be to a stretch further down which really needs to be waded to get the best out of it. I’ve fished it a few times over the past nine months and recce’d over summer but still haven’t figured out the best way to get in and get to where I want to be. Judicious exploration with my hikers staff will be required before taking the plunge.