This was more like it
Entry posted by Rusty
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River Kennet, Speen Moors, Monday 18th June 2012
Well after the abject failure of the barbel hunt on Saturday it was nice to get back to a bit of general coarse fishing at a venue which has provided just that in the past. It was also nice to view the alarm clock somewhat later than 03:41 as I awoke and realised that I didn’t have to go to work on a Monday morning, what a great feeling that is.
So off to Didcot to buy bait…not quite. The traffic was unusually heavy and I soon discovered that the main road out of town had been closed, every rat run I tried culminated in a road block and the feds telling me to turn back. Nothing for it but to head directly to Newbury (sans bait) and hope that the newly opened tackle shop could help me out. They could, red maggots were £3.00 per pint and lobs were £7.50 for fifty, they could even sell me green lobs which had been fed on dye for some obscure reason, if I’d had more time I would asked why but I didn’t have time so I saved that question for the next visit.
My arrival at Speen coincided with the commencement of a day out for the local primary school, a few cars, a few teachers and lots of kids wielding fishing nets. Not ideal you might think but the kids’ enthusiasm was delightful to see and watching them don their ill-fitting chest waders was just hilarious. Having made sure that I wouldn’t be getting in the way I proceeded to fish the main weirpool, trotting maggot to begin with and then (when I was desperate) ledgering flake;
I’d promised a rather attractive lady that if I caught a fish I’d bring it over for the youngsters to look at, any fish would’ve facilitated the rendezvous but could I buy a bite?…...no chance, even the bloody trout let me down so I quietly sneaked off to the next swim. Anyway from the sound of it the kids were doing better with their nets than I was with expensive trotting gear.
This was great fun, a small pike had taken up residence in the middle of the pool and was going for anything that I caught. Gudgeon and small perch were swung to hand so they got away with it but a perch which needed the net wasn’t so lucky, he was snaffled and hung on to for about a minute before the pike let go, surprisingly the perch looked none the worse for wear when netted. On to the next swim and a back to ledgered flake in the hope of a chub;
I had no mash with me so baited with some lumps of bread plonked myself on the style and waited. If the chub are in residence these tactics will winkle one out quite quickly but on this occasion I had to wait a fair while before the tip started knocking. It wasn’t very arduous mind, the sun was out and the vegetation was swaying in the gentle breeze, I could’ve sat there for hours but once the first chub of the season was landed it was time to move on, not very big at about 1 ½lb;
The final swim of the day has held decent perch in the past and on a couple of occasions a shoal of nice roach. It was at the very top of the fishery and I’d parked at the very bottom (I’d anticipated a flooded top entrance which turned out not to be the case) so this was a long walk, the walk back would be a pain but it was worth it;
The reliable perch were there and it wasn’t long before I’d caught ½ a dozen all of this size;
Bites stopped as quickly as they’d started, an hour’s worth of entertainment and then nothing so I trudged back to the car after a thoroughly satisfying day out fishing. The rush hour traffic in Newbury hadn’t yet built up and the trip across town to Waitrose was painless. I relieved the supermarket of the largest rib-eye steak they had, some stilton and cream for the blue cheese sauce and as a special treat some horrendously expensive beef dripping chips. Dinner was very satisfying too!
Tomorrow I think I’ll try for barbel again, the levels at Speen were lower than I thought they’d be so perhaps the colour’s dropping out further down.
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