Last knockings success!
Entry posted by Rusty
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River Kennet, Newbury, Sunday 24th June 2012
Well I’ve done it! This won’t be a big deal to most of you but to me it’s the culmination of one of the best opening weeks of the season I can remember, it’s been pure pleasure albeit interspersed with a fair bit of frustration and bemusement. Species caught on the float are: chub, perch, roach, dace, gudgeon and now…barbel.
I was down to my last pint of maggots and fancied an afternoon session at the venue where CP did well with dace on the opening day, yet again this is a venue that I’ve never seen looking so healthy. A couple of swims did have barbel potential but they’d be small (between 1 & 2lb) so I thought a lighter setup would cope should I get lucky. A 4lb hooklength and a size 16 hook were pressed into service, this gave me the choice of double or single maggot but to be honest the dace weren’t being fussy, the river was a bit fast for wading but once I’d got out as far as I dare each trot was met with lightning plucks. Most were too quick for me but the more persistent dace where hooked and swung to hand, very enjoyable and it was noticeable that the smaller hook was producing more bites than I usually get.
One of the longer trots produced something a lot larger, a chub which pulled the needle round to 4lb on the nose. The bite was a real surprise but once I’d got my wits together I just tried to keep it out of the main flow (not easy), with some care the hook held and the fish was brought to the net;
I wasn’t to know that the excitement would continue as I wandered downstream a couple of hours later. The swim was just before the river narrows and passes under a roadbridge, it was really pushing through so I thought better of getting in and fished from the bank. Tactics and setup were unchanged, feed maggots, fish overdepth and hold the float back, the results were pretty similar too but for one occasion when the rod bent double, the Lythe screamed and I jumped out of my waders. All this commotion coincided with a spectator crossing the bridge and stopping to watch…just what I didn’t need as I was figuring out what to do with the Polaris submarine that I’d hooked. When the fish decided to go I had to give line but I could hold it and slowly gain line when it kited from side to side, we played this game of ping-pong for five minutes before the runs ceased (the fish not me) and it held station in the flow. That was my cue to walk down to the net which had been pre-extended and positioned in a landing spot, after a couple of attempts when the net got swept away I finally got the fish in and breathed a huge sigh of relief….followed by a yelp of joy!. A 4lb 4oz barbel has never caused so much trouble, both it and I were knackered so there was no time for a posed Mr Crabtree shot, weigh, photo and then back in shallow water in the reeds. Once it showed signs of life I took it in the net to the slack water under the bridge and held it there right side up, it started to try and swim out and that was the time for it to go;
So that’s the end of my weeks holiday, the weather held, the fishing has been great and there’s a footie match on the telly tonight. All rather splendid.
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