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Lower Itchen Fishery Fish In


Dick Dastardly

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if we get no more rain you should find the river in a more benign mood when you go!

 

 

Not likely me thinks. The rain is forecast on Sunday thru' 'til Monday. Likely to be very coloured.

 

I note you said it was tanking it through - how much lead did you need under the float?

"I want some repairs done to my cooker as it has backfired and burnt my knob off."

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I was hoping the environment agency might have some real time data online, but I can't find anything.

 

This might be of interest to Thames anglers, though:

 

http://riverconditions.visitthames.co.uk/

 

Steve i have been using that site for a while now and its interesting how it drops ,different areas along the length clearing first ,Whitchurch/Goring are often some of the last areas to go onto no stream warning conditions but on the last couple of occasions they have cleared earlier than most areas apart from the bottom end which always clears first :o ,yet it would seem sensible that those lower reaches would be the last to clear ?confused face Steve.

We are not putting it back it is a lump now put that curry down and go and get the scales

have I told you abouit the cruise control on my Volvo ,,,,,,,bla bla bla Barder rod has it come yet?? and don`t even start me on Chris Lythe :bleh::icecream:

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Steve i have been using that site for a while now and its interesting how it drops ,different areas along the length clearing first ,Whitchurch/Goring are often some of the last areas to go onto no stream warning conditions but on the last couple of occasions they have cleared earlier than most areas apart from the bottom end which always clears first :o ,yet it would seem sensible that those lower reaches would be the last to clear ?confused face Steve.

 

 

Inflowing rivers eg Pang etc? Might add more water and back-up to the next weir?

"I want some repairs done to my cooker as it has backfired and burnt my knob off."

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Not likely me thinks. The rain is forecast on Sunday thru' 'til Monday. Likely to be very coloured.

 

I note you said it was tanking it through - how much lead did you need under the float?

 

4ssg loafer

 

C.

"Study to be quiet." ><((º> My Blog

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4ssg loafer

 

C.

 

 

Crikey, thats about twice what I normally use! What depth is it - on average?

"I want some repairs done to my cooker as it has backfired and burnt my knob off."

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Crikey, thats about twice what I normally use! What depth is it - on average?

 

I even considered putting a 5ssg on. Depth varies a lot - but most of the bits we fished were around 4/5 feet - some of the slow reaches and holes are twice that.....

 

 

C.

"Study to be quiet." ><((º> My Blog

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I wish - :rolleyes: Was a bit of a grueller! River was tanking through and quite coloured very 'sub-optimal' conditions for grayling. I started with a Rainbow trout my first ( hopefully last) ever from the Itchen and quickly followed it by a 2¾ lb chub and a 1.12 grayling - good, business as usual thinks I. 4 hours later and I've had 2 small grayling to this total - sigh! After lunch I move into a swim where 2 other anglers reported losing/bumping good fish and through sheer patience and belief that there are fish in the swim I eventually get a bite resulting in the solitary 2lber of the day. Spent the last couple of hours up on the carrier and get the 4lb chub, the 1.15 lady and some smaller fish.

 

8 of us fished it (4 cried off because of snow in the Midlands) and the most grayling caught was 11 by Merv. Most caught fish in the 1½lb bracket but apart from Paul's best of the day at 1.14 didn't hear of any others close to 2. A few chub showing - Paul had fish of 4¼ & 3½ and Geoff had a ¾lb roach.

 

It was tough going - if we get no more rain you should find the river in a more benign mood when you go!

 

 

C.

 

Still well done though Chris, maybe not the results you're used to at that venue but it sounds like just to catch was an achievement.

It's never a 'six', let's put it back

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Still well done though Chris, maybe not the results you're used to at that venue but it sounds like just to catch was an achievement.

 

I've had worse - 30/12/05 - rained all day, the river was orrible - I caught 2 small grayling!

 

Yesterday you had to stick at it - usually at LIF if the fish are in front of you you'll start catching almost immediately - then it might go quiet so you rest the swim and return - or move somehwere else. Yesterday it almost seemed you had to feed the swim to get fish going - only at the very start of the day did I get fish from a swim as soon as I started trotting it....(and then only 3!).

 

 

C.

"Study to be quiet." ><((º> My Blog

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OK - as I've had a couple of PMs about the Itchen - I thought I'd do the fairest thing and reply to all (as I don't know the anglers involved - and a few of you going I have met!)

 

Firstly there appears to be some confusion as to where you can fish - there's a long posting coming up and if you don't read it all, it will pay you to....

 

READ THIS BIT!

The fishery is divided into 3 (4 if you count the Carrier - more on that later).

 

From the top - either side of the railway arches is the Coarse Syndicate Section. The syndicate season ends on 14th Feb and I see you've been granted access to fish it (as were we).

 

The bottom of this section is Howards Run and below this the river splits in 2 (by the Green Hut) and this is the start of the Fly Only section - and out of bounds - to bait fishers. A couple of years ago a fish-in organised by another angling forum (can't remember which now) were banned when most of their party were caught fishing this section. The reason they are keen to keep anglers off this part of the river in winter is that it contains spawning redds for the native brownies. A couple of Day Ticket holders were caught on it when we were there on Friday.

 

If you want to fish the Coarse Syndicate Section (& I'm guessing you will!) you need to park in the middle of the Fly Only section (and resist the temptation!!!) - by the Main Fishing Hut with portaloo (currently not on site) and barbecue area. You can continue up the track and park up by the footbridge which you need to cross to walk up to the railway arches - however there's only really room for a couple of cars - and it does get very boggy - so safer to park by the hut and walk.

 

Below the weirpool that you drive over to get to the main fishing hut the 2 streams rejoin and 2/300m below where they do is the start of the.....

 

Coarse Day Ticket Section. The upper limit for this is a few metres upstream of a footbridge - next to which is a grassy area with parking for 3/4 cars. You can fish from here all the way down to below the weir pool at Gaters Mill itself.

 

Cross over this footbridge - and cross the field to the line of trees brings you to the Carrier which you can fish upto the line of Poplars. The carrier is not marked on the map and in many years its no more than a ditch - but when the river has good flow it is certainly worth exploring (more on this below)

 

Arriving at the fishery and driving up it the first time, it can be confusing to square what you see in front of you with what's on the map - so I shall try and describe it for you!!!

 

On arriving and driving through the arch - you arrive at the weirpool - there's parking here and for some anglers this is as far as they go!!! (the weirpool contains barbel). Drive through the gate and under the M27. For the first part the track hugs the contours of the river. You come to the first footbridge (and 1st tight bend) and the first place you can park. Continuing you come to the concrete bridge over the river and need to pass through a couple of gates. Just downstream of the concrete bridge is parking for a few cars. Upstream of the concrete bridge - upto the upper limit of the Day Ticket section is where most anglers seem to concentrate. Shortly after the concrete bridge the track and the river separate - the river cuts 2 sharp meanders - known as The Cliffs and The Pulpit (both worth an hour of any anglers time). There are places to pull in here.

 

Keep driving up the track until you get to the next footbridge and grassy area which marks the top limit of the Day Ticket section. Confusingly, this bridge is NOT on the map of the fishery. (At least not the map on their website). It was built a few years ago about 200m upstream of, and to replace Sloe Bridge which was washed away in a flood. (Sloe Bridge is still marked on the map in its original position which is also just at the point the carrier joins the main river).

 

If your heading for the Coarse Syndicate section keep on driving until you cross a weir then you'll see the Main Fishing Hut on your right - as described above.

 

HOTSPOTS!

Sorry we didn't find any!! And anyways one constant about the grayling at LIF is that they are never where they were!!! Many's the time I've leapt out the car on arriving and raced to a swim where I'd had an awesome catch the time before and the swim was empty. On Friday we ALL headed upto the Coarse Syndicate stretch on arrival - reasoning that forbidden fruit would taste the sweetest. By late morning only Paul and I were still on the section - and after an early lunch just me! Less than 10 grayling were caught from the entire length - and whilst I toughed it out and eventually managed the only 2lber of the day from the stretch it was from a swim that had seen 4 rod hours without a fish being landed.

The chub on the other hand do seem to occupy the same swims year on year - and as the grayling fishing may be 'challenging' tomorrow I'll pick out a few swims where I know they might be lurking from personal experience. I have caught chub from all the swims I am about to mention. On the Coarse Syndicate stretch the very top swim, the 1st swim above the railway and the big deep eddy by the sharp right hand bend below the railway have produced chub in the past - and 2 of those swims yielded chub on Friday. ;) On the DT section there's a willow tree on the east bank just above where the carrier joins the river (where Sloe Bridge used to be) - I've often had chub from here. Immediately above and below the concrete bridge has produced chub in the past as has the first bend about 150m above the motorway bridge. The weirpool at Gaters Mill has chub - as does the tailrace - especially in the trees below the houses just above where it joins the Mill race. Finally the carrier has chub throughout its entire length. The carrier might also throw up a big grayling or 2 - I had a 1-15 from it. Be wary though - its a small stream - completely different in characteristic to the main river, stealth and standing well back from the water's edge is imperative.

 

Finally the strecth between the concrete bridge an the motorway - gets less angling pressure. On Paul & I's very first trip to the Itchen - over a decade ago - we were like kids in a candy store and got out to fish at the first opportunity (by the first footbridge) We had 2lb grayling straight away only to be told later that its not worth fishing that stretch!!!

 

TACKLE

Hook/floats/line strength etc. has already been covered in previous posts.....

 

TACTICS

Shirt button or bulkshot? I usually prefer the former - however than angler with the most success on Friday (all be it he only caught 3 more than me :P ) was Merv - who fished way over depth with all his shot bulked around 12-18inches for the hook - and held back hard all the time - in effect stretpegging. Worked well for him - and nearly all his fish were over 20ounces...

 

SWEETCORN

I rate this highly as a bait, especially late season. I reckon the grayling mistake it for trout eggs, so this year I wanted to imitate it even closer and bought some tins of dyed corn (orange and red) and fished the smaller pieces on my size 16. Did it work - well I fished it from the off - reasoning the fish would better see a bigger brighter bait in murky conditions - and did get most of my fish on it - including the 2 pounder. However it didn't significantly out fish those trotting maggot - and my 2nd best of the day fell to single white maggot!

 

THE RIVER

Does it colour up quickly after heavy rain? - yes it does - it drops out quickly too - twas significantly clear Friday pm than when we arrived. Would that fact stop me going? - NO! Tis a venue I love fishing and it is rarely totally hopeless!

 

And Finally....

 

Enjoy - there's a lot to see apart from the angling. On Friday we had Buzzards (3) circling and screeching to each other. I nearly tripped over a deer that was hunkered down behind a log keepin still and hoping I hadn't seen it - I didn't till I nearly trod on it. If you're lucky you might see water voles and kingfishers.

 

 

HTH

 

 

C.

"Study to be quiet." ><((º> My Blog

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