The river Kennet

[Rusty]

Rusty if you are there tomorrow.......

 

I'll be going back to last week's barbel spot today but with waders this time, there's a lot to explore and getting in is probably the easiest way. I have a key so no more clambering over/through fences.

 

Mike, I've got the 15th & 16th off and am planning a trip to BC on the Monday, let me know if you'd like me to book you in too.

 

Oh and I couldn't sleep for some reason, hence the post at this ridiculous hour.

 

TT where are you and how did it go?

[tiddlertamer]

TT where are you and how did it go?

 

 

How did it go?

 

Well if you want a tale of an expert angler landing huge coarse fish after every cast, then that could prove to be a bit of a problem...

 

But what I can do is give those who offered so much useful advice (Thanks Chris and Rusty and everybody else), an insight into my day on the Kennet river bank.

 

Anyone in the south of England remember Friday, November 5, 2010? Well it wasn’t very good bonfire weather. One word sums it up. Wet.

 

It was dry however when I got up and travelled across London by tube to catch the first direct train to Kintbury from London’s Paddington Station. Sadly, a delay in a tunnel followed by a queue from hell in the ticket office meant that train was missed by fifteen seconds. I saw the darn thing leave – and I kicked my heels for 59 minutes and 45 seconds waiting for the next one. The day could only get better.

 

Of course, this being an angling forum you want to all hear about fishing exploits. But let me just set the scene for a touch longer. As the train made its way through the countryside, all those apocalyptic weather forecasts of heavy rain looked so wonderfully wrong. And then the first spits of drizzle started to line the train windows...

 

By the time I had paid for my day ticket and made my way to the upstream stretch of river and tackled up, it was nearly midday, and I realised that I had less than five hours before darkness fell. And the drizzle didn’t seem to be going away as the weather forecasts predicted...

Anyway, so here’s the fishy bit. Don’t blink.

 

I actually had my fist bite within ten minutes. It came off instantaneously.

The next bite came after 20 minutes and this time I was given the runaround by a brown tout just under 2llb which put up a real scrap.

I know I shouldn’t but I enjoyed the fight. Bit of a guilty pleasure catching trout on maggot but respect to the creature. It fought like stink.

 

At this stage the rain was drizzling down from the sky but my waterproofs were coping.

So then I moved downstream in search of coarse fish. Along Heron’s Delight to those that know BC well. Five roach were soon landed. All about the two mark. Ounces that is...

And three dace though none led me to getting the scales out.

 

Meanwhile, the rain started to get heavier...

 

And then I hooked something huge which soared out of the river before crashing back in and throwing the hook. I’m fairly sure it was a trout but all I saw was a flash of silver. Maybe a rainbow. I hope it wasn’t a grayling – they don’t jump do they? Whatever it was it was huge. Would have fought like stink I’m sure but my barbless hook didn’t hang in there.

Then just as I reached the end of Heron’s Delight, intent on fishing the railway cut, two other fishermen appeared and grabbed the first two swims. I walked past them but it was a bit like jungle warfare and I regretted having tackled up my 13 foot float road rather than my 11 foot Avon. A retreat was called for and I headed for Gunters.

 

I switched to the shorter rod and also switched from maggot to lob worms as bait, in search of perch.

No perch were interested but I wasn’t surprised as the rain was coming down in torrents.

I don’t have a religious bone in my body but if I did, I would have put my rod down and started building an ark.

A discarded bait box left without a lid for five minutes would have resulted in drowned worms or maggots.

I would only have felt wetter if I’d fallen in.

If I was a fish I'd have gone for a walk in the neighbouring fields...

 

And Gunters made the railway cut look cultivated. Jungle warfare seemed an appropriate description. I wouldn’t have been surprised if a Second World War Japanese infantryman had tried surrendering to me...

 

A switch back to the Middle Cut for the last half hour saw another trout surge into the air and throw his barbless hook again. A trick I was beginning to tire from...

 

Finally I hooked into another fish and this time I landed it. Another trout...

 

And that was that – darkness descended and this coarse fisherman trudged off down the path to the station, knowing I'd had a grueller, but happy nonetheless. Fishing can put a smile on your face, even if because it keeps you outdoors in conditions more suitable for scuba diving...

Edited November 8, 2010 by tiddlertamer

[Rusty]

TT, well done for even getting there. I didn’t realise that you were using public transport, top marks for sticking at it.

 

Shame about the no-show perch but it sounds as if there were plenty of other rod benders so still a good day out.

[tiddlertamer]

TT, well done for even getting there. I didn’t realise that you were using public transport, top marks for sticking at it.

 

One of the real bugbears of being an angler based in London, is the 'joy' of using the tube during rush hour whilst laden down with fishing gear.

 

Getting trains to and from the capital is easy in comparison.

 

There's something about being angler that makes people use their normal inhibitions and I'd be a rich man if I was paid for every time I was asked by a complete stranger if I was going fishing. (The correct answer is to smile, a nod to mark their incredible powers of perception, and then resisting the sarcastic urge to say the net is actually for collecting butterflys...)

 

If it's bad in the morning, getting a tube laden down with fishing gear in late evening as the pubs are throwing people out can be pure purgatory...

 

Though I don't target bream, I bet you'd get a bit more space around you on the carriage if you've had a particularly succesful session and are still covered in slime though...

[tiddlertamer]

And then I hooked something huge which soared out of the river before crashing back in and throwing the hook. I’m fairly sure it was a trout but all I saw was a flash of silver. Maybe a rainbow. I hope it wasn’t a grayling – they don’t jump do they? Whatever it was it was huge. Would have fought like stink I’m sure but my barbless hook didn’t hang in there.

 

Do grayling ever take the aerial route and leap into the air when hooked? Or is just trout that do that?

 

Do game fishermen use barbed hooks in a bid to stop losing fish when they do leap out of the water?

[upstream gardener]

Do grayling ever take the aerial route and leap into the air when hooked? Or is just trout that do that?

 

Do game fishermen use barbed hooks in a bid to stop losing fish when they do leap out of the water?

 

I have fished the Avington beat - thats the one immediately above BC - and taken many grayling there and on the Wiltshire Avon, Wylye, and Test from 2oz to over 2lbs. None have jumped! If it was large and silver I would think it was an escapee rainbow - there are a few on the Kennet thereabouts - my largest on the Avington beats was 9.8. on a #16 nymph.

 

I have used barbless hooks for flyfishing for 20 years and probably lost 6 fish that threw the hook. I think though that the drag of the line in the water maintains gentle tension on the hook hold when they jump. If you hook a trout on coarse tackle this wouldn't happen.

 

Matt

[Nicholas S]

Grayling must definitely do jump although it's not that common. As far as I can recall it has only happened to me when using fly tackle and not when trotting, not sure why. Given that you were fishing BC which has an abundance of Rainbow Trout and seemingly no large Grayling (any more) I would bet your lost fish was a Rainbow Trout!

 

As Matt has eluded, barbless hooks are becoming more and more popular in fly fishing, I know rarely ever use barbed hooks. They make releasing fish much easier and although it took me a while to fully believe this, you lose far less fish (particularly Trout and Grayling - even when they jump). All in all it's a win win situation.

 

Matt, where you fly fishing the Avington stretch as part of the syndicate there? I've only glimpsed the water from the bridge at the upstream end on BC but it looks a lovely stretch, you're a lucky guy! N

Edited November 19, 2010 by Nicholas S

[Rusty]

I've only glimpsed the water from the bridge at the upstream end on BC but it looks a lovely stretch, you're a lucky guy! N

 

Mouthwatering isn't it, I guess that goes as far as Hungerford? I've often wondered whether I could join that syndicate on the basis of course fishing during the game close season. Probably be branded a heretic but I might make some enquiries, all funds to the coffers after all..

[Nicholas S]

Just emailed you Rusty. N

[tiddlertamer]

Grayling must definitely do jump although it's not that common. As far as I can recall it has only happened to me when using fly tackle and not when trotting, not sure why. Given that you were fishing BC which has an abundance of Rainbow Trout and seemingly no large Grayling (any more) I would bet your lost fish was a Rainbow Trout!

 

As Matt has eluded, barbless hooks are becoming more and more popular in fly fishing, I know rarely ever use barbed hooks. They make releasing fish much easier and although it took me a while to fully believe this, you lose far less fish (particularly Trout and Grayling - even when they jump). All in all it's a win win situation.

 

Matt, where you fly fishing the Avington stretch as part of the syndicate there? I've only glimpsed the water from the bridge at the upstream end on BC but it looks a lovely stretch, you're a lucky guy! N

 

 

Thanks for your reply Nicholas. I always use barbless hooks if possible so it's reassuring to hear other people's experiences about finding it both easier to unhook fish and also that you lose less fish.

 

Watching Robson Green recently (and now foolishly admitting to this on the anglers Net Forum... ) I noted that when fishing for tarpon, he kept on losing the fish when it jumped out of the water.

 

His guide advised him to lower his rod and keep it parallel with the water.

 

Is this a technique known to coarse or fly fishing folk in the UK?