Stalking, ahem........bream!!!!!!!

[DenisO]

So today, with the weather in fine form I decided to forgoe the delights of the FA Cup and try my hand at stalking Chub on the River Len.

First time I had fished the water but armed with my JW Avon quiver, 2 pots of lob worms and some good advice from Maidstone Angling Centre I made my way to a very Chubby looking river and found a perfect swim on a bend with lots of overhanging trees.

Out went a lob and within a couple of minutes the tip bent round nicely and I was into a large fish. It didn't feel like a Chub so imagine my surprise as a 3lb, perfectly conditioned, Bream came to the surface. Into the net, unhooked and back in the water and a new lob made it's way to the depths.

Another nice pull on the tip and another Bream of similar size was in the net. It happened again before I moved on. I was, after all, fishing for Chub.

Next swim I had some nice Roach and as I nade my way down river I caught more Roach and a couple of nice wild brown trout.

Not a Chub to be found but an excellent afternoons fishing. I think I'll take up this stalking for Bream more often. Perhaps I'll catch a Sturgeon next time.

[Leon Roskilly]

Hmmm!

 

I am all set up for some stickfloat fishing tomorrow, torn between the Medway at Allington for dace, or the Len for roach.

 

Think I might try both

 

Tight Lines - leon

 

[ 24. January 2004, 07:48 PM: Message edited by: Leon Roskilly ]

[DenisO]

Leon

I was upstream of the bridge at Spot Lane, Bearsted and the river is in lovely condition. The Roach were definitely there but a lob worm on a size 8 to 6lb line was not the ideal tackle. I would think that finer tactics would produce a good bag of Roach with the odd Bream thrown in for good measure.

If you catch a Chub I will be most upset!!

[wunnus]

Yep I was after chub as well.

 

The float went several times is the couple of hours I was there.

 

Cracking roach and perch, no chub.

 

The river rose about 40cm while I was there. Its OK I had the waders on

 

It was a case of pinning the bait to the bottom, without slipping in maggies were doing the best.

[Dick Dastardly]

Leon,I have often meant to ask,do you fish for the Dace below the lock at Allington? If so does it produce at all states of the tide? and have you any tips? Never fished it but often look as it flows past the back of the offices of the firm I do a bit of work for when in the country (Forstal Road)Do Mullet come up this far?

[Leon Roskilly]

BUDGIE:

Leon,I have often meant to ask,do you fish for the Dace below the lock at Allington? If so does it produce at all states of the tide? and have you any tips? Never fished it but often look as it flows past the back of the offices of the firm I do a bit of work for when in the country (Forstal Road)Do Mullet come up this far?

Many times Budgie, when I want some guaranteed fun!

 

Low water up is best. The dace are packed tightly into the area of fast boiling water immediately below the sluice, rising to take a maggot as soon as it hits the water (no need to lower the float into the water, just skim the surface with the hookbait, though it seems easier to hit the bites if you wait for the float to disappear).

 

At low water, toward the centre of the river's flow, there are deeper streams in the riverbed, and you can see the flashing of tightly packed shoals of silverfish there, around 20 yards back from the sluice, near to the end of the lock on the far side.

 

As the depth increases, and the water speed decreases, the roach shoals move back upriver with the incoming tide, and circle around in the area immediately below the sluice.

 

There's some large perch to be had in the fast moving current as well, good fun on a mepps.

 

It's an idea to have a large drop net handy, ready for accidentally hooked biggish carp or large pike.

 

In the summer, sometimes large shoals of thin-lipped mullet appear, and there's always the chance of a sea-trout or maybe even a salmon in the spring.

 

The big disadvantage is the height of the bank, even at high-water, you are some feet above water level.

 

If there were steps down, it would be wonderful to stand in the flow with waders, at low water, stick float fishing. Very frustrating to have to fish from such a high position.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Dick Dastardly]

Thanks Leon.

[Leon Roskilly]

By the way, a Medway Mullet Group member had two 8oz roach whilst fishing for mullet from Strood Civic Centre (opposite Rochester Castle), amongst the crabs and bladderwrack. During the river close season!

 

And others have had roach and sea trout whilst mulleting near the motorway bridge at Strood.

 

Following heavy rain, when a lot of fresh water is coming down river at a low water on a spring tide, freshwater fish can end up a long way down towards the estuary.

 

There are a surprising number of large carp and pike in the 'saltwater' side of the sluice.

 

I've tried fishing down opposite Johnson's lake, but the banks are far too muddy, and the highly coloured water is full of sunken objects (ie waterlogged tree trunks) rushing by in the tide, to make fishing a settled or pleasurable affair.

 

Drifting a boat in the current might be a better option.

 

I reckon that for those with the perseverence, willing and able to overcome the considerable physical challenges that the river produces here, there could be some real surprises.

 

I'm particularly attracted by the possibility of landing a specimen bass and a speciman pike from the same swim.

 

Or maybe a mullet and a carp.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[DenisO]

So Leon, which stretches of the Len do you fish. Upstream from Bearsted seems to be a problem with access. It looks very shallow down from Leeds Castle and I've not looked upstream of the castle.

Any pointers would be gratefully received.

[Leon Roskilly]

DenisO:

So Leon, which stretches of the Len do you fish.

I gave it a try at Spot lane, another angler had a couple of chub, but I didn't find your bream and I wanted a crack at the big roach in the bit that runs through Mote Park (entrance gate opposite Spot Lane, next to the cottage).

 

Well, that stretch has suddenly become very popular, I thought that there was a match on.

 

I tried a couple of spots without any fish showing, then found some fish up to about a pound, but the bites dried up after an hour or so, so I went searching again.

 

Eventually found some feeding fish, and followed the shoal to a hole on a bend - roach anglers heaven! Nothing big, mostly around 8oz, but fish after fish after fish ......... Just what I'd been looking for.

 

I never did make it to Allington!

 

 

edit note - Leon, I cropped and shrank the pic you had posted to make it easier for folks to see on screen as part of the thread. Anyone wishing to see the original can go to http://www.go-fishing.org/upload/files/DSCF0004.JPG - Newt

 

That's the only bit of the Len that I've really explored, but I'm told that even the shallow narrow bits can hold some real surprises. (The bit in the picture is a wide bit!)

 

Tight Lines - leon

 

[ 26. January 2004, 02:37 AM: Message edited by: Newt ]