Lower Itchen Fish-in Update

[Elton]

Leon had come straight from his Ninja class:

 

And this swim looked awesome:

[Vagabond]

Leon had come straight from his Ninja class:

 

Ahhhh So that's who it was ! ...... and at first I thought he was a hitman for you-know-who.... but he was all excited about catching a roach - is that the one in the net?

 

It was so cold first thing, and the wind and its chill so fierce that I opted for an Avon and swimfeeder - didn't fancy trying to use a pin with numbed fingers, so postponed that until the sun warmed things up (it did) and the wind dropped a bit (it didn't). Got the pin going around midday, but the strong downstream wind made it hard work.

 

I chose a pool where a carrier came in from the opposite bank, and there was a nice run. Gerry Castles came along and gave me a few words of encouragement - like "Your swim looks really good, I chose it last year and fished it for four hours without a bite!"

 

Five minutes after he left I got a small chub, and soon after that a seatrout of a couple of pounds or so. That was enough to encourage me to stick it out - but nothing else turned up. I tried the pool above, and the one below, but zilch. In retrospect, perhaps I should have moved to a different stretch entirely, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

 

I'm looking forward to fishing it again in better conditions - its a superlative stretch of river .

 

Nice to have met one or two of you cybermen and realise there are faces behind the postings.

[Elton]

I just wish that I didn't have to shoot off so quicly

 

To cut a long story short, I'd half-arranged to pick up an outboard whilst I was down there and then noticed a really dodgy tyre on the van. I went to change it for the spare in the car park, only to find that despite having full tread, that one had a bloody great hole in the side!!!!

 

Rushed to a tyre place at Asda: "Can't do it today, mate."

 

Then found a Kwikfit who told me they were closed, so I pleaded and got it done.

 

Only afterwards, did I realise that we were there 20 minutes before closing and it took them 5 minutes!

 

Anyway, they saved the day and I got my engine I would have liked to have spent more time speaking to everyone, though, although I did get a few minutes with most.

 

As you say, Vagabond, always good to meet the real people behind the names.

[Guest sandpipper]

It was nice to meet you too but not in a gay way, dont forget to send me your address so i can send you the ignition key for the outboard. ps hope the bleeding stopped lol. Tony

[Steve Coppolo]

Are there any more trips to the Itchen planned for this year?

[argyll]

Can't believe that wind. It just blew in absolutely freezing gusts and my F*x chair ended up in the river.

I opted initally for the top end where I knew there to be some decent perch. Nothing doing so I moved further down. Found Budgie in his usual spot shortly to be renamed Budgie Bay. Opted for a crack at the chub with little salmon parr deadbaits and had two decent trout instead. Buttery yellow brownies around 2-2.5lbs. Picture later when my eyes are fully open. Earlier in the day tried to to con/talk Vagabond out of the spot I fancied...no dice Stuck it out until about 3.30 and then left after splitting a bottle of much needed hot mulled wine with Tony and Sue. To summarise... crap weather, fishing could have been better, but the company was ..as usual.. well up to par.

Edited February 26, 2006 by argyll

[seph]

Are there any more trips to the Itchen planned for this year?

No more planned as they will be shutting up shop shortly for the year. However the best time for us as a party to get on is at the end of there official seaon which is mid February. We can book the whole fishery then. You can book up yourselfs in the winter but they only allow 5 or 6 on at any one time might be even less. Chris Plumb will know what the limits are.

 

I am always up for doing another one next year as I love fishing down there, in fact I probably will do one. Next time, I am staying over and going to fish somewhere else the next day. It will be around the same time of year for reasons as mentioned above.

[Guest Ferret1959]

Well done you lot for braving the wind.

I'm glad I didn't come because of that but sad I didn't come, it would have been nice to see you all and bag a few fish.

[Dick Dastardly]

Well the breakfast was good! Seriously though despite the wind being a bit stronger than last year i thought it wasnt to bad.that despite "Budgie Bay" being the most open swim on the fishery.

 

Well I was sat there looking at the top section of my rod (it didnt look right) bending in the high wind my float plunged under.A swift strike put me in contact with a good grayling,things were looking good as this was only my second trot.Then my £180 16' float rod took on a rather strange bend then metamorphasised in to a swing tip rod! Aaaaggghhhhh! Fish was safely landed (2lb 4ozs) and I remembered Andrew falling down the stairs a while ago and landing on my sling.At the time he thought he had heard a crack but when we had looked we didnt notice anything.When I tackled up I did it in the house so didnt actually put the rod up! ah well.

 

Thought it was a good excuse to go for the chub (Ive never caught a chub bigger than 4lb 4ozs) as the Itchen has done some good fish.didnt get a touch on bread or maggots.Andy had heard about my "drama" and brought up his spare trotting set up.First cast and I had a brownie of around 1 1/2lb. The "Itchen Meister" was back! Next trot I snagged up and as Andys pin had mono on it rather than braid I lost my rig! Hmmmm Maybe the fishing gods were trying to tell me some thing! A couple of biteless hours back on the tip and then moved right down to the bottom of the fishery and tried on the pool above the house....one lost roach/dace!

 

Not as good as I did last year but couldnt really expect it to have been really.As always it was an enjoyable day out and the one grayling I did take a great looking fish. Will always be up for trips to this venue!

 

Many thanks to Paul for organising a great day and being able to remember the way! I found the ASDA ok but when asked if I could remember the way to the river was a bit unsure!

[Vidar6]

Ended up with 4 nice Brown Trout quiver tipping, but no Grayling.

 

We had a great day out despite the rather windy conditions.

 

Vidar & Faye