Upper Thames session

[Paulg]

I've pinched this from Vineys "Frustrating session" thread as I think it deserves a thread of its own

 

Both are really interesting in content and there is room for further discussion in each, but if continuing in just one thread it might get a tad confusing....or it would for me at least

 

On these Upper Thames chub Steve....I bet a free-lined slug would be a superb bait!

 

I've used them with almost devastating effect on the Kennet, to the extent that on more than one occasion I've been bringing a chub to the net, with the slug hanging outside its mouth, only for another chub come and try to take it !

 

 

[The Flying Tench]

That's interesting, Paul. I used slugs years ago in a small brook in Woking where the chub didn't go much over 2lb, but you could walk along and drop a slug in holes under the bank, and it was fun fishing. But how does that work in a river like the Kennet? I suppose you bait with maggots or meat?

I've pinched this from Vineys "Frustrating session" thread as I think it deserves a thread of its own

 

Both are really interesting in content and there is room for further discussion in each, but if continuing in just one thread it might get a tad confusing....or it would for me at least

 

On these Upper Thames chub Steve....I bet a free-lined slug would be a superb bait!

 

I've used them with almost devastating effect on the Kennet, to the extent that on more than one occasion I've been bringing a chub to the net, with the slug hanging outside its mouth, only for another chub come and try to take it !

[Steve Walker]

Yes, slugs would certainly be worth a try. Might be a bit harder to get off the hook than a lob, they were surprisingly adept at worm-snaffling!

[Vagabond]

I have from time to time, used the very big slugs that infuriate Norma's gardening instincts. She collects them, I use them. Freelined in the Upper Medway the slugs have always resulted in fewer but bigger chub than any other bait. They have the supreme advantage of being minnow-resistant, but dunno about cray-resistance as crays are not a problem where I usually fish.

 

One very soon gets the knack of hooking big slugs (#6 hook or bigger) without touching them ! But just in case, make sure a hand-rag is amongst your gear.

 

If I can find a gap in my present pre-occupation with big perch in small ponds, I must have a "slug session" I really don't know why I don't use them more often, as I rate them highly as chub bait.

 

....and a cautionary tale. Bernard Venables used to tell an amusing story of a night-fishing session where a slug decided to crawl over his mate's sandwiches. Cut to end of story and the qualities of Thermos-flask coffee as a mouthwash !

[Steve Walker]

I gave it another go today. Actually, I had a session earlier in the week, which produced only a small chub, but some useful information - another angler, who seemed honest and had no reason to fib, has seen the barbel recently. Spotted them on the gravels, presumably spawning, a number of them and good sized fish. Anyway, today I tried a different approach, took a lot more kit and planned to stay static. I picked one of the deepest swims, maybe 10 feet deep with a good flow into it. I set up a bolt rig with hair rigged pellets, put it on an alarm and then fished a maggot feeder. I had some perch and roach fairly quickly, but then it went quiet. I set up a float rod and started catching small dace on the maggot, but it immediately made obvious something I should have figured out anyway - there's bugger all water in the river, certainly not enough for a decent flow in 10 feet of water. What I had in front of me was a still pool 9'6 deep with a skim of fast water over the top.

 

This knocked my confidence. Barbel in that? I bet they're under cover in the shallow gravelly swims. I went and put some pellets into the deeper gravel runs downstream, but I had too much kit to carry to really find the right sort of place. Didn't look right, so I ran a float through them instead and caught a few dace and a small brownie. I then scouted upstream a little. There was a promising looking swim, so I gathered my kit together and hauled it over. Setting up well back from the edge, I chucked a link-legered lobworm into the margins. I was fiddling with the rod, getting the tension right when the tip belted round, but I missed it. Chub, no doubt.

 

 

No more bites were forthcoming, so I advanced to the edge with the float rod. This is just downstream of where Swindon's delightful River Ray enters the Thames, and at this time of year the Ray is mostly treated sewage effluent. The water quality is good enough to support coarse fish, but it has that horrible faint detergent odour and is turbid enough that it wasn't until I ran a float through that I realised the swim was only two feet deep. Plenty of fish, though, I had them more or less every trot for an hour and a half, almost all dace, none of them bigger than seven inches. The odd bleak, chublet and minnow, and one perch thrown in. I lost one larger fish, probably a chub. Hard to tell how big it was, it was on the Drennan Ultralight and everything feels huge on that.

 

Entertaining, then, dozens of fish, mostly dace, but with bleak, roach, perch, little chub, a solitary trout and gudgeon. I think the best approach for barbel is going to be mobile, with a lobworm, into cover.

Edited June 29, 2015 by Steve Walker