Lower Itchen Fish-in

[chesters1]

glad to see it didnt end in a ball of flames ,we'l get the fridge sorted next for cold beers at Wingham

Edited March 3, 2008 by chesters1

[Leon Roskilly]

glad to see it didnt end in a ball of flames ,we'l get the fridge sorted next for cold beers at Wingham

 

YAY!

 

Catching some grayling was nice, but Lyn's bacon-butties and mulled wine were really the highlight of the day

[Anderoo]

Firstly, thanks to Seph for arranging this and Lyn for the refreshments I wasn't planning on going as it was straight after the pike fish-in, but boy am I glad I did! I hadn't even seen, let alone fished, the Itchen before, but I knew the grayling are bigger than at Timsbury so I was hoping for a pb and maybe even a 2lber. It's a lovely stretch of water, quite similar to one or two of the Oxfordshire Thames tributaries, so I felt nicely at home. The water was quite coloured following rain - something I wasn't sure would be a blessing or a curse. I bet it looks incredible in the summer.

 

Me and Rich got a lift with 'Kingpin' Andy up to the far end of the stretch, in his 4X4 in case Rich's car got stuck. As we walked along Andy pointed out some good spots to us. I stopped to chat to Budgie and Andrew B and the other two settled into some really nice looking spots - I went past them to find I was at the very end of the fishery and faced with a mouthwatering swim where the river sweeps round a bend and flows over a little sill into a sidestream, and the main river runs deep past some overhanging trees then shallows right up about 15 yards downstream - this'll do! There was even a useful little 'point' to stand on to make trotting easier. I fancied it for a chub later as there were a couple of nice slacks along the far bank.

 

 

I'd borrowed one of Andy's Angler's Net pins for the day and set it up with my trotting rod and a 5BB Avon and size 14 barbed hook. After feeding maggots for 10 minutes I had my first cast and I'd soon caught the first grayling of the day of 1lb 9oz (1oz under my pb!) and a really hard fighting (wild, I think) brownie of about 2lb. The sun came up and I struggled for the next hour or so, plus I couldn't really control my float in the really strong blustery wind (the wind was an absolute nightmare in my swim, piling directly upstream in huge gusts). I lost a few fish too. So I swapped over to a 2SSG chubber and the change was instant - suddenly I could run the float through properly and the bites started again. I also switched over to sweetcorn, feeding very regularly and quite heavily, and this certainly helped too.

 

I remembered a bit of advice Budgie gave me at the Wobblethon - if you're in a swim where you catch a decent grayling, sit tight and keep feeding even if it goes through a quiet spell. Budgie, I can't thank you enough for that - I'd have wandered off otherwise and the day would have been completely different!

 

I then went through possibly the most frustrating 2 hours I've ever had - I was hooking fish almost every cast and landing about 1 in 5. The float would dip in the hotspot, just as the bottom shallowed up at the end of the run, I'd strike and the rod would bend double - the fight from these fish has to be experienced to be believed - a couple of heavy thumps later it would all fall slack. When I did land one it wouldn't stay still to be unhooked, weighing or photographing them was impossible, and I was wondering why anyone would ever go grayling fishing It was so annoying! The final straw was hooking another big grayling - easily a new pb - and managing to get it almost over the net before it did a final twist and threw the hook. Aaargh! I dread to think how many big fish I lost yesterday.

 

Anyway, something had to be done so I swapped the hook to a size 10 barbless. I had a feeling that the big barb on the Drennan Specialists wasn't allowing the hook to penetrate properly and it was too heavy a pattern. Hopefully the bigger hook in a lighter pattern would keep them on better, especially without the barb getting in the way. After that I didn't lose a single fish - if only I'd done that from the start

 

After that the fish just kept coming, it was incredible. I soon beat my old pb with a lovely fish of 1lb 12oz and on the very next cast I destroyed it with a really dark, powerful grayling of 2lb 11oz!

 

 

It was the most amazing day, I didn't count but I reckon I caught about 20 grayling and half a dozen brownies. They must have been holed up in the deep water and taking it it turns to drop to the shallows to feed. I'm now a convert to big hooks, heavy floats and sweetcorn

 

The other thing that made it so much fun was the reel. I never thought I'd say it, but Andy's AN pin is better than my Okuma Sheffield - it's smoother (honestly), looks better, the ratchet switch is better thought out (you can flick it one-handed easily) and balanced my rod better. I've asked Andy to put that one aside for me - we have a bond now! If you're thinking of getting a pin, you should check these out, they really are fantastic.

 

[Stretpegger]

Congratulations Anderoo what a cracking fish,i too used to suffer a lot of lost grayling.Went through several patterns but the best i have found so far is a drennan superspade with the barb crushed down.

[Dick Dastardly]

I always lose loads of Grayling at Timsbury but never lose them on the Itchen.Big difference is that I use braided mainline on the Itchen but cant at Timsbury.Or is it just that small grayling come off more than big ones?

[Chris Plumb]

VERY Nice fish Anderoo - My mate Paul had his 2-14 from that swim on Friday!

 

 

C.

[Anderoo]

Cheers, I don't want to think how big some of the ones I lost could have been! I think I'll have to race a few people to it next year

 

It wasn't the biggest of the day though...

[Chris Plumb]

I think I'll have to race a few people to it next year

 

Don't worry - the fish won't be there!!! - one thing I've learnt about the Itchen over the years is the fish NEVER seem to be in the same place form one year to the next. My PB is a 2.15 from Howards Run in 00/01 season - needless to say I've fished that swim MANY times since - this year was the first time since then that I caught from it - found the same to be true from many other spots on LIF.

 

It wasn't the biggest of the day though...

 

Do tell!

 

 

C.

[Andrew Burgess]

Been hearing about the Anglersnet pin but can't find it on the google search or yahoo search

 

Can anyone send me a link to this centrepin?

[Chris Plumb]

Been hearing about the Anglersnet pin but can't find it on the google search or yahoo search

 

Can anyone send me a link to this centrepin?

 

 

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/Anglers...pin-t80905.html

 

C.