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Slack caused by bridge piers


The Flying Tench

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Try the slack buffer zone just above the bridge piers  - it seems counter-intuitive but there is often a good trout there.

 

A place I have often found disappointing is the fishy-looking pool below a waterfall.   It always looks inviting - sends me the clear message "now here be monsters"   but I can't remember ever catching anything but "run-of-the-mill" fish from  such spots

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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Interesting re the trout. I suppose the species I particularly expect to see on the downstream side, based on internalised memories of a 'where the fish are' pic in Mr Crabtree from when I was a teenager, is chub. In all fairness I have never given ledgering a proper go there, But lure fishing I always used to cast to such swims expecting chub, perch or pike, but I don't recall ever catching. I mention it because I found a new venue recently on the Thames with quite an inviting bridge.

BTW thank-you for your 'winding down' thread. Encouraging to hear how someone a few yards ahead of me is handling this.

John

john clarke

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Perhaps the bloke ahead of you caught all the fish in the slacks lol

Believe NOTHING anyones says or writes unless you witness it yourself and even then your eyes can deceive you

None of this "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" crap it just means i have at least two enemies!

 

There is only one opinion i listen to ,its mine and its ALWAYS right even when its wrong

 

Its far easier to curse the darkness than light one candle

 

Mathew 4:19

Grangers law : anything i say will  turn out the opposite or not happen at all!

Life insurance? you wont enjoy a penny!

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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I've had similar experiences fishing near, past or up to bridge uprights & also caught next to now't in the past.

I got to thinking the Chub/Barbel etc were in fact just "Cleaning Themselves Off" after spawning & had no interest in feeding whatsoever!!

On the other hand, I've heard of Chub gathering in these places waiting for Chips being chucked in by the locals having finished their Fish Supper coming home from the Pub!!

Maybe a Chip or a bit of Pizza could catch?? (Like Ducks - Chub get used to the local Fayre)

One Chub in particular used to stick his head up & say "Got Any Brown Sauce"!!

Edited by Martin56

Fishin' - "Best Fun Ya' can 'ave wi' Ya' Clothes On"!!

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Interesting...not for fish, but sapphire mining. I had a little ‘show’ in the New England Ranges of New South Wales and came across a big granite boulder about a metre down in ‘wash’. The boulder was sat on granite bedrock. As I dug down the downstream side of it, I dug up enough sapphires to buy a new station wagon! Sapphires, being heavy, lost momentum behind the big boulder during floods. In total, I got 85 beautiful blues several small particolours (green/blue) and a pile of corundum.

ocker-anim.gifROO.gif

 

 

Cheers, Bobj.

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Perhaps it was its stash you took?

If i lived in OZ i would be out looking for gold ,unfortunately my temperature upper limit is 20c so unless you do something about that i refuse to come down there ,thank god my parents never went in the 60's ! And boy do you have silly laws are you actually allowed to do anything ?

 

  • Haha 1

Believe NOTHING anyones says or writes unless you witness it yourself and even then your eyes can deceive you

None of this "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" crap it just means i have at least two enemies!

 

There is only one opinion i listen to ,its mine and its ALWAYS right even when its wrong

 

Its far easier to curse the darkness than light one candle

 

Mathew 4:19

Grangers law : anything i say will  turn out the opposite or not happen at all!

Life insurance? you wont enjoy a penny!

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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On 10/16/2020 at 8:41 PM, The Flying Tench said:

I'd have thought the slack behind bridge piers would be a number one residence for lots of fish, but for some reason I've never caught a fish in these locations. Perhaps I should give it another try? What is others' experience?

Hi John,

I remember a thread about this some time ago, I think Newt was involved in it. As Vagabond says, I've found the fish tend to be more to the front/side of the obstruction, than in the slack behind it. If you picture the flow hitting the bridge pier, it will hit the front of it, and obviously flow round it. Where this happens, it creates an area of slower water, close to the sides of the structure, causing something similar to the bow wave effect from a boat. Like the water directly behind a moving boat, the area behind the pier will be turbulent to some extent, and less comfortable for the fish to hold there. I've spent many an hour watching, chub in particular, lining up in this slower water, and peeling off to intercept anything resembling food, then re-joining the queue of fish in the slower water. The size of this 'holding zone', varies according to the size, and shape of the structure, and the speed of the current. It also determines the number, and size of fish it can hold, I've counted anything from a single fish, to a dozen or so holding in such places.

 I've found that trotting a float, free lining, or using a rolling leger, cast upstream, and allowed to run to the side of the structure, usually produces, but watch out for 'boils' showing snags that have settled there. 

Hope that helps

John.

Angling is more than just catching fish, if it wasn't it would just be called 'catching'......... John

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