 I have been told by a few people now that bisterne is fishing quite well at the moment, and so i am thinking of giving it a go soon. it's only open for two months of the season and the last two weeks of the season, so it recieves very little angling pressure. would you aproach this on the standard pellet/bolie approach or would you try something different, as they havnt seen much bait before.? thanks for any answers. on another note, caught my first barbel today at 7.5lb, followed by one of 6lb, so i am well pleased with that and am looking to follow it up with some more barbel. atb, tim
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 Tim,
Well done on the Barbel.
For Bisterne then you need to talk to Nigel (Bisterneman) as I think he has the best local knowledge of that stretch.
I've fished it a few times (see: http://www.fishingmagic.com/news/article/mps/uan/2721) and I've always opted for 'natural' baits, but then I am not a Pellet fan'
I might give it a looking at myself in the next few weeks.
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 I fished this quite a bit 10 years ago so, my knowledge is well out of date. A fascinating stretch though, with many variations of swims:- narrow, wide wooded, fields etc. I caught a few barble on swim- feeder and maggots but my main memory was of catching some big bream! Turning right from the farmhouse and keep walking and just before you enter the wooded part there was a wide shallow rapid bit and before this was a deep slower part. It was hard to get to this bit, as I remember there was a lot of vegetation to get through but, I was rewarded with a couple of barble and these big bream, certainly in the 6-7lb bracket but I do remember losing one a lot bigger than that on the surface. As I say a long time ago but i thought you might bve interested.
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ok thanks very much guys i will give it a go. sounds like the natural baits would be better then. probaly give it a go at the weekend. atb tim
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Fished there a few times (not this year though) without success. But it's a cracking place. Apparently some of it is closed for salmon anglers at the moment. But it's a big estate so should be room for everyone. It took me a few visits before I even saw a barbel. Can't help with locations and baits etc. Very difficult (I'm an Avon novice ) but a lovely place to spend a days fishing. There's far too much to see in one day. It would take a very long time to really understand the stretch.
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 Peter, I am no expert but have fished it probably every year for the last 15 years albeit only the odd day or two. There will be others with far greater knowldge than me out there I am sure. The problem I have found is location.The fish do not receive much pressure and therefore seem to take a while to switch on to anglers baits.If you can find your fish and bait up to get their confidence before fishing then that would be a great advantage.If not , keep the bait going in.If you can fish the day after, try and get the same spot to give the fish time to come to the bait.My best day there was when I did this and I think I had 4 or 5 fish throughout the day from the off, from a peg I had put about 4 pints each of hemp and caster in the day previoulsy but caught nothing. I have always done well on the hemp/caster approach in a feeder but in recent years have tended to find a nice run through for some trotting and have had fish to 8lb plus on the float as well as some nice chub to 5lb plus. September is the best time to go as all of the stetch opens up.Currently you will be limited to the upper stretch rather than the stretch immediately downstream of the house. It is a lovely bit of the lower Avon and well worth a day of anyone's fishing life.
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 Congratulations Tim, hope you get many more, good on you mate.
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thanks steve. it came after about 9 blanks aswell which made it all the better. i have some pictures but don't know how to upload them so i'll keep trying. went to bisterne today, but took the float rod instead of going for barbel. I'm glad i did as i ended up with 5 chub to just over 4lb, and lost count of the dace, some of which were a really good size. all fish came to hemp and caster. i'll put the pics up when i find out how. thanks for the help everyone has given me. atb
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| Edited: 27/08/08 14:40 |
Tim, Well done.I shall be down there in September for a day or two no doubt. PS Dont forget that you can catch barbel on the float too!
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Nice one Tim. I'm guilty of a "barbel or nothing" approach on the Avon and i must make time for a day's float fishing one of these days. Especially because I haven't caught a barbel yet(!)  I'd like to think that if I lived closer I'd be more of an "all rounder". But I may just be kidding myself!
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I'll say it again ..catching Barbel and using the float are most definately not mutually exclusive. Try a day floatfishing for Barbel and have the best of both worlds.On somewhere like Bisterne where the fish are not too tackle shy you will get your fair share of chub and dace even if a barbel fails to show.
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