Help with how to tackle a weir

[rich66]

Found a lovely looking weir that says fish me. Now I’ve not properly fished a river in donkeys years and I’ve never fished a weir. Could someone give me some pointers
I’ve a 13’ match rod, 12’ power feeder, 9 foot ledger rod and a couple of spinning rods to choose from. I was contemplating using the ledger rod the river is not that wide. I’ve been told there used to be a few barbel & chub in there plus plenty of crayfish
Any advice on bait rigs etc would be welcome
Did think about freelinig bread crusts around the slack areas

 

[Another Dave]

Looks nice. The area where the 'pool' thins and the reed beds start to break up on the left looks particularly tasty. Also the other bank where the trees overhang. Have you tried throwing some crusts in to see what happens? Might as well spend half an hour with some bread and polaroids while it's still the close season - if they don't take bread off the top this week they never will.

 

[binka]

I think most methods would work there, it looks a lovely little spot and it might well come down to your personal preference.

One thing in your description did stand out though...

Crayfish!

If they are at nuisance proportions I would be tempted to trot baits just off bottom, keeping things moving and making them work for it.

 

[rich66]

Thanks, I’ll be heading down there with some bread crusts tomorrow. It’s a lovely spot, itching to have a try.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

If crayfish are so prevalent then that might rule out a bottom bait presentation . . . in fact I know a lot of anglers who wouldn't bother fishing at all on 'infested' waters.


If you want to fish a fixed bait then maybe a 'Z rig' with bouyant baits to alieviate the crayfish problem?

 

[Keith M]

Looks like it is one of these modern concrete runoff weirs which don’t have undercuts and slightly deeper water under their weir sills (which barbel and Chub often seem to love). However I’ve often found the trailing end of weir pools; just before it starts to shallow up is often a good place to find barbel and Chub too; or if there are any holes or depressions along or under the edge it may also be worth a look.

It looks very inviting regardless of your target fish though and I hope it turns out to be really good and the Crayfish don’t cause you too many problems.

Keith

 

[Tee-Cee]

Very nice looking water and it looks full of fish. Depending on access and ease of casting etc. I would go for trotting first off , but the only way you'll find out out how bad the crayfish are is to go on the lead and see what happens.

In the past I've had some decent chub on a similar local river (Loddon) running down lumps of crust under trees or into slacks. Can be very exciting fishing!

Personally, I think I could easily spend much of a summer on a water like this. I really hope you do well and come back with how you fare............

Good luck!

 

[rich66]

I’ll let you all know how I get on, I appreciate all the help and ideas everyone’s contributed.
It’s a lovely little spot on the Soar with a narrow boat turn/yard about 200 yards further down.
I took a video of it which gives a better idea but can’t upload it. I’m going to have another look in a while I think

 

[john step]

The access looks a bit difficult judging by the shadow on the water. Go careful it looks steep and slippery.

 

[rich66]

The access looks a bit difficult judging by the shadow on the water. Go careful it looks steep and slippery.

You can’t get down I’ve been had another look tonight. I’ll have to fish off the concrete wall.

Definitely fish in there, we saw quite a few around 4” or so and a rather large crayfish taking itself over the weir

 

[Another Dave]

I’ll let you all know how I get on, I appreciate all the help and ideas everyone’s contributed.
It’s a lovely little spot on the Soar with a narrow boat turn/yard about 200 yards further down.
I took a video of it which gives a better idea but can’t upload it. I’m going to have another look in a while I think

Have you tried vimeo, i think that's what people use. I would love to see the footage.

 

[rich66]

Have you tried vimeo, i think that's what people use. I would love to see the footage.

Try this link it’s only about 15 seconds long but you’ll get the idea

YouTube

Another photo from the opposite bank taken from under the willow tree you can see in the first photo

 

[Another Dave]

That's one harcore weir, is there anywhere the fish can pass, or do they have to wait for the winter floods for that luxury? Seriously though that does look tempting, i bet there's some nice perch in there too.

 

[rich66]

There’s a branch in the river there, left arm is that weir, middle arm there’s a lock, a final third arm is for mooring a few house boats. So fish would have to use the lock to bypass the weir.
There is definitely fish in there we could see plenty of small minnows and some others about 4” in the shallows. I really must get some Polaroid’s !

 

[Another Dave]

Polaroids

AnglingDirect if you have £35 to invest.

 

[O.C.F.Disorder]

I would just keep it simple with lots of maggots and a stick float at first. Just be sure to plumb it (you could do that today if you want, you might get some funny looks though). Use your watercraft, find a good spot and really focus on that given spot for a while. If you continuously feed one spot the fish will be drawn to you eventually.. not sure how deep it is but probably worth investing in a bait dropper. Im really excited for you, river fishing is so much fun! Maybe try some live baiting or lure fishing for pike if you feel up for it? That little spot screams pike to me or at the very least some obliging perch! Good luck!!

 

[rich66]

Well I went today, started off lure fishing at the canal basin, no luck. Swapped to a miss match of lure rod/braid and porcupine quill and hook to nylon. Eventually decided to walk up and try the weir.
Had a cracker of a morning all sorts of little fish upto 1/2lb roach and perch. My son and I had around 30 fish in an hour. All on single white magggot in no more than 2 foot of water.
I’ll definitely revisit next time there’s some nice fish lurking I’m sure


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk