Rivers in General

With the weather acting as it has been lately, it doesn?t make you feel like doing much at all, hot, lifeless, and muggy.
I managed just over a couple of hours fishing yesterday, and was rewarded with a few decent chub. The last three times I have been out, I haven?t bothered with freebies or pre baiting, I have relied entirely on single hook baits. Okay, while I have been sitting waiting for a bite which didn?t take long, I couldn?t help but think that if I had put freebies in I would get a lot more out of each swim. Or if I had brought my float rod instead I would have had a lot more. The thing is I am satisfied with catching the odd chub out of each swim, and then moving on to the next. As at the moment I don?t know if it?s because of the weather, or I am looking for something different, because things seem to have gotten to easy. There are three things that have crossed my mind recently, one is that I am hearing of more people looking for a different challenge, (for want of a better phrase) and I think I would put myself in that category. The other is one of the discussions on here about clothing etc to wear real trea, yes that?s a joke thread but some people have said that keeping quite is more important. I couldn?t agree more with that. At the end of my short session yesterday, I decided to stay put in this particular swim, as I had caught a couple of nice chub and I had this feeling that there were more. All of a sudden from behind me a couple of elderly and foreign speaking chaps started to SHOUT have you caught many etc. I didn?t say much to them but was polite enough. Although I knew I wouldn?t be catching any more from the swim I was in, through the shouting and waving of arms above and behind me.
The third thing that I have noticed is that although I am not putting freebies in, there has not been a significant drop in my catch rate.
I don?t think it?s because I might be a good angler, or I know of where to go, I think there are a lot more fish about this year in the river systems.
Has anybody else noticed their catch rates improving?

During the past 3 years, the growth of fry has been phenominal.

With a few exceptions, river fishing this coming late summer is going to be fantastic.

Get out there.

Visited the river this afternoon to take a look at the flow following the storms and noticed a lot of 2-3 inch fry on the surface so yes the rivers are improving did not see any last year, lots more roach coming out on one stretch of my river, but have yet to see any chubb.

Baz,,living in the fens,naturally i"m spoilt for choice as far as drains go,,i"m out 7days a week amongst them{this includes dog walking!!!!},,and both the major 20 @ 40ft drains are in a extremly heathly state as far as the fish population goes,,people i know and myself have had some really good catches the fish also seem in tiptop condition with lots of fry on the surface,,this also goes for my local river Nene where alot of Chub are showing,,so in all it looks like a good season.

there had been reports of huge shoals of fish in the rivers before the open season this year more so than any other, and bumper catches were expected.
So far I think this is what has been happening in some areas.
As has been said before, if we caught well every time we went out, we would soon get bored. I think this is also true, I'd better start fishing a bare hook. Or better still, get some float rod practice in while the going is good.

Baz. You could always come up to the Ribble to tame her. I know you said she always seems to confuse you after fishing the Dane.

That was his wife he was talking about ..

I might well be talking of the Ribble Byron, or the Mersey, or the Dee.

Baz - I'll have a bit of what you've got. Can't catch a bloody cold from my local Thames. Alright on the float if I want small stuff but can't decent roach going with hemp ( they don't seem to have switched on yet ) but when I fish late for the bigger chub and barbel I can't get a bite. Went last night fished a swim I know contain clonkers and not a sausage! Using good fresh bait too, so.........will just have to keep plugging away.

When faced with the sort of conditions that we have had for the last week or so, dry, hot and humid, I normally head straight to the nearest weir stream on my local river. The added oxygen from the sills and flow will often liven-up things to an amazing degree.

Food for thought?

don't know whether thigs are easier but i went perching the other day and couldn't catch a perch for catching perch.

i had one rod out with worm on it and had 5 or 6 perch all 1 to 1.5lb, but on the other rod where i was trying to catch a bleak or small dace to use as larger perch bait i had 1 bleak and 40 to 5 small perch all 4 to 6 inches long. it drove me potty.

that should have been 40 to 50

The rivers seem to be full of small chublets so thats a good sign for the future. They drive you mad when you're after the bigger stuff but we can't have it all ways can we? Theres a profusion of small roach in the Warks Avon and thats good news as well.

How long does it take a chub to grow to 4/5 inches I heard somewhere its up to 6 years is that correct? If it is true it must take yonks to grow to 6 or 7 pounds

I thought it took around 3 yrs or so for chublets to get to that size. My local stretch of Thames is stuffed not just with chublets but small roach and vast quantities of dace. Haven't been that many for some time so it must be a good thing, possibly a consequence of the long dry summer last year?

Or as someone mentioned to me as an alternative, the pits around here haven't frozen over fully for a couple of winters so the cormorants haven't moved onto the rivers, any thoughts?

As regards chub making 6 - 7lbs then I think the heightened crayfish population in certain rivers help the already larger specimens pack on weight even quicker. Last night around 11pm I had about 12 of them climbing up the outside of the keepnet, some looking just snack size for a big Leuciscus cephalus.

There are more cracking Thames perch now too aren't there and reflects what's been seen on the Great Ouse in recent years.

Listening to K. Arthur quite regularly I've learned that some years produce better than others, mainly down to the weather. Also that if they survive the first year they have a good chance of making adulthood. Flooding is also a major factor of course.

The Warks Avon doesn't seem to be recovering its head of chub that all but disappeared in the early nineties. Theres some there in pockets but nothing like the quantities that once lived there. I wonder if thats down to the increase in barbel in the river

Graham, what you say is very true.

On the Hampshire Avon about 3/4 season ago we had a good spawning for Chub. The result is a now mass of 5" chublets in quite big shoals surviving quite well.

This year has seen a good spawn for Chub and thankfully Roach too on my stretches of the Avon.
Good news for the future.

I wrote elsewhere that I had been catching barbel at 6" long, I checked and there had been no stockings.

I also hear that perch come and go in 6 year cycles.

Food for thought in what Peter said is spot on.
I purposely made for places where I knew there would be some decent movement in the water.

hi all,
im visiting family in huntingdon cambs,
soon any ideas on rivers or fisheries where we might spend a day,
cheers,

King Arthur's right but it ain't rocket science is it, when you think about????????????????