What a superb fish. I’m not sure if it’s still the same now, but when I fished there a fair bit in the late nineties/early noughties some of the swims were like aquariums!
I’ll never forget one clear, late summer morning when I peered into the run just above the railway.
I saw at least ten good bream feeding at the head of the swim. Below them were three nice barbel, moving skittishly along the run, nosing the gravel before dropping back. There was a huge common moving up and down the slacker water intermittently. Close in were a shoal of roach and sitting back from them a large, solitary perch. Sitting mid-water was a very big salmon or sea trout and finally, moving quickly through the swim were a number of mullet! I just sat there with the polarising glasses on watching them in the peace and quiet.
Of course before long they dispersed, but after introducing a little hemp and pellet, the bream and barbel returned and I had six slabs and two barbs by lunchtime. Happy days.
I never saw a bass when I fished there, but there were also plenty of little flatties in the margins during the summer.
Eddie, who landed this tremendous bass, probably doesn’t recall, but a few years ago his thoughtful advice helped me to a pb chub from the Dorset Stour.
