which seasonal fish

After a 30 year lay-off and only two recent seasons under my belt I need a little advice.

Having read many posts on the forum I am still finding it difficult to decide which are the best fish to target at different times of the year. Last season was doubly difficult due to the floods followed by over zealous sluice gate adjustments which left the river well below summer levels at times.

I mainly fish the upper reaches of the Bristol Avon, it's fairy slow for trotting, varies in depth from 3' to 10' averaging at 6'. There's bream, tench, chub, roach, perch, pike, carp and barbel although I've yet to meet Mr Barbus and Mr Carpio.

So come on guys, which would you target at what time of year and what would be your prefered methods and baits?

There is a book out called A Coarse Fishing Year. They say,

Jan - Chub

Feb - Pike

March - Roach

April - Bream

May - Tench

June - Big Carp

July - Rudd

August - Catfish

Sept - Barbel

Oct - Match Carp (I think they mean 2-12lb'ers)

November - Perch

December - Grayling

But most species can be caught year round, with a few exceptions.

As I have never fished the Bristol Avon, will leave it to someone more local to give you ideas on what baits work best around there.

hi g g , 30 years eh, did you get parole?

what worked then will work now grump ,anglers change habits ,fish dont

trotted maggot hemp/caster in summer worm/caster -feeder later

should bring you returns on a decent peg and catch all species

Aha! I have quite a collection of books but missed that one Stephen. Will have to check out ebay or amazon for a copy. My bedside table is real mess!

Slimey - I tend to use quite a bit of hemp to tempt anything into a few swims and rotate them. As for hookbaits, flake, worm and corn are my prefered choices occasionally switching to casters if I can get to the tackle shop.

Grumpy,

I have a spare copy if you want it, all it will cost you is the postage (as i got if free with mag sub), if you would like it just pm me your details.

Stephen

not ignoring you just can't pm you at the moment due to site problem. Will be in touch asap.

Grumpy,

No problem.