3 weeks to go

[riverman]

well its only 3 weeks before the rivers open and my preperations are well under way.5 packs of robin red luncheon meat and 2 bags of halibut pellets stashed already.chest and leg waders at the ready as i'm gonna target the grayling on the stick in 2024 as well as the barbel and chub on the leger.first outing is on the river swale with my brother who has never caught a barbel and is a stillwater angler.he was very close last year when he lost one at the net at tadcaster on the wharfe.fingers crossed he'll get one this year.

 

[Aknib]

I reckon, given the weather we've endured (lower than average temperatures, higher than average rainfall) it could be a slow start but I share your enthusiasm.

Not wanting to be a pessimist but I know how long it can take Boris to get on form in my part of the world. Often a fortnight at least from the start of the season which kind of makes a mockery of the close season but when he does decide to play...

Oh my!

Good luck for the coming season riverman and all the best.

 

[Ray Roberts]

I’ve got a few irons in the fire. I intend to do a bit of roach and chub fishing on the Medway. I have a few evening / night trips planned for barbel and chub on the Eden in Kent. Also I have a few trips planned on the Seven and also on the Trent with some ex members of FM. I have promised to take my eldest granddaughter night fishing, which I may do on the Rother in Kent. It looks like a busy season.

 

[@Clive]

I can't wait three days let alone three weeks. I've just checked the river level app and the River Vienne is now back to normal levels and the River Charente should be by Friday. I might do both after my two working days

 

[no-one in particular]

Heading straight for my banker swim, never failed to catch a fish there, chub, bream and roach mainly and sometimes fair fish. It's one gap in the reeds, hoping it is still there, should be. bamboo rod, it is 12-13ft so should be better than my 10ft one I have used. I mixed up some groundbait last week, whizzed up leftovers, brown bread, luncheon meat and some rye bread, all sterilised in the micro wave and bagged up, hope it is all right when I open it, but have a bag of hemp in my bag as well.
The rye bread was interesting, tried it myself, a bit dry and like cardboard for me but interesting smell, I tried a bit of it on the lake, doesn't swell up like normal bread, didn't catch nothing on it but I can still smell it in the ground bait,sort of nutty smell, who knows. Anyway that's my plan. And maybe a bit more sea fishing thrown in.

 

[Keith M]

It really depends on the stream and river levels but if everything’s fine Ill be concentrating on streams and small rivers in the Herts and Beds areas; like one of my favourite Chub and Barbel streams shown in my picture below (and in my avatar).

For the first few weeks I’ll be starting the season attempting to trot for decent sized Roach and Dace using red & white maggots and Hemp; or breadflake with squeezed breadcrumb for feed; before upping my tackle and going for the Barbel and Chub using slithers of Luncheon-meat and larger bunches of maggots; once the light starts to fade.

Then a little bit later in the season I’ll also be using both Hair-rigged Spicey pellets on my hook along with smaller feed pellets as well as some Spicey-meat hook baits. Plus I’ll be fishing into the dark a bit more using the link leger.

I’ll also probably be having a go at the Tench and Carp that inhabit a smallish backwater that runs off from; and alongside; one of the streams.

Keith

 

[peterjg]

Really looking forward to it, it'll be interesting to see how the rivers are after all the flooding that we've had, I'll be fishing the Kennet, Thames, Wey and Blackwater.

 

[ian g]

Middle Severn lost a lot of weed a few seasons ago due to sustained winter floods . Chances are we might have the same again after last winter . The river was still carrying quite alot of colour when I was down there last Monday .

 

[Specihunter]

I have a few small rivers near me I want to fish and see what's in there apart from perch. and some stretches around Oxford for bigger fish.

 

[The bad one]

Up here in the NW the rivers I fish are always a let down for the species I want to catch. So I tend to leave them alone for 6 weeks or more. Even when the river comes up a metre the weed balls up and moves down the river. Not nice to fish when this happens. So for me I'll stick to the stillwaters for tench, bream, a big roach or rudd.

 

[nottskev]

I wouldn't book my holidays (if I wasn't on holiday all the time) for the first two weeks of the season. The fishing can be an anti-climax for sure. But I'll still be on the river, catching or not, for the sheer pleasure of stepping where nobody has set foot for three months.