01/01/11 - Dorset Stour - Fiddleford

Weight – 19lb 6oz
Catch – 91 Roach, 29 Dace, 2 Gudgeon, 1 Perch.
Weather – Mild, but chilly breeze

Today was a proper red letter day, plenty of fish and plenty of bites.

In the last few years, Mark, Nick & I have fished at Timsbury Manor on the river Test on New Years day. I couldn’t make it last year, but Mark & Nick struggled for only a few fish, because there was loads of anglers on the bank and at £20 for a day ticket, that’s a bit expensive not to catch.

This year I suggested the Hampshire Avon or Dorset Stour. Every time I go down to Bournemouth to see to Sue’s family, I drive past the river and keep meaning to give it a try. Nick lives in Shaftsbury and heard that the river at Fiddleford was fishing well around the footbridge, so that’s where we ended up.

Having never seen this part of the river, it looked brilliant. The Fiddleford Mill was a short distance upstream with a large weir pool. The swims around the footbridge are a winter hot spot, because it’s up to 14ft deep, although today the river was still fining down following the snow thaw. The 2 swims either side of the bridge we were told were the best, but we couldn’t decide where to have the 3rd peg. We decided to have a draw, with pegs 1 & 2 either side of the bridge, whilst who ever drew 3, could choose. I drew 3 and decided on the downstream peg, where it shallowed up before the bend. It was then decided who ever had the highest weight won’t have to pay for their £5 day ticket, which I thought Mark & Nick would win, but I was simply looking forward to a days fishing.

When we arrived there were fish topping and all of us were expecting a good day. I set up 2 rigs, a 2.5g carbo to fish at 6m on the pole. The swim shallowed up in front of me from 9ft to 8ft, so I fished the pole upstream and held it back as it shallowed up. My 2nd rig was a 6BB pacemaker (a chunkier version of the stick) to fish the far bank trotting under tree where it was 6ft deep.

I started with 5 balls of groundbait on the pole line and had 2 fish in 2 put ins, then nothing. Mark & Nick both experienced the same problem, however after adjusting my rig I started to catch regularily, including some quality roach. I feed a ball of groundbait every 20-30mins when bites slowed down or when I had a run of tiny dace.

After 2½hrs I was already up to about 50 fish, however Mark & Nick weren’t doing quite as well. Mark unfortunately managed to find a snag that stretched most of the way across the river, which was frustrating and the toys were starting come out of the pram. Speaking to a local, he reckoned the snag is new, which must have washed down when the river flooded. Nick in the meantime was fishing the back eddy, which usually holds some bream up to 8lb, but was struggling for bites and did pull out of a decent fish.

Since the start of the session I had been feeding hemp & caster to the far side and switched to the pacemaker. Initially struggled, but a few adjustments to the rig and it was running though just tripping bottom. For the rest of the session I rotated between the pole and float, finishing with several roach about 12oz topped by a 1lb roach caught on the float.

Nick finished with 6lb, whilst Mark had about 4lb, including a near 2lb perch