31/12/10 - Bristol Avon - Lower Reybridge

Weight – 2lb 11oz
Catch – 16 Dace, 13 Roach, 1 Chub, 1 Bullhead
Weather – Mild, cloudy, no wind

Today was a spur of the moment session. The weather had finally broken with a few days of mild temperatures which had seen the snow disappear, although some lakes still had a covering of ice. I had considered going down my club lake, but there was likely to still be some ice, plus all that melting ice won’t have done much for the water temperature.

I fancied trying for some chub again, but when I arrived at the river it was still coloured and slightly up. Must admit I did hesitate about getting the kit out of the car, but the pace of the river wasn’t too bad. As I walked down there was already an angler in the peg I wanted to fish, fortunately he was spinning for pike so was likely to move on soon. We chatted for 15mins whist he unsuccessfully worked the swim. Personally thought there was a touch too much colour for the spinner to work.

I started on the bread & lead, whilst setting up a 4BB alloy stick, feeding maggot & hemp. With no bites on the lead, it took 15mins to get my first fish on the float, a 4oz roach, but it felt cold, so obviously the river still had some melted snow in it.

As the session progressed I caught most of my fish in the slacker water on the other side of the river. I tried the inside line, where there was more flow, but could only get bites on the lead fishing 4 maggots on a size 14 looking for chub. Unfortunately only small fish showed including a tiny bullhead and god knows how it managed to stuff the bait & hook it to its mouth.

After losing my float rig on an underwater snag, I decided to set up a heavier 4AAA Avon, but was struggling for bites. So I decided to rest the swim and try a spot further down river for ½ hour, but I didn’t get a bite. When I returned I changed down a hook size on the lead and caught a few more fish, but the fish were generally small, particularly the dace. I had hoped for a few chub, however except for a 4oz chublet none showed.

A bit of a disappointing day.