Tavelling Light, Salisbury Avon

[mithrandir]

Saturday morning arrives, weather looks like being superb and off to the river we go. We had decided to explore the LAA waters near Salisbury, available on a day ticket and less than 10 miles from home.

We were travelling light as Claudia had decided it was trotting on the Hampshire Avon, I, as ever, was taking far too much gear according to Claudia, even to the extent she took the mick in the shout-box the night before! ( This was going to haunt her later, but then she does accuse me of always being right and who am I to argue)

The LAA stretch offers nearly 12 miles of bank to fish on the Avon and when we arrived in the car park there was no one else there, we had a quick stroll and found what looked like a likely stop, I was going to leger for a while whilst Claudia was going to trot along the river.

here is a view of the swims we chose









Whilst we were here along came two very official looking men, yes you guessed it EA bailiffs, that is twice in two weeks I have had my license checked, good to see them out and a very timely reminder for everyone to make sure that you are carrying a license when you are fishing.

The swim I had chosen was near some lily pads and trees and whilst we were setting up I noticed a very large Barbel in the bottom of the swim, this soon spooked and was not seen again, but I was glad I had the feeder rod and heavier line on, whilst Claudia was suggesting we go home and get her a bait runner and some heavier gear, I smiled and said it was a good job she was travelling light ( first sarcastic dig of the day). Well the fishing was slow here, the sun was getting up and it was too bright to really be fishing a clear chalk stream, but whilst I blanked Claudia was picking up a few small fish.

this little chublet



and this little fella that I am pretty certain is a dace (the anal fin is concave but it does not seem like that in the picture, my finger is in the way DOHHH!), her first, and 1.5 species hunt points



She also had a couple of small roach, whilst I quite happily blanked.

Soon the Water Bailiff, Stuart, came along and we got chatting, he said that we should really be on the other stretch of water behind us in the morning as the stretch we were on fished better in the evening, but as it was going to be a hot day with low oxygen levels we might have a better day down by the sluices. So he said chuck your gear in the back of his truck and he would drive us down there and set us up.

So off we went and found the sluices and had the guided tour, talk of large chub, then shown them in a little pool under a tree, talk of carp at 20lb plus, barbel into double figures and in the right conditions 3lb roach. Claudia was so glad we were travelling light on this water, she had an Avon rod and a river reel with 5lb line on, oh how I smirked as she was asking to borrow gear out of my kit ( vengeance, sweet vengeance!!)

continued....

[mithrandir]

Part 2

Now, mid morning we are set up in a completely different set of swims, the sluice is a 1780's building there to control the river flow to stop flooding, and Stuart had told us that during the recent rains the rivers had been high on the banks but not flooded out onto the fields.

Here are a couple of shots of the sluice and the swims we were in, as you can see the water was very fast here.





this is the little pool where the chub were shoaled up



Claudia was told that the best way to get the chub in there was to wade 3/4 of the way across on the ford and cast straight into the pool, again on minimum kit she had no waders so it was wet boots for the rest of the day for her ( "you have got too much gear Mike, why are you taking all that!" echoing in my ears )



Here is another female looking at the possibility of a chub from the pool



we did get invaded a couple of times by some curious bank side visitors, here is one eyeing up the tackle on the bank



Fishing here was also quite difficult, we had strong eddies from the sluice, and with the blazing sun most fish were holed up for the day, I lost a couple of rigs in the eddy pool and got hooked by Claudia a couple of times as the current dragged the leads into her casting range.

Nothing seemed to work bait wise, I had tried all the bits in my box, Claudia had caught a couple of small fish but mainly on luncheon meat and I had a minnow or two on maggots.

I picked up this little blighter on maggots too and I think this is also a dace, my first and 1.5 species hunt points if it is





Then I switched to some luncheon meat on a 14 hook hair rigged and cast out into the edges of the chub pool and BANG, within seconds I had a rod tip bent over and my first ever chub was on the hook, this fish although not a monster certainly put up a spirited fight.

Here is me holding the little devil, my first and another 1.5 points for this years hunt.



We then proceeded to keep trying this spot for a while, but I did not manage another, Claudia, who by this time had been into my tackle box, for hair rig hooks, swivels, baiting hook and bait stops ( "why am I carrying all this kit" I asked myself ), was fishing the lightest line hooks I had hair rigged with luncheon meat as well, no chub for her but but a brown trout took luncheon meat on the drop and gave her a good fight.



Her first this year and another 1.5 points for her team.

A good day in the end, was a bit too hot to be really good fishing but we found some new waters, they seem excellent condition, and if you fancy a flick of the old fluff they look good banks to cast from. We both came away with 2 new species for the species hunt. And I suppose to be exact I had my PB Chub, PB dace, Claudia had a PB dace too, and 6 species hunt points between us.

I learnt that travelling light means borrowing kit from the more prepared angler.

Claudia found wet boots mean bare feet all day, mind out for the stinging nettles dear!!

We will return there, lots of bank to explore and I will be on a mission for the barbel in there too soon.

Mike

[fishypaul]

what a superb looking stretch of river,looks like you had a good day,
well done both of you,

[perch_king]

well done all looks a cracking day for you all and good luck on the specise hunt

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Cracking read and photos mate really enjoyed that read thanks

[fishypaul]

impressed with the restraint you showed mike,you could have ribbed claudia all day about the amount of kit you were carrying

[Norfolkboy]

Looks a lovely stretch of water, well done on the fish guys.

[maghouse]

Excellent report & pics !

[Banana Steve]

Mike next time you go there give us a shout as i would love to give that fast water ago. Well done on a great looking day

[Twiddler]

TO MY DEFENCE about the gear

We knew we could only fish one rod on a day ticket....I wanted to trott the day, which involves walking the stretch in look for fish.

Mike prefers the other tactic...sit on a swim and work on it (not always suitable on a river...you ave to go to the fish, they wont come to you

I didn't realize Stuart the water bailiff would show us the sluice where we saw some good size barbel.....and the water flow was too strong to fish a float


Anyway, I'll be prepared next time.......beachcaster, 20lb mainline, 50lb shockleader and some 8oz gripper leds