Winter Roach From The Dorset Stour

[Catfish Virgin (Still!)]

Monday last week saw me taking a 70 mile drive down to Throop Fisheries on the Dorset Stour. Now that drive may take 1.5 hours or up to 3 hours+ depending on the motorway traffic.

But I'm quite happy to do that as I'm returning to my fishing home. You see I was literally born and bred just a few hundred yards from that renowned fishery and know it quite well. Even after 50+ years many parts of that river remain very familiar.

But last Monday was a washout as the area had suffered torrrential rain storms and the river was rising by the minute and later that day would burst its banks and turn a horrible chocolate colour.



Then my old pal and long time fishing teammate Mark emailed me on Sunday with details of his success with a stunning 2lb 02oz roach:



I had today off work so no other incentives were required!

The river had returned to normal winter levels and obviously had a severe flush through clearing away a huge amount of debris and the occassional tree! It still retained a fair amount of colour and today was very mild. In short, perfect winter roach conditions!

It took me a while to find some fish (Mark had given me some general information on the location but I guess he wanted me to work for my fish).

A few small roach and a couple of chub to just short of 4lbs were very welcome but not quite what I was after. Eventually after trying several areas, at around 2pm I came across a likely spot and settled in. I'm pretty sure this was close to where Mark caught on Sunday and probably the exact swim!

Trotting a traditional 6AA Avon style float in 8ft of water soon produced some roach in the 4oz-8oz range and some very nice dace of around the same size. I alternated baits between, maggot, caster, breadflake and punched bread, caught on them all, but maggot proved to be the best.

After about 45 mins I connected with a better sized fish which turned out to be a roach of 1lb 09oz:



This one was followed by several other "net" roach and quite a few more dace. But I was having a spot of pike trouble! Four times a pike grabbed a fish as I was playing it and although I remained "attached" for quite a while, the inevitable happened and my 1.5lb hooklength didn't last.

I then got lucky as a smaller pike attacked again and this time I landed it. It was not even hooked! It had a good sized dace clamped across its jaws and would not let go. It was a bit long and thin and weighed 7lb



In the last hour or so I had several medium roach and dace and again connected with something a little bigger. It fought well and as it slid into the landing net I thought it might be over 2lb. The scales would not budge past 1lb 13oz but I was still more than pleased with such a fish:



Thanks to a bit of local knowledge, some up to date information and good conditions, I really enjoyed a fine days fishing.

Thanks Mark and thanks to the Dorset Stour.

[Norfolkboy]

Some cracking fish, well done.

[Wandering_Angler]

Stunning fish, beautiful location, looks like you had an excellent days fishing, well done. I used to live and fish in Dorset but my stomping ground was around Verwood, Ringwood, Christchurch and Bournemouth. The fishery I liked most was actually still water, Hightown lake near Ringwood, do you know it?

[perch_king]

awsome mate well done worth the drive

[Catfish Virgin (Still!)]

Originally Posted by Wandering_Angler

Hightown lake near Ringwood, do you know it?

Havn't fished Hightown for years but it's still there and fishing very well. Still managed by Ringwood & DAA who also now run the Northfield complex of pits on the other side of the A31 just off the A338. They were my favourite pits in the area but that was 30+ years ago when Christchurch AC managed them.

That general area certainly has a huge choice of quality fishing available, I spent many, many years fishing the Ibsley stretch of the Avon on the Somerley Estate. Happy days.

[pingu]

looked a lovely day there well done

dave

[Wandering_Angler]

I got one of the worst sun burns I have yet managed while fishing Hightown. I was enjoying bagging up on Tench and Chub so much I didn’t notice how sore I was getting... needless to say when I did notice it was too late to do anything about it and I suffered for days!

I seem to remember there were loads of Perch and a big Terrapin used to poke its head out in my swim every now and then too!

[DevonPaul]

fantastic roach in great condition. well done!

[fishypaul]

some lovely fish there mate,well done

[Twiddler]

Another cracking report, pics and fish Neil, sorry I couldn't skive from work to join you

Lovely roach you caught ....one day, I say, one day i will get my roach over a LB...until then..practice practice practice....