What's brewing on the Brue....

[Greenheart]

As part of the continueing quest to catch a Ruffe for the species hunt, & having been informed by Fullcreel that there was a healthy population to be found in the river Brue, Bananna Steve & I arranged to give this little Somerset rive a try last Saturday. I picked Steve up at about 9am & we headed off down to Glastonbury to check it out. I was armed with a light quivertip rod & match rod with the intention of maybe doing some stick float fishing. However when we saw the river, it was not what we expected. It was perfectly straight with high banks & no flow. It looked like a canal & was perfect for pole fishing. It was also very exposed & windy. There was one angler pole fishing there who was catching tiny razor blade skimmer bream every cast, but no Ruffe. So steve & I had a look at the Ordanance survey map & decided to head up stream to where a few bends & weirs were shown. By Midday, we had explored a fair length of the river & eventually decided to fish the river at Lydford on Fosse.The river here was totally different with deep pools & shallow fast moving glides. I set up above the road bridge & Steve about 100 yards downstream by the Church.

I set up a feeder rod & a small swimfeeder loaded with maggot & Steve set up a feeder rod & Pole. First Cast down by the bridge saw my quivertip pull round & I connected with a nice little chub of about 10-12oz. For me, this set the pattern for the next couple of hours, with only a good 1lb plus roach & a gudgeon to add some variety.

Steve however was connecting with a much better stamp of fish. Fishing under an overhanging bush on the far bank, he was catching a steady stream of good quality Chub up to around the 3 1/2lb mark & also had good roach & Perch that broke the 1lb barrier. My swim eventually died, but Steve continued to catch steadily untill we called it a day & headed to the pub at around 5.30pm.

Lydford is a beautiful stretch of the river & i'd imagine normally quite peacefull, however on the day we were there, a local music festival was setting up a couple of fields a way & doing their rehersals, so we had the bonus of free music. It varied from Black Sabbath style heavy rock to a full orchestral rendition of Holst's the Planets. Most enjoyable. Oh & you guessed it..... Still no Ruffe!!!

[rob@home]

What a lovely looking stretch of river well done guys & a nice report too, have you tried the Bristol Avon for ruffe?if you cant find them then there's always the larger species of bearded fish to try for. Looks like Steve had a good swim you cant wrong fishing next to willows from my experience they always seem to hold fish underneath their branches especially if there's streamer weed in the vicinity.

Rob.

[Greenheart]

Originally Posted by rob@home

What a lovely looking stretch of river well done guys & a nice report too, have you tried the Bristol Avon for ruffe?if you cant find them then there's always the larger species of bearded fish to try for. Looks like Steve had a good swim you cant wrong fishing next to willows from my experience they always seem to hold fish underneath their branches especially if there's streamer weed in the vicinity.

Rob.

Done loads of fishing on the Bristol Avon & never seen a Ruffe caught there. They must be there though because the Kennett & Avon canal contains them & it links to the Avon.

[BaggieRich]

I really thought this was going to be "the" report Ian.... To be honest, you deserve the points just on effort alone! It'll come mate... sooner or later, it'll come.

Well done guys, a glorious day none the less..

[fishypaul]

what a lovely stretch of river,nice session ian the ruffe will come along soon,i can feel it

[shurdycarper]

great report and some lovely little fish there on what looks like a gorgeous stretch! fairplay. could any1 tell what a ruffe is pls, never heard of it? cheers

[rob@home]

A ruffe or a pope as they used to be called is a small brown fish not dissimilar to a small perch just brown & a bit bigger than a large gudgeon.

[fullcreel]

Had you guys gone down stream for about 200yds, there is a weir and the river downstream of it is pretty decent, deep glides, but the banks are steep. I think its best after october, whent eh vegetation has died back and you can see the bak, more importantly where to put your feet.
Had chub to 5lb downstream of the weir, there are some decent pike in there too.

[ben lee]

Nice catch and nice spot. Fished the kennet and avon canal alot as a youngster never had any ruff.

[Norfolkboy]

Looks a beautiful river, shame about the lack of ruffe though.