Chris Yates and I were meant to be fishing the Golden Scale Club stretch of the Dorset Stour but due to communication problems (neither of us have embraced modern technology and own a mobile phone) it didn't work out. So off we went to the Kennet Lamb Stream meeting Ed and Kev.
It turned out to be a red letter day. Chris and Kev decided to fish just below the weir pool where the stream met the main river after perch. I enjoy trotting so opted for the stream to catch roach as did Ed.
Initially I had an odd bite catching a gudgeon but with trickle feeding, the bites became more frequent and eventually it became a fish a trot with a few roach and a succession of good dace, the best being over 12oz.
Amazingly, I didn't catch a dace in the morning which helped the coarse fishing as the splashy little devils do disrupt a good swim. Ed had good roach, some small dace and later had some nice chub. Chris lost a perch early on of nearly 3lb at the net before hooking a weighty fish and was disappointed when a bream arose from the depth. Kev was having all the bad luck fishing double lobworm and hooking 3 pike in different swims, all of which bit though the line.
As the sport in my swim improved Chris came up for a usual chat and asked to try my rod - a Hardy Perfection Roach which was ideal for this type of fishing although the Aerial is a bit narrow for trotting. Anyway, I thought this was just a ruse to poach my swim as he steadily caught fish.
After a few minutes, we decided it was time for tea so the tea-gillie returned to his swim followed by Ed and me and I then poached his swim as he brewed up, pinching his rod and trying for perch without success.
Kevin finally broke his bad luck catching steadily as the light fell
It was a great day that we all really enjoyed and were amazed at the number and size f fish in a little carrier, and thanks to Gary for helping us out, putting us on the fish.
I also had a selection of Chris's books signed for River Reads so if you fancy one, they will be appearing in the "Signed Angling Book" section shortly. Don't delay.