Darracott Reservoir
Lee arrived back in Devon on the weekend of 20th June. After having spent Sunday catching up on events, we went fishing together on Monday evening for a couple of hours just up the road at Darracott Reservoir. Lee hadn't been fishing since last year so wanted to fish a familiar place to sharpen up his technique.
We started fishing at about 6pm and after he had decided that he was going to fish my favourite swim and I would have to move elsewhere, we tackled up. I was into roach straight away opening with a fish weighing a good pound followed by two more, both over 8oz. Then, following regular loosefeeding, I started catching bream all between 1.5lbs and 2lbs.
Lee was up in the shallows watching the carp swimming around so tackled up with a size 2 hook and fished dog biscuits on the surface. The carp here are easy to catch and he was quickly rewarded by a fish of 9lbs.
However, he was fishing dangerously near some sedges which are now stiffening up as they age. When they are new they present no problem in hauling carp out, but once the stems stiffen, the advantage is with the fish as they snag the line. He then lost two more fish as they buried themselves in the undergrowth, before having a third shed the hook.
I had caught five bream at this point so borrowed his rod to catch a carp off the top of about 7lbs, before returning to my original spot catching a few more roach and rudd. Lee finished of with several bream and rudd making a good mixed bag for both of us on his first session.
The Culm
After a day building Sandy a raised vegetable plot, Lee and I went off to fish the Culm just outside Exeter on the following evening after chub. As usual with Lee, we were late arriving starting fishing at about 6.30. The technique used here is very simple, a lump of spam on a large hook with a shot or a small lead to sink it. The current is used to drift the bait under any undergrowth feeling for the bite by touch legering in time honoured fashion. We normally manage a good bag, but the fishing proved difficult that evening, possibly due to someone being there just before us. I find these little rivers are very sensitive to too much fishing, even too may casts in a spot can put the fish off the feed. As I moved along, I managed a chub of about 1.5lbs whilst Lee fished under a tree convinced that there would be fish there.
As I headed downstream later on, I suggested he came with me to give the swim a break. After about an hour roving with neither of us having a bite, we returned to the original stretch again. Lee went back to his tree, and I fished just below him, and then moved just above him. Here I caught another chub of around 2.5lbs. Lee was right, there were fish in his swim; just before we left we wathched a grilse drift out, look around and then drift back under the tree. This river is not really known for its salmon, and whilst we didn't catch it, it was a real delight to see such fish in the river.
Darracott Revisited
At the end of the first week we managed to escape from our list of jobs for another quick session in the evening at the reservoir. This session was so different from the last with fish coming at regular intervals. We found it hard to keep count bagging about 30-40 fish each, mostly bream to 3lb and rudd to just over 1lb, but at the close, Lee decided he was going to get the better of the carp that evening and managed a 12lb'er on a dog biscuit about 2' from his feet (or rather his head as he was stalking it on his belly)
Bristol Avon, Lacock
Having completed out tasks at home, we were scheduled to travel around for a few days. Sandy had a mid-day meeting so Lee and I saw an opportunity and dropped in on the Bristol Avon nearby. We only had a few hours, and unfortunately it was the hottest time of the day reaching 33 degrees, and with few places to shelter we took plenty of water to drink.
The fishing was really tough, Lee managed the best fish of the day, a chub of about 3.5lb, whilst I managed 5 to 3lb but the day was so frustrating. It is a tourist hotspot so I had a dog in my swim, I moved down and a family swam just downstream forcing me to move again, when another family had a paddle, and then two dogs and so it went on. Whilst I believe in live and let live, having paid to fish it can be annoying, especially on a day when fish are hard to catch, but I normally rove around when fishing rivers so didn't get too stressed out. Sandy returned and so we finished at about 4pm, just about the time I would like to have arrived, but Lee and I always enjoy a day at the river when there is so much else to see, especially the birdlife. Kingfishers really seem to have multiplied over the last few years and a flash of electric blue is always one of the highlights of the day.
Leamington Spa
The following day we travelled to fish the pools on the farm belonging to our friend Michael just outside Leamington Spa. We met him quite a few years ago on the banks of the Wye, and he has allowed us to fish his waters several times. I caught my first 20lb carp there stalking it on floating crust with a Mk IV carp rod. Lee also likes like fishing there having caught a 17lb pike in the past.
It was another scorcher. Lee tried spinning as soon as we arrived and was quickly into a pike of nearly 9lb before we decided to take the soft option of float fishing under a couple of trees in the shade. The sport was steady throughout the day and whilst we were fishing similar rigs only 10' apart, Lee caught carp regularly throughout the day,punctuated by the odd fish of other species, whereas I didn't have one. I did however catch a larger number of smaller fish, rudd, bream and rudd bream hybrids which looked like bream in profile, but were golden with bright red fins and minimal slime, they were really a joy to catch.
To finish the day off, I stalked the carp with floating crust catching 13 up 7lbs. I suppose we must have caught about 180lbs of fish between us in a very beautiful relaxing location. You really need a day's easy relaxing fishing every once in a while to restore your equilibrium.
Warwickshire Avon, Hampton Lucy
On the Friday night, we had our last session of the week, a couple of hours on the Warwickshire Avon as a guest of our friend Reg Talbot. It was his birthday and we had travelled up to attend his party on the following day, but couldn't resist a bit of fishing too, and this is a really interesting stretch of water with mill pools, wier pools, glides, rushes, reeds; in fact everything you could want from a river. We fished from about 8pm to 10pm. I tried trundling a lump of meat down a weir pool, only to catch an eel which headed into and up the weir. Lee fish downstream. He decided to fish for chub cutting a tin of Spam into six cubes and using one on a size 2 hook. Not the most subtle method, but we find it deadly for chub. When they are finicky, an oversize bait often works wonders, and so it prover with 2 chub, both over 3lb as the light fell. This was the last fishing of his visit, and we had enjoyed a wonderful time fishing a range of waters. Next time he has promised to remember his fly reel to broaden the range of techniques we can use, and aso the waters we fish.