Last Minute Changes

Another weekend that went off script, with family visiting and The Big Fish n Show last week, it seems to be the time of year for some solo sessions. Gav was hoping to make the most of the chance at a rare chill-out, so I decided another river session was on the cards. The initial plan was to head down to the River Frome at Rode and have a go for the chub and perch, but a quick change of heart on the journey there saw me diverting to Avoncliff in the car at 5:30.

A brief stop at Bradford on Avon for a speculative 5 minutes resulted in 10 casts under the bridge and one tentative chub bite. One thing that has been evident on my fishing over the last couple of years has been my ability to go completely off piste and end up not doing what I intended. I had already demonstrated that this morning with a last-minute venue change. With that thought rattling round my head, I made a concerted effort to stick to the game plan from then on. Simple: 5-10 minutes in each spot (we are starting to know where they are now), and if no action, move on.

As I pulled into the parking at Avoncliff Railway station, I quickly unloaded and headed off down the steps and over the fence. I have recently opted to swap my gear from the rucksack into a Gunki Safe Holdall, something that is easy to carry and easy to put down and pick up. It may not be as comfortable as the rucksack, but it is more convenient to use. Off down the bank to the first spot just before the aqueduct.

The water levels have risen a bit, although not hugely. The weather was mild and breezy, with the skies rolling with grey clouds. The weapons of choice today were the Illex Pepper armed with small Keitech Easy Shiner baits in black, and the Favorite Black Swan and a 7.6cm Gunki bumpy in Ghost Zander coloration, which had proven very effective in recent sessions. I thought I had used my last one, but found an as-yet-untouched lure in one of my boxes.

First cast and the first fish to the Gunki lure. Nothing massive, around the 25- 26 cm mark, but a great start. Fished along the bottom fairly quickly; the fish seemed to really be on the munch. A quick switch to the easy shiner saw the catches slow, but still, I had about 12-15 fish in the first quarter of an hour there. I also hooked into a bonus chub. I was still catching, but a change back to the bumpy saw me feel a really solid hit, then nothing; I honestly thought I had snagged the bottom. Then, with a steady pull, I saw the line cutting through the water upstream from me. I was in no doubt I was about to complete the triple species challenge in double quick time. A spirited fight followed, with a few heart-stopping moments as the fish thrashed. I was keen to both land the fish safely, but also to make sure I did not lose my golden talisman, the last usable Ghost Zander Bumpy. Finally, the pike gave up and literally swam into the net and promptly spat the hook. As I bent over to heave the net and fish up to the bank, I suddenly realised just how heavy this thing was. It was not much more than 80cm in length, but my God, its body filled its frame. I never weighed or pictured the fish as I wanted to return it as soon as possible, and also it really was not my chosen quarry for the day, but I am confident it was over 10lb. A few minutes resting in the net and it was off into the depths.

With the pike returned and the faithful lure retrieved, I deemed that swim dead for now. A couple of cursory casts with no indications were all it took to convince me to move on. The perch were active, although not attacking the lure as ferociously as in the last session. Whether that was because the water was slightly higher, cooler, or with a tinge of colour, I don’t know.

The glut of fish from my first spot had decimated the pack of Keitech easy shiners I had; they are great baits, but like most Keitech lures, they are really soft and quickly damaged. Unlike the Gunki lures that have really demonstrated how tough they are. With this in mind, I made a quick change and re-rigged the Pepper with one of the Zman Flashback Chatterbaits. Let’s see how the fish respond to these; all that vibration and reflection should stir something up.

Heading down the bank with the odd small perch (I say small; most of these would be upgrades in my Summer Perch league card), I managed to navigate the herd of curious and very thirsty cows. Several spots were unfishable due to their activities at the water's edge. I found that the open swims were very quiet and that the perch seemed to be holed up in the shady, shallow, and tree-lined swims. One thing that really surprised me was how many perch were just sat under my feet. It was there that I hooked into the best fish of the day and slid the net under a beautiful and immaculate 34cm fish. Those river perch really do outshine their canal cousins in every way: the bold stripes, the dark backs, shimmering flanks, and the bright red fins. They pop out at you like a fluorescent sign in comparison to their bland and often much paler canal brethren.

Casting to snags and overgrown trees was always going to end in disaster, and in true form I lost the last Ghost Zander to a particularly leggy bush on the far bank. Gutted would be insufficient to describe the feeling. I switched out for different patterns to see if I could replicate their success. The Gunki Whiz, Rockstar and peps were mildly successful, but something about the way the bumpy rolled was proving provocative to the perch. Finally, I settled on my old favourites, the Keitech Swing Impact in black. Anyone who has read my early-year posts will know how much I rate these lures; as soft as they are, they are real perch magnets. Fished on the jig, cheb, or dropshot, they really do seem to do the business.

First cast with the Keitech and boom, into a fish. The black is such an effective colour on the muddy canals, but it is equally as enticing in the clearer river waters. I think I went through several lures after a number of fish from several swims. By far the best was the willow tree down by the viaduct. I did lose what felt like a very big fish under that willow. With the swim dying off and the knowledge I had to get home to meet my daughter who was visiting for the weekend, I headed back up the bank, taking speculative casts as I went. The activity was definitely slower, but still the fish were taking the lures. I think by the time I reached the first peg again, I must have had over 30 fish. None of them were wasps; they all seemed to be around that 25- 30 cm mark, all were immaculate, and they really engulfed the lures.