The final trip on the river during my holiday was on the lower Stour. I was asked if I was available to fish for WDAC in a team of six because they were a few short for the annual inter-club match between Ringwood, Wareham and Wimborne competing for the Beaumont cup. Since I had a rare Sunday off I jumped at the chance; having never fished the area before it was nice to fish somewhere new. The peg I drew was on the tidal section which with a high spring tide and a frost the night before was not a favoured area. There were five of us fishing that beat and it was really hard going, I managed 3rd weighing in a mere 7oz. Although I’m happy to say Wimborne took the honours winning the match overall and for another year, at least, the cup is ours. I’ve already expressed my interest in being part of next year’s team!
It was back to work for a day before my next trip, with the river rising due to rain a few days earlier and with a rising air temperature, I decided to head back to Throop. I’d had some success in an area the previous week so decided to sit it out with the heavier gear. I chose to fish a banded 8mm pellet below an inline maggot feeder packed with smaller pellets for a change of tactic. On the first cast I had a bite when the tip bounced although on this occasion I lost everything. Possibly a pike that hit the feeder or a weak link on the line. I set up the rod again made my cast so that the rig held on the inside edge of the crease and again the tip flew around, this time I connected to a fish which was trying its best to get under the branches of a tree under my bank. With the heavier gear it was just a case of keeping the fish moving and before long I had an angry chub in the mesh of the landing net. When I lifted the net I realised it may go over the magic number. I zeroed the sling and lifted the scales. They settled just over ‘6’. Happy that I had my first Throop six under my belt I packed up mid-morning without another touch before more heavy rain battered the south coast.
Just the right side of ‘six’ November 2017
After the success of catching that chub, the river and air temperatures were up and down like a yo-yo and the fishing was tough with coloured water and overnight frosts so I had a few blank sessions targeting perch and chub over the next few sessions.
The Frome November 2017
With the Stour out of sorts and a rare Saturday off work, a trip to the river Frome was organised with Nick, who I met through the club. We headed out on a chilly morning with the intention of fishing for grayling on the float and maggot. I’ve only fished the Frome once before with just one very small grayling coming to my rod, so I was really looking forward to a change of scenery. We walked the whole stretch and Nick showed me likely holding spots ready for the walk back to the car. With a plan of taking it in turns to run the float through the spots while the other was on net duty. Since I already had the float rod set up, I had the first trot. After sussing the depth on the third trot down, I hooked and landed one under a pound. Despite its small size, it put up a great fight in the fast run I was fishing. Nick then lost his first fish to a hook pull before it was time to move upriver. It was now Nick’s turn and soon he had a lovely grayling around the 1lb 4oz mark. It was then my turn to lose one to a hook pull. Sadly despite flogging several swims, neither of us had another bite. Luckily there is a carrier stream which runs alongside that the controlling club also has the rights for. So a move was made to that before we started the process again. In the first swim, Nick was soon into another grayling and before long had two resting in the net around the 1lb 6oz mark. It was now my turn, landing one smaller and then losing a couple of better feeling fish on the corn. That killed the action, so we made our move to the next area. Nothing there for either us so another move was made. This spot really looked great: a shallow smooth run down to a deeper hole near some snags. Again after a few trotts Nick was in and while he was tending to his catch I had a go on the corn which resulted in another fish in the net.
Not big, but great fun November 2017
Another fish was lost before the action dried up and another move was made downstream. We were hoping the end swim was vacant, but sadly we were beaten that morning by another angler and he was still fishing it. After a short chat, it was a case of going back up through the swims. We both had a few more before we dropped into the final spot. It was then my turn to go first. After putting some corn in I made my first trot on the corn, the float buried at the end of the run and found myself playing a better fish than I’d previously hooked. Everything held and soon my prize was in the net.
1lb 10oz November 2017
Not one of the true Frome monsters, but I was happy I had a great day on a new river. We caught over a dozen grayling between us and lost a fair few to hook pulls. To end the day we then headed to the upper Stour and caught roach, dace, perch and chublets from the same peg in a backwater of the main river.
It was a long week at work, with the river settling, the weather mild and dry I did two short sessions back on the ‘downstream’ beat after chub. All in all, I landed four chub ranging from to 2lb up 3lb 9oz on both boilies and paste of the same base mix. On my only full day on the river, I spent the morning at Throop where I missed two very subtle bites. I packed up fishless and headed to the ‘downstream’ beat on the way home and after catching a mid 2lber I decided to give the ‘pool’ a try. On the second cast, I had a very light indication on the tip which I followed with the rod before striking. Keeping the chub from finding the many snags that litter the ‘pool’ I soon had the best fish of the week on the mat. That was worth the move.
5lb 2oz November 2017
Fish Tales From The Riverbank 