An unknown urban river & two monster pb's

So living in suburban Surrey I have quite a few rivers to choose from now the river season has started.

Although many of these rivers are not as good as years gone by, the small urban rivers seem to be doing well, I'm not saying that the stock levels are as good as when I was a kid but a few species are thriving.

My river of choice today is one I've not fished much at all, due to the nature of the stream, a fast flowing mostly very shallow & weedy but I always knew it held good chub, barbel, dace & roach with the odd carp if your really lucky.

It took me many hours of walking it's banks to find a suitable swim that had deeper water & a bank that wasn't overgrown.

So with minimal gear consisting of a rod & reel, landing net & a rucksack with a small tackle box & my scales (incase I catch a memorable fish).

On the long walk from the car I wondered if this tiny river was worth my time as I'd never fished this swim before.

Previous experience has taught me if it looks fishy there's a dam good chance there should be something lurking in the dark water.

As I arrive at my chosen location, it looks a good spot, I found the swim in the winter & it looked a different place with plenty of bankside vegetation this time.

It's a deeper glide with eddies close in & over the far side, but the over hanging tree gave the later much more cover.

Far side glide in the shadows of the trees

Near side swim with plenty of weed

First cast with a stick float 6lb line & a 5lb hooklink finished with a size 16 & double maggot.

As I set up I kept the grubs going in both prime spots. 

The far bank cast was firstly & the float only traveled a few feet through the swim & it disappeared, that must have been taken on the drop....

I struck slowly as I thought I might be one of the many weed banks, but I couldn't have been more wrong.......

The fish tore off downstream, I held on for dear life, I slowed the spool slightly with a finger, as much as I dared really.

He went right into a large weed raft & I felt the dreaded ping & he was off.

I reeled in a found the hooklink had snapped halfway down, proper gutted.... That was a lump.

I think it could have been a descent carp but my guess would be a nice barbel.

Ce la vie....

Onwards & upwards I thought as I re-tied a new hooklength as I fed the swim, I hoped all the disturbance was far enough downstream as I cast my double maggot.

As the first cast the float disappeared on the drop & I had a second chance, but unfortunately it's a much smaller fish.

As I neted my prize I thought I was a small chub but then as I got closer I noticed it might not be what I first thought.

A quick check of the anal fin & it's a Dace..... The biggest dace I've ever seen !

I'm sure it's a pb & as I get the scales & plastic bag ready, my thoughts turn to just how big is it, could it be a pound ???

Just for the record he was 11oz of plump, shiny pb dace.

11oz Dace & I measured him too, a  whopping 23cm in length & extremely fat.

The next 13 casts followed with 13 more chunky dace & I'm sure this place could do a very large one in the autumn or winter & I'll be back to hopfully sneak out another pb soon

I wished I'd had a keepnet really because I'm sure putting these fish back diminished my chances of emptying the swim. 

As the bites slowed down & I changed to the near side swim & I started to catch a few of my favourite mini species that we have in our river systems all over England.

The humble gudgeon.

First gudgeon & it's quite a good size

They started to get bigger & bigger & after a few more I caught a proper big'un with a funny lumpy back, anyways another pb, slightly cheeky but I know I've never had one so big I just had to weigh it.

Not sure my fox stalker scales are that acurate for such a small weight but it said 4oz & he was 15cm long !!!

As soon as I had time I was googling the British record gudge & it turns out I was close as it's only 1oz bigger than mine !!!

Probably my best ever specimen fish although I would have preferred it to be a Rudd 1oz off the record, hahahahaha.

Now the Dace were back under the tree & I had a few more plus a chublet or 2

A baby chub, good for the future stocks

      Good standard size of dace 

  A fin & scale perfect wee chub

Next twitch of the float was an all together a different beast, could the barbel be back ????

A strong yet slow fight was cut short as the fish got stuck in another big raft of weed, not again I thought but luck was with me as I pulled the weed & fish slowly into the net & I still wasn't sure what I had caught.

A plump chub greeted me as I parted the weed, my biggest of the year so far (well I've only had a couple so that's not hard)

4lb 2oz chub, one of my favourite species

Apologies for the poor pic, he was very lively on the bank 

This mini river is full of surprises & unfortunately I had to get home for the football (shouldn't have bothered really) after a few more last casts of course, haha

But I can't wait to come back with a keepnet & a few more hours at my disposal, especially for those whopping great Dace

My yearly fly fishing social

Meon Springs trout fishery is my location every first Saturday in June.

A get together with friends that hire out a lake at this beautiful spring fed complex.

A chance to catch up, hopefully land a few tasty rainbows & enjoy a lovely Turkish BBQ.

My fishing buddy @markramkoleea is coming along today for his first proper fluff chucking day, he's a carp freak but as he comes with me more & more he's enjoying a varied catch. 

He's had a few days at a friends bit of river in Ireland with mixed success at a few small but wild fish.

The forcast is grim & as the heavens open mid drive down, this is going to be difficult & we might possibly have only a few hours fishing in between the downpours.

The drive down is a chance to plan our June 16th fishing but as we drive through the beautiful countryside & the roads get smaller, I can see as Mark's attention moves on to today's fishing.

Mark commented "I'm really looking forward to this & beating my trout pb" (a modest 2lb) I responded with "you could beat it three times over & there's a few large browns as well" His eyes light up like a little child & he's voice got a little higher as he said "really"

As we arrive & sign in at the well stocked clubhouse the pitch black clouds look ominous.

The gear is fetched from the car just as the rain came.....

Boy did it come down, a proper storm with lighting & huge claps of thunder as we set up under the welcome cover of the clubhouse.

Foolishly & far too eager we brave a small break in the rain & walk around the lake. An extremely poor decision as we got drenched as the rain came down even harder than before. We trudged back to the clubhouse with our tails between our legs & looking very much like drowned rats.

Next up was a lovely brew to warm us up & after 40 minutes that seemed like hours, the storm passed & thankfully the rain stopped, it was time to finally wet a line in the lake water as opposed to rain water haha.

Mark & I started off with a gold head, green fly with a flash of yellow (I'm sorry I'm terrible with fly names) 

      These flies worked very well

Mark was on an intermediate line & I went for a sinking line as it's a deep & very clear lake & the fish looked in an obliging mood, following most early retrieves.

Mark & I had a crazy couple of hours with plenty of salmonides for both of us up to 3lb 10oz.

All great fights with one of marks better fish thought he was a tarpon, jumping many times, twisting & turning trying everything to throw the fly.

We dispatched these fish & put them in my cool bag as the weather was really warming up, about 24 degees or so by midday.

 

     The rain cleared & sun arrived 

A stop for lunch & rest my casting arm & my tired legs, unfortunately the BBQ guy didn't fancy the weather & never turned up.

Plan b was a sandwich from the clubhouse that I saw being prepared while watching the rain earlier.

But I was to late, sold out !

A liquid lunch taken I had trout back on my mind & not hunger.

We moved around the whole lake trying all the likely looking "fish holding areas" & casting to moving fish but all to no avail

We had many follows but no takes at all.

It's probably just too hot now & the fish are very sluggish & just milling about.

Mark fancied a change & tried a dry fly as a few trout were taking from the suface, the fly fishing holy grail, after a few casts to get the presentation right Mark cast to a nice rainbow & he took a liking to his mayfly imitation & took the mayfly without hesitation....

A short & lively scrap & he's in the onion bag. It's a descent rainbow of 2lb 6oz but a very special fish that had mark grinning from ear to ear.

After many other changes of fly, nothing is fooling these lazy fish, but we keep at it, thrashing the water to a foam with quite a lot of frustration.

Mark changing his fly for only the 126 time 😜

Re focused we decided to move back to the productive morning swims on the way back to the clubhouse.

With lots of fish cruising just under the surface & in the shadows of the big tree behind me.

It looked good but let's see if the proof is in the pudding.

Many fish look interested in the first few casts but no takes, then unexpectedly a fish came out of nowhere & took my fly without hesitation.

After a very sprited fight with a few strong runs & I happily put the 3lb fish back as we had our quoter from the morning frenzy.

My pal remarked "let's make a move home" as it was around 4pm

As normal I wanted a few last casts & it saw a good sized lighter coloured fish & flicked my fly on his nose, amazingly he came right up in the water & took it just under the surface, very much like a carp taking a floating bait.

He didn't know he was hooked as he slowly plodded about & as I applied more pressure he sprung in to life & screamed off, right to the other side of the lake in a big ark from right to left.

This is my biggest fish by far & I took it gently as he thrashed about close in, as Mark got ready with the net he said "it's a brown !!!", I didn't notice as I concentrated on getting the beast in the net.

I couldn't believe the size of it & best of all it's a beautiful brown, my favourite.

After some quick pics I got him back quickly as it was so hot & as I lie in bed writing this, should I have gone to get my scales ??

But the most important thing really is he swam off strongly & I can't moan to much after having the pleasure of catching him.

After looking at the pics I'm gonna give it 7lb of anybodies money.

Either way it's incredibly another pb for 2014 !!!

My 7lb-ish pb brownie in all it's glory

I couldn't beat that so we packed up there & then, a very successful day for both of us, a pb each & I'm guessing 10 or so fish each.

I do apologise for the lack of pics throughout this blog, with constant casting & moving I had other things on my mind, sorry 😜

I did remember however to get a picture of all the fish on the draining board.

Not quite how I normally like to photograph fish but that's the nature of trout, they're bred for eating so that's how I like think about it.

The spoils of our day, who's on gutting duty 😜

2014 has been kind to me in these first 6 months & if I can keep this pb business up this year will be a very memorable fishing year.