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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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)
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
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