The first ever Stoney
and Friends river fish-in took place on
27th September 2003. Thanks to the generosity
of RMC and a number of angling clubs around
the Midlands and South, over 700 swims were
available on a variety of well known river
stretches.
Despite the quality
of the stretches offered, only about 30
anglers bothered to purchase tickets for
the event. Whether this is indicative of
the apathy by many anglers to participate
in ¡§traditional¡¨
angling on rivers, the fact that most rivers
were low and clear, it wasn¡¦t
a match, specimen river anglers already
have access to rivers they want to fish,
or just that river anglers aren¡¦t
as generous as Carp anglers we will never
know. What we do know however is that we
won¡¦t be running an event
on the same scale again, as for one it¡¦s
not fair on the clubs who generously gave
up their waters for the day, and secondly,
the money raised whilst beneficial to Macmillan,
isn¡¦t commensurate with the
effort required to put together an event
of this nature.
Despite the poor turn
out, we still managed to raise £380
for Macmillan Cancer Support , lower than
our normal events, but still not to be sniffed
at.
Those who did participate
all enjoyed themselves and below are a few
catch/event reports that have been submitted.
Sunbury-on-Thames
angler, Lee Tebble, had clocked up seventeen
consecutive blanks since September last
year whilst targeting the Chub and Barbel
at St.Patrick¡¦s Stream in
Berkshire. However, the 35 year-old Sales
Director still selected the RMC venue from
the list of flowing waters available for
the recent Stoney and Friends Charity River
Fish-in. His perseverance was finally rewarded
when this 5lb 6oz chub snaffled his halibut
pellet hookbait hair-rigged to a size 4
ESP Raptor hook.
Chris Isaacs writes
The Stour at Throop
had the most anglers with about 12 anglers
putting in an appearance. This was nearly
only nine, as two of us were travelling
with Allan Stone who knew the way to get
there!!¡¦. He had promised
us a good breakfast at a cafe; on route
and said not to bother taking any food as
the breakfast would keep us going all day.
One day we will learn to ignore everything
he says!.
Not only could he
not find a cafe; open anywhere in Hampshire
or Dorset, he then proceeded to do his best
to get us lost by saying the roads had changed
since his last visit. As these were 100
year old country lanes he was talking about
that haven't seen new tarmac for 30 years,
we reached the conclusion that it was Allan's
memory that had finally given up the ghost.
Despite all the set
backs, we arrived at the Throop Car park
at 07.00. A quick cup of tea later and we
were on our way to the bank side, or so
we thought. Allan suddenly decided that
his bowel control could hold out no longer
and thus he disappeared back up the track
to find a suitably hidden spot to utilise
his bin liner!
On reaching the riverbank,
we were excited to see plenty of fish movement.
Swims chosen, the fishing then commenced.
Despite the obvious fish activity, the fish
did not want to join in the fun. It didn't
seem to matter which bait we presented in
front of their mouths as they treated them
all with the same disdain.
A few hours later,
the Stour expert Ian Davis appeared on the
scene. He kindly pointed out that the swim
I was fishing was heaving with Chub and
Barbel to the point of being "Barbel
City". He suggested trotting baits
down to the fish, but again even under Ian's
tutorial the fish could not be tempted.
Ian then had a go
himself, roving around placing baits in
likely looking spots. Sure enough, within
an hour he had winkled out a small Chub
just to show us how it's done.
Andy Paice then shouted
out that he was in. In anticipation of a
decent fish I wandered over with the camera.
However, he lived up to his "snotty"
name by pulling out a small bream.
I eventually gave
up with the fish taking the 'Michael' out
of me in my swim and went roving for Chub.
After pulling out of a few small Chub, I
struck into something that had an attitude.
Only roving for small Chub meant I was geared
up with only 4lb line and a medium float
rod. This meant giving the fish too much
stick was out of the question. After about
10 minutes however I had the fish in a netable
state. The only problem was that during
the fight I had accumulated a big ball of
weed on the line about 10ft up from the
fish. The weed was too heavy to pull against
the flow and thus the fish was ready for
netting 20ft away from me.
Sadly, the nearest
fisherman to me was unwilling to strip off
and wade into 2ft of water and net the fish
for me. I thus stripped off myself, but
during this process the fish managed to
weed itself further out. Undeterred, I waded
out, and started clearing weed from the
line. However, with the rod under my arm,
line in one hand, weed in the other and
the net held between my legs the fish decided
to make one last and SUCCESSFUL burst for
freedom. Having clearly seen the fish and
known it to have been a good double Barbel
I was gutted to say the least, especially
as my PB was only 1 1/2lb!! My comments
to the said unhelpful fisherman are not
repeatable here.
I did not however
blank, as shortly afterwards a lovely slimy
Eel honoured my hook with its presence.
Kevin Winter (Hippy)
had the following to say
(I'm glad there¡¦s a spell
check on my computer and that Hippy doesn't
teach my kids English)
Being a lazy sort
of bloke at times, and preferring to fish
short sessions on rivers for the most part,
I didn't leave for Appleford until lunchtime
on the Saturday. I packed a couple of light
rods, some small baitrunners and a supply
of trouties and Krystons superb Doppleganger,
intending to target the large Chub known
to be present in the stretch.
After a somewhat confusing journey (I can
get lost on the way to work!) I trundled
through the farm, and parked up.
First impressions were excellent, a medium
sized river, with lots of cover, running
through farmer's fields and generally looking
"pukka" in the way most of the
upper Thames does.
I ambled through a herd of cows, and spotted
someone already angling. He tuned out to
be one of the clubs officials, and was able
to offer me plenty of excellent advice,
although his tiny hooks and single grains
of hemp contrasted somewhat with my intended
approach.......
Having been told that someone had already
headed for the weir, I decided to leave
the top end alone, and settled into a swim
opposite a large overhanging bush, fishing
dopplenganger hookbaits in conjunction with
PVA stockings.
A few hours later, I decided that I had
made the wrong choice, and moved back down
toward the car park, in a swim where the
cows drink. I catapulted several stocking
bags of pellet over towards the rushes on
the far side, and fished a couple of hookbaits
over them, recasting every20 mins to get
a bit of bait out there, hoping to get a
few fish feeding.
However, plans changed sharpish when a good
sized carp rolled just off a nasty marginal
snag, and one rod was rapidly relocated.
The odd recast kept the pellets trickling
in, and I began to feel a little more confident,
but as I had to be off the water at dusk,
I felt I only had a short window of opportunity.
It turned out to be enough!
Beep....beep....beeeeeeeeeeee! (Did I mention
I was using buzzers?) The rod down the edge
roared off, and I stumbled down the bank
to the rod, an initial thump had me thinking
carp, but a few headshakes betrayed a chub.
It put up a spirited fight, but with the
tackle having been chosen with the possibility
of carp and barbel in mind, was soon bundled
into the net. It looked to be about 4Ib,
and was very welcome - first fish from a
new water and all!
I slipped her backed, and slowly packed
up the rest of the kit, already planning
to get a ticket, and have a proper go at
some point.
Cheers to LAA and Stoney and friends for
introducing me to a gorgeous little stretch
of river - and here's to a few more of the
same this winter!!
And lastly, Julian
Thomas wrote :
I always find a first
visit to a venue rather intimidating and
this first trip to the River Lea at Fisher's
Green was no exception. Methods and baits
to use, the locations of fish, and feeding
times were all mysteries, because the one
certainty was that Nick Harris and I were
complete rookies in the art of Barbel and
Chub fishing. I had at least caught one,barbel,
while Nick had never even seen the species.
The river was clearly low but clear and
full of features; gravely glides festooned
with water crowfoot, deep mysterious pools
and secluded willow lined sections. Mr.Crabtree
would have felt at home here, even if we
didn't.
We walked the length of the fishery and
soon found a 5lb+ Chub lurking behind a
trailing willow. A lobworm was flicked behind
it and was immediately engulfed. As I struck
I anticipated problems with holding it from
the tangle of branches and roots, but not
that I would miss it completely and then
spook it. This wasn't in the script and
certainly not a very good start.
We gave this swim an hour's trial and just
as we were about to leave a clearly excited
angler emerged from a 'jungle' swim close
to where we were fishing. He knew a thing
or two about concealment as we hadn't known
he was there. We experienced a certain difficulty
in communication as he was deaf and dumb,
but sign language eventually conveyed the
information that he had a large fish, which
he wanted me to photograph. I duly obliged,
the large fish being an 11lb Barbel. Green
with envy we wandered off in search of our
own jungle swim. With our combined vast
experience we settled on a fast glide on
a bend. I sorted out Nick with bait and
tackle, settled him in the better looking
of the two swims (that's the sort of mug
I am), and cast out my own swimfeeder. Five
minutes later the quivertip flicked. I had
time to tell Nick I thought a Barbel was
onto my bait before the rod curved round
and the baitrunner screamed as a Barbel
shot downstream into a bed of 'onions' (otherwise
known as Scirpus lacustris). I was glad
of the 12lb mainline and 10lb fluorocarbon
trace as I bullied a 6lb Barbel from its
sanctuary and into the waiting net.
Calm was restored until I heard a string
of expletives from Nick, on investigation
I found the cause to be a very large Barbel
cruising through his swim. The next time
I saw this fish was after another outburst
and this time it was on the losing end of
a tug of war with Nick, who did well to
beat such a powerhouse in a snaggy and restricted
swim. I wielded the net and a magnificent
Barbel was hauled ashore. As it tipped the
scales at 12lb 8oz I warned Nick that any
future fish would be likely to reduce his
average. This was a mistake as he proved
me wrong an hour later with an even larger
Barbel of 12lb 12oz. This fish gave some
really hairy moments in a hook and hold
situation, but even if he had only just
lost his Barbel virginity Harris has caught
big fish all over the world, and knew just
how much his tackle would stand.
Suspecting that all this disturbance would
have killed the swim we piled in hemp and
chopped boilies and wandered off to try
some other areas that we had prebaited,
but without success.
On our return I banished Nick from the hotspot
(no more Mr. Nice guy)and cast out my own
bait. Drifting weed was an absolute menace
and now threatened to make fishing impossible
but after several false alarms from the
green peril my quivertip banged over with
a definite bite. With my first glimpse of
the fish I thought I was playing a modest
Barbel, but a clearer view had me revising
its size upwards. It seemed to grow in the
net, but I was still astonished when it
banged the scales down to 11lb 8oz. Perhaps
I was still bemused by Nick's monsters.
We could, and perhaps should have fished
on, but it was by now nearly dark and the
day had so far exceeded our expectations
that we packed up. A curry and a beer seemed
like a good way to celebrate.
If anybody else attended
the event and would like to submit a write
up of their day, please email to Chris Isaacs
at chris@stoneyandfriends.co.uk
Also, any pictures of either fish or pictures
of the venue would be much appreciated.
The Kennet at Benyons
For a long time I had concentrated my fishing
on lakes and gravel pits, ignoring rivers
completely. When I saw Stoney & Friends
organised “River Fish In” I
thought why not! It would make a change.
I phoned my mate Pete
to see if he would like to join me for a
day’s fishing. Now, Peter is a very
competent angler who now spends 99% of his
fishing time on rivers, but I left it to
him to choose which stretch of river to
fish at. The Kennet at Benyons was his choice
and plans were made. As neither of us had
seen this stretch of river before we decided
to fish light and use a roaming approach
“Leapfrogging”. Swims, casting
baits into any likely fish holding spots.
It was not long before
Saturday, 27 September arrived, Peter came
round to my house to pick me up in the wee
small hours. It was still dark but the weather
forecast for the day was perfect - mild
but overcast. By the time we arrived at
the river, just after first light you could
see the mist hanging over the surrounding
fields. The river looked so inviting and
Peter turned to me and said “We can’t
blank”.
We walked quietly
along the bank downstream, baiting several
swims as we went using a variety of bait:
Hemp, Corn, Pellet etc. After the swims
had settled down we started fishing. I chose
to fish on the far bank, under an overhanging
tree using Pellets, whilst Peter did the
rolling meat thing. Around 45 minutes later,
I was still waiting for the fish to find
the pellets, the swans did so why not the
fish?? You’ve guessed it Heads down
and Bums up. How do they managed to do this
in fast flowing water beats me - still time
to move on.
I decided to move
further downstream, passing Pete on the
way hiding in the undergrowth. He was watching
his cane tip with severe concentration,
in passing I said something rude about the
swans, wished him well and carried on looking
for a more productive spot.
At about 10.30am the
silence was shattered by a local farmer
deciding to re-post his iron bar gates.
What with the generator going, angle grinders
and hammers I thought no point in hanging
around here and moved even further downstream.
Walking the banks trying to spot fish was
a very testing time, the gravel runs and
streamer weed were now clearly visible in
the sun but we did not see any FISH!!!
By lunchtime our confidence
was waning to say the least, we tried all
sorts of baits including Pete picking up
slugs from the grass and freelining them
under a raft of weed hoping to get a knock
from the always friendly Chub - but alas
nothing.
By early afternoon
one of the regulars at the venue came over
for a chat. He had been fishing on the Newbury
stretch to no avail and decided to walk
over to our stretch to see if it was any
better, little did he know. He informed
us that the river was down by 18”
and the flow slow. That’s funny, I
thought it was pushing through nicely, usually
you need 2-3oz of head just to hold bottom,
he said he was using 1½oz! He also
said that the river on most stretches in
the area was fishing slow.…excuses,
excuses!
We decided to go to
the pub early evening and catch up on old
times, as well as that day’s fishing.
Although neither of us caught anything it
was still a very enjoyable (as fishing always
is) day. Going back to a river is a whole
new ball game, moving water is so different
to lakes and pits involving completely different
skills to master it. For me personally,
fishing a river again was like a breath
of fresh air. Don’t get me wrong,
I love sitting behind a set of rods on a
pit but around every bend on a river there
seems to be a new challenge. I will be giving
rivers a bit of a go this winter (if they’re
not flooded), starting this weekend on the
Medway.
Many thanks to Allan
for all the effort he and the gang have
put in to enable us to fish this type of
water and thanks to Reading & District
Angling Club for donating the waters to
“Stoney & Friends” for the
day.
Happy Angling
Eugene (Jona)
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