In article .com, PeteL
wrote:

I am new back to fishing and have spent the last few months at
fisheries doing a bit of Carp etc and now that the rivers are open i
have decided to go back to trying my hand at a bit of river fishing.

The fish haven't changed. All your old methods will still work as well as
they ever did.

The river (the AVON at Lords Walk, Amesbury, Wiltshire) i am using is
not too fast flowing but very weedy - i know its got trout and grayling
(and apparently chub too) in but

Should be some cracking dace too.

This is well above Salisbury where the classic Avon fishing begins. IIrc
you've got a chalk stream. I presume you've checked all the permissions and
conditions on the water, a lot of the fishing in your area is fly* only...

That weed is what makes the water so productive. The fish are in the narrow
channels between the weedbeds. The weed spreads out at the top so that what
might be a three inch gap at the surface may be at a couple of feet at the
roots. The trick is to work out where the water is going and decide how to
steer your tackle into that gap from well upstream, twenty yards of careful
dodging might be needed to get the bait into a tiny gap. You won't get many
from each swim so it's a roving game. It's sometimes easier if you can wade
btw, and the mudcloud from your feet will add to the groundbait.

Each swim gets a few free samples followed by your bait and then when you
hook anything sizeable you walk down to the fish keeping the rod up and
either bounce it over the top of the weed or, it it's got into the roots,
go downstream of it and extract it that way.

want some advice on the best setup and
bait to use nowadays on the river???

The less tackle you have on the line the less there is to snag the weed. If
possible freeline, next best is a small quill float with -one- large shot.
Very light ledgering is worthwhile but your casting must be very accurate.

In the winter the weeds will die back and the fish may shoal up so that
standard trotting into a shoal becomes possible - or, for the grayling, a
maggot feeder may pay off.

Bait? All the old standards. I'd always start with bread but small worms
and maggots will take the dace and grayling...

*Even if the water isn't preserved as fly-only it's still worth trying a fly
as everything in there will take fly and you should be able to get at most
without disturbing them. Again, you'll need accurate casts and a lot of
line control. A refresher lesson from casting instructor might be a good
investment.

Cheerio,

--
Fishing: http://www.fishing.casterbridge.net/
Writing: http://www.author.casterbridge.net/derek-moody/
uk.rec.fishing.game Badge Page:
http://www.fishing.casterbridge.net/urfg/