Re: Great Ouse Radwell, Sharnbrook and others
Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:52 pm
Here's a little story on the dangers of over zelous weed clearance.
This picture from my first post:
Right, About half way up the right hand side of the picture, amongst all that streamer weed and about two foot out from the bank. Right in this very spot took place by far the best fishing I've ever had at Radwell. Might not look it from that picture, and as I'm sure most will know that the river bed changes quite radically over the years, but right on that spot there used to be a small depresion in the river bed and a very small clear patch amongst that weed. One summer I managed to catch quite a few fish out that hole. The reason I enjoyed it so much...? it was crystal clear sight fishing. The fish were within five or six feet of me and it took some serious patience but with a bit of careful loose feeding they'd eventually appear from the weed further out. Just a gentle drop of the lead over the weed, then pulled back to tuck in nicely under some streamer and Robert would be your father's brother. On more than a few occasions I actually got to see the barbel mouth my baited hook, and then eventualy take the bait after several minutes of the inevitable and agonising teasing. And then because the water was so shallow the tremendous first lunges as they headed for the deeper water an heavier weed. Fantastic.
I enjoyed this for a few weeks until one day I got to the river and found a bivvied, beered and bird-ed up angler set up on that bankside. I obviously fished elsewhere that evening but the when I got back the next morning I bumped into him further down stream. He seemed nice enough and I asked him how he's got on and he seemed rather surprised that he hadn't caught nothing through the night, especially after he'd got in the river and cleared a "nice big patch of gravel". After he left I took a look at the swim...the nice big patch of gravel was the size of my van.
The end.
Literally. Never saw another fish there all season.
This picture from my first post:
Right, About half way up the right hand side of the picture, amongst all that streamer weed and about two foot out from the bank. Right in this very spot took place by far the best fishing I've ever had at Radwell. Might not look it from that picture, and as I'm sure most will know that the river bed changes quite radically over the years, but right on that spot there used to be a small depresion in the river bed and a very small clear patch amongst that weed. One summer I managed to catch quite a few fish out that hole. The reason I enjoyed it so much...? it was crystal clear sight fishing. The fish were within five or six feet of me and it took some serious patience but with a bit of careful loose feeding they'd eventually appear from the weed further out. Just a gentle drop of the lead over the weed, then pulled back to tuck in nicely under some streamer and Robert would be your father's brother. On more than a few occasions I actually got to see the barbel mouth my baited hook, and then eventualy take the bait after several minutes of the inevitable and agonising teasing. And then because the water was so shallow the tremendous first lunges as they headed for the deeper water an heavier weed. Fantastic.
I enjoyed this for a few weeks until one day I got to the river and found a bivvied, beered and bird-ed up angler set up on that bankside. I obviously fished elsewhere that evening but the when I got back the next morning I bumped into him further down stream. He seemed nice enough and I asked him how he's got on and he seemed rather surprised that he hadn't caught nothing through the night, especially after he'd got in the river and cleared a "nice big patch of gravel". After he left I took a look at the swim...the nice big patch of gravel was the size of my van.
The end.
Literally. Never saw another fish there all season.
