@Clive
Well-known member
Just got back from walking the dog. We went to an island on a local river, the Vienne where there is a riverside footpath. The island is around 2.5km long and formed over hundreds of years like many similar ones as sand carried down in floodwater sinks to the bottom behind large rocks. Over time the deposited sand makes a sand bar behind the rock. At each successive flood the island gets longer and wider. At one side there is a small weir that regulates flow down that side. On the main river there is a much larger weir about two-thirds of the way down. Sometimes at the tail end of the island the water level on one side is higher than the other. The hydography of the Vienne differs from the rivers I fished in England in that it is littered with huge rocks and is very shallow and wide due to the hard river bed. It resembles a Colarado salmon river. This makes finding deep swims with a good flow difficult especially in summer.
At the tail end of the island at this time of year I often come across a group of carp that I call the Dawn Patrol after the elephant herd in The Jungle Book because they are virtually all grey in colour. As I approached today I crept quietly along the bank of the smaller channel. There was a tail sticking out of a weedbed. It was the lonesome barbel that is another resident of the river. At around 5lb, maybe slightly more, it wanders the confluence browsing on the stones and sandy bed. Today however it was lurking under a weed raft because the Dawn Patrol were in residence. I counted 14 carp, all but one were around mid teens in weight and grey, sparcely scaled mirrors. Then another group arrived including a brown common, again all around the same size. There was just one tiddler of about 4lb amongst them. Then more carp lazily swam upstream adding to the numbers. Two were playing chase and thrashing the water under weed rafts. The others swam slowly around in small groups occassionally going under weed rafts and pulling something from the stems.
I urged the dog quietly to the point of the island, under shade. I continued to watch as another group of three carp arrived. Two were mirrors of around 18lb to 20lb whilst the third was around a third of their weight. All in all there must have been almost thirty sizeable wild carp in an area the size of a tennis court along with the lonesome barbel and around 20 or so small roach and perch.
I took a photo using my phone. It isn't good, but you can see 7 carp, all doubles, in the shot. The other photos are from another time I was there with a better camera.
I have had a few sessions here. More often than not the carp haven't showed after I had trekked the mile and a half down to the point. When they were around I had mixed results. Initially I baited an area that I could cast to only for the fish to ignore the bait. Another time I broke up some bread and continually fed small pieces in, allowing them to drift downstream across their usual route of arrival. That failed too. I have had two though. Both caught on garden snails fished a few inches under a wine cork that was cast beyond a near bank weed raft and gently pulled back so the 'float' rested on the weeds. Once the fish was hooked any chance of catching another another evaporated in a dozen or more explosions of water as every other fish high tailed it downstream.
I have also caught a few perch, gudgeon and a nice chub when waiting for the Dawn Patrol to show. As for the lonesome barbel; that is work in progress.
At the tail end of the island at this time of year I often come across a group of carp that I call the Dawn Patrol after the elephant herd in The Jungle Book because they are virtually all grey in colour. As I approached today I crept quietly along the bank of the smaller channel. There was a tail sticking out of a weedbed. It was the lonesome barbel that is another resident of the river. At around 5lb, maybe slightly more, it wanders the confluence browsing on the stones and sandy bed. Today however it was lurking under a weed raft because the Dawn Patrol were in residence. I counted 14 carp, all but one were around mid teens in weight and grey, sparcely scaled mirrors. Then another group arrived including a brown common, again all around the same size. There was just one tiddler of about 4lb amongst them. Then more carp lazily swam upstream adding to the numbers. Two were playing chase and thrashing the water under weed rafts. The others swam slowly around in small groups occassionally going under weed rafts and pulling something from the stems.
I urged the dog quietly to the point of the island, under shade. I continued to watch as another group of three carp arrived. Two were mirrors of around 18lb to 20lb whilst the third was around a third of their weight. All in all there must have been almost thirty sizeable wild carp in an area the size of a tennis court along with the lonesome barbel and around 20 or so small roach and perch.
I took a photo using my phone. It isn't good, but you can see 7 carp, all doubles, in the shot. The other photos are from another time I was there with a better camera.
I have had a few sessions here. More often than not the carp haven't showed after I had trekked the mile and a half down to the point. When they were around I had mixed results. Initially I baited an area that I could cast to only for the fish to ignore the bait. Another time I broke up some bread and continually fed small pieces in, allowing them to drift downstream across their usual route of arrival. That failed too. I have had two though. Both caught on garden snails fished a few inches under a wine cork that was cast beyond a near bank weed raft and gently pulled back so the 'float' rested on the weeds. Once the fish was hooked any chance of catching another another evaporated in a dozen or more explosions of water as every other fish high tailed it downstream.
I have also caught a few perch, gudgeon and a nice chub when waiting for the Dawn Patrol to show. As for the lonesome barbel; that is work in progress.
